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Writer's pictureChris Caserta

Farm Apprenticeship


This time of year is a time of intense planning for the swiftly approaching growing season. We spend more and more hours each week charting our broiler chicken brooder and pasture schedule, ordering birds, mapping out vegetable gardens, planting seedlings, and best of all, interviewing and meeting, (usually via Skype) our prospective apprentices and interns for the upcoming season. Over the past few years we have had some pretty amazing young people come through here and we love hearing about what they have done with the farming experience that they gained while here on our farm.

This opportunity to live and work on a farm is not a new phenomenon but for many young people these days, the removal from farm life is by quite a few generations. Years ago many kids had a farm at their fingertips in one capacity or another. Our older customers often reminisce of working on their parents' farm or having traveled out of the city to a grandparents' or an aunt and uncle's farm to chip in for a while during school vacations. One commonality between all of those memories that we hear are that they were all positive and that although the work may have been physically demanding, the knowledge gained was worth so much.

Here at Walpole Valley Farms we strive to educate the next generation of eaters. We want this farm to be a place where young people can gain practical experience not only in farming but in life. Seeing a farm from the farmer's perspective is a gift that can change the way one views our entire food system, in turn helping to create an educated generation that chooses wisely when it comes to what goes into their bodies and how that food was treated and handled before it hit the supermarket shelves.

Over the past few years we've had many apprentices and interns come through here and all of them are doing such amazing things. We love hearing from them and how this place touched their soul and helped them grow. It is incredibly rewarding to see how each one of these people has put their stamp on our farm and helped us to move forward with this endeavor. We are excited to be wrapping up our apprenticeship interview process and can't wait to get started with our new crew!

Caitlin

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