This summer at Lettuce Link we’re lucky to have a stellar intern crew. Today, we’re featuring the writing of Victoria, who left her home in Texas to spend the summer in Seattle with Lettuce Link as a DukeEngage intern. On the second day of her internship, we brought her to our volunteer appreciation potluck – here are her reflections:

On a Tuesday evening in June, the Lettuce Link community gathered at Sue McGann’s colorful home for our Spring Volunteer Appreciation Dinner. We hosted this potluck to honor our amazing Lettuce Link volunteers and the time, energy, and dedication they devote to diverse projects, ranging from teaching kids at Marra Farm to tending starts at neighborhood greenhouses. Volunteers chatted through the night—fueled by stimulating conversation and scrumptious dishes.

The potluck evolved into a feast as dishes blanketed the countertops. A sampling of the menu includes snap peas and carrots from Marra Farm, a spectrum of salads, ginger tofu that disappeared in the first half hour, baguettes and boules donated from Essential Baking, a sunset platter of mango halves and strawberries, and sweet endings of peach pie, chocolate cookies, and coconut milk ice cream. (As an indication of how much our volunteers love vegetables, the only non-vegetarian dish was a refreshing ensemble of rice, shrimp, and cilantro.

Both dishes and people rotated around the studio and backyard garden. Although the volunteers from Marra Farm, the Seattle Community Farm, the Wallingford and Ballard Greenhouses, and P-Patch Giving Gardens share the connection and passion of Lettuce Link, they are geographically scattered all over Seattle.