Day 16 and 17

AMS presenting to High Point Friends School about our trip

Day 16 by Micah

Today we went to a food science lab and there were lots of people with cool accents. They were studying what causes allergic reactions from peanuts. They extract the proteins with a machine. Then they take the proteins and put them into a different machine. They look at the amino acids in the proteins. They found which sequences of amino acids that make allergies and they can possibly extract these sequences to make hypoallergenic peanuts.

There was another professor who talked to us about dairy, especially the bacteria in yogurt and its health benefits. Another professor takes the left over grape stuff from wine and tries to bake it into bread to add fiber and antioxidants. There was a testing room with funny colored lights to mask the color of the food. People would test the smell, taste, texture and the appearance of different foods.

Learning about probiotics

Amino acid sequencer

Other door we passed

We visited with Greensboro Montessori middle schoolers at “The Land”, which is “wilderness” but is actually a field and forest. We talked to them about our trip and school and they talked to us about their school.

At AMS, kids misplace their stuff all the time. Her is Sage with her substitute mess kit

At Montessori, everything has its place.

Day 17 by Minto

Today we went to Second Harvest food bank in Winston Salem. We did service work for them for about four hours, checking expiration-dates, for dents and holes in food packages, then some of us packed varieties of food in little cardboard boxes .  I was amazed by how much food they throw away. They threw away like a third of the food that they got donated from grocery stores because it was maybe bad.  After that we went to corn syrup factory but we can’t talk about it, so yea. 

Learning about how HFCS 55 is made

Day 15

Day 15 by Sage

Today we drove to North Carolina from Atlanta. For breakfast we had carrot muffins, then had to clean up all of our breakfast things before 8:15 before the school students got to Atlanta Friends meeting. Then we drove for 5 hours. I do not really know what happened during that time because I was asleep. But Micah broke a free Coke bottle we got from our WORLD OF COKE EXPERIENCE. The bottle was Asher’s, and Micah was trying to open it like a cool kid by hitting it against a metal bench. The staff told Asher that it was not safe to drink because of glass particles, unless he filtered it through a bandana into another jar.

After this, we arrived at High Point Friends school. It looks a lot different than Arthur Morgan. There are fancier buildings, and apparently all the kids get their own ChromeBook. I thought that was pretty NEAT-O. Then we hung out at a playground at the school #KLFVR (Kevin Lives Forever) #KDFVR (Kevin Dies Forever) until dinner, where we had couscous. After we ate dinner, Alexia made popcorn with parmesan cheese. I ate all the burnt kernels because burnt things are delicious. Then we went back to the building where we are staying and hung out until bedtime. J J J J J

Day 14

Day 14 by Shogo

We awoke at 7:00 and faced the first challenge of the day, daylight savings.  The Friends Meeting had to prep for meeting so we had to leave for the day by 8:45.  This was an hour earlier than expected so we drove to a park and went back to sleep in the bus until we met with Tania who pretty much planned our weekend.

                We worked with Tania until lunch working on a small garden for a transitional housing.  We divided into three groups.  One group worked on weeding a compost bin that was completely covered in honeysuckle.  Another group worked on making a garden bed and clearing some brush.  The group I was on worked on making several beds using a permaculture method called berms and swells.  Basically the beds are planted on even contours of a hill.  Behind the beds are berms that catch rainwater and spread it out along the bed.  After we were done, Tania bought us donuts from this amazing donut shop called Revolutionary Donuts.

Berms and swales

                We then journeyed to a different world…                   The World of Coca Cola.  In the World of Coca Cola, we searched for the “secret formula” of coca cola, (one which Satchel has improved greatly) and traveled through the brainwashing land of Coke.  We learned that Coca Cola makes you happy and is the essence of life.  We also watched a 4d movie about what makes coke “coke”, and got stabbed in the back by a dragonfly.  At the end of the tour there is the tasting room.   In the tasting room, there is an unlimited source of soda, and over 60 different flavors.  We, the students, consumed about 2L each.  And we were given a free 8oz of coke!

You are required to take a single use plastic bag to carry your commemorative bottle of Coke. This is because without the bag, you might drop the bottle and it might break. With the bag, this obviously won't happen. 

Day 13

Day 13 by Joshua

We had cream of wheat for breakfast which Kevin made. Then we went to Global Growers to plant blueberries.  So first we mulched a row then dug a bowl (not a hole) and then scored the side and then we put the plant in. After that we buried them. The Global Growers works with refugees from other countries. They give them space to farm. 

And we visited a farm called Truly Living Well. They are farming in an urban area where there used to be houses. They use raised beds because there is lead in the ground. They just started using hydroponics. After that we went back to where we’re staying and ate dinner.

Day 12

Day 12 by Adalaya

This morning we woke up and had a wonderful breakfast of toasted bagels then we cleaned up and drove to the CDC (Center for Disease Control).  When we got there we had difficulty finding parking (again!) and we were late for our tour so Alexia dropped us off and went to try and park.  When we walked inside there was very heavy security which was slightly scary and unexpected.  Once we got through it though they had a really nice tour of their museum and learned lots about diseases and what the CDC does. 

Iron lung

Pneumatic vaccinator

Level IV hot suits. Kevin was infected

When the tour was over we grabbed a quick lunch and drove over to the Atlanta food bank.  There we met up with two other school groups and did a simulation on the difficulties of getting a healthy meal on an extremely low income.  We were each given a character with information about our monthly income and expenses and we had to figure out how to get 2,000 calories of food for ourselves.  I did not manage to get my food.  When we finished with that the other groups left and the nutritionist gave us a tour of their facilities.  We were all very tired so we came home and had a lovely evening. 

Banana boxes are their favorite type of box because of their size and durability. This warehouse is completely filled with banana boxes (but not bananas)

Day 11

Day 11 by Andrew

We left this morning it was raining. I was very uncomfortable.  We drove to South Georgia. We ate lunch in rain still very uncomfortable. Then we got to Georgia and we stayed at Alexia’s friend’s house. We watched the movie Airplane. Then we went to sleep comfortable.

Day 10

Day 10 by Asher

On day 10 we went to Satchel’s Pizza in Gainesville and he showed us how he makes his own sodas for his customers. It was very interesting because he put essential food oils in his soda. In his cola he put in 16 ounces of grain alcohol, lemon oil, coriander oil, cinnamon oil, nutmeg oil, neroli oil, lime oil, and vanilla. Satchel adds the grain alcohol because without it the water and the oil would separate so it makes it mix and dissolve. He makes a sugar syrup with two and a half gallons of water and either 30 pounds of sugar or one cup of Stevia. One tablespoon of the flavor gets mixed into the syrup, and then this gets mixed with carbonated water in a 1 to 5 ratio. 

After that we went to a farm called Siemba and weeded in trade for some vegetables. The farm had pigs and goats and a lot of vegetables.  We now have way too many carrots. 

Then we went to a spring and ate lunch but it was unfortunate because we only had 11 tortillas and also it was rainy and gloomy and gross outside. Right after that we went to a prairie wetland and saw cool wildlife like alligators, armadillos, birds, and wild boars. Then it started raining so we left. 

Then we went to the farmers market in Gainesville and saw Cecil. My mom bought a bunch of oranges from him and he offered our group more free citrus. We tried to pay for it, but he made us take it for free. He’s really nice!

Then we spent the rest of our kitty money going out for Satchel’s pizza for dinner. The wait was pretty long but it was really good pizza so it was worth it. Then we went back to my mom’s house and went to bed.