As I have mentioned a number of times, this semester I am taking a farming class as an elective, Fundamentals of Organic Agriculture. Today we visited a local organic farm just across the state border in New York. For almost three hours we toured around a small part of the farm and asked the owner a lot of questions about his operation. While the farm is not certified organic, it is certified naturally grown, which is something that I learned a lot about today. Being certified naturally grown is quite similar to being certified organic, the standards are very similar, however being certified naturally grown may make a lot more sense for smaller farms because it is a lot cheaper and also the inspection process is a lot different for this, almost anyone can inspect your farm; your customers, another farmer, anyone any time of day or night. For the most part, Kilpatrick farm provides for CSAs, or community supported agriculture and farmer’s markets, as well a bit to schools and food shelves.
Being on this farm for an afternoon was so great. What a way to spend a class! Whenever I am on an organic farm I am reminded about of power of the Earth to create such beautiful things for us to eat! Being in this type of environment just makes me happier! This also got me to thinking: I’m quite deep, right now, in the process of finding a job for after graduation. I am frenzied with writing cover letters and getting my resume sent out to environmental consulting firms, urban planners, and sustainability planners. But I stopped today I thought, “Well, I could hang out at a place like this all summer.” I have been so focused on trying to find a narrow type of job that I forgot how much I want to work on a farm for at least a little while during my life. I don’t think there would be a better time than this summer to take a break from what I am used to and connect to the planet and to communities by working on an organic farm.
So I am going to expand my searched a bit. Wish me luck!
THE ROPE SWING 