We sought out a service project while we were in the Appalachians near The Great Smokey Mountains National Park and Sunset Gap Mission needed some help unloading a van-load of donated food items and getting some weeds out of the garden they use to grow food to give away....a perfect match! Sunset Gap had just picked up a full load with boxes of cabbage and cases of peanut butter, canned cranberries, and fruit juices all from a donation site in Knoxville. We unloaded the van and the kids used the roller-table to help move the food the last 15 feet before we stacked everything up. The kids joyfully carried the boxes of food for 30 feet from the van to the roller table just to have the thrill of setting the box on the rollers and giving a push to get the box the last 15 feet. Good teamwork had the van unloaded in no time and Sunset Gap has a good stock pile of food for their twice-monthly food give away for the families in need around the area.
The Mission has a good size garden to grow their own food to give away or to feed the dozens of volunteer work crews who cycle through the Mission on a weekly basis during the summer to help local families accomplish basic maintenance projects on their homes. The garden had gotten a bit overrun with weeds and armed with a few hoes, we were able to make a good dent in clearing out the garden. We got a relatively early start to avoid the hottest part of the day, but we were all still sweaty and dirty when all was said and done. Morgan captured the quote of the day as she stood and stared at a garden sign that read "SNOINO" Several moments elapsed as she pondered what could possibly be planted behind this SNOINO sign. Morgan finally asked "what is a "snoino" plant?" I suggested she look at the word backwards....alas the recognition came that she was looking at ONIONS! But it was too late, we all latched on to "snoino" and soon nothing could be asked for without working in a reference to "snoino"....would you like some "snoino" with your water? ... when we get home, can we plant some "snoino" at our house? Thankfully, Morgan is a good sport and has laughed off the new family fascination with "snoino."