Everyone Eats — Who’s Ready to Grow Food?

August and September at the Organic Farm School offer such inspiration to resident and visiting foodies. Having made it through a chaotic spring, an early hot summer, and confusing post-Covid market/tourism trends, students are now rolling out a beautiful abundance vegetables. Each week, as they set up their pop up farm stand and market booth, they talk about mouth watering recipes that incorporate sun ripe tomatoes, eggplant, leafy greens, zucchini, cucumbers, cilantro, and so much more. 

It’s a great backdrop for the kickoff  to our recruiting for 2025. 
Everyone eats, so we assume there are plenty of folks who want to learn how to grow food. 
Maybe?

Headlines are starting to pop up in the papers. “Washington is losing farms and food-producing land — does anyone care?” greeted us in the Seattle Times on April 15. In June, an article in the ASU News highlighted “The hidden cost of the American food system.” And on July 29, New York Times printed an opinion piece “What to eat on a burning planet,” a discussion of how our food system is rapidly changing because of climate shifts, but without much of our attention to the implications. 

Not exactly a welcome mat for those looking to take 8.5 months out of their regular life and $5000 out of their bank account to come to the Organic Farm School to learn how to run a community scaled farm.  And yet, as our society faces the challenges of so many disrupted systems (financial, environmental, cultural, political, health care, and more) don’t we all need to eat? Isn’t it possible that the more stressed our commercial/industrial food system gets, the more we need small, community facing farms to fill the gaps and the more we value their service? And with all of the rapid changes faced by farmers, doesn’t an experiential training program that focuses on critical thinking and decision making become more and more important for their success?

While we are not wishing for the demise of the industrial approach to ag (it does produce massive amounts of calories), we do believe there is room for improvement within that industry to reduce the use of chemicals and find alternatives to methods that harm our ecosystem services. And we think the the stressors we’re all facing call for more local food, not less…more small scale farms, not bigger ones…more emphasis on soil and human health, not on synthetic inputs and certainly not on efficiency at the expense of the human biome.

At the Organic Farm School, we know that there are many small scale farmers aging out, looking for new beginning farmers who share their desire to develop healthy soils and feed their friends and neighbors — many looking for a new generation to pass their farms on to. We know there are more and more opportunities being created for urban farmers and for those wanting to farm collaboratively on larger parcels being protected by land trusts across the country. But we also know such opportunities are being offered to those with training and experience, not just those who have followed Instagram or taken on-line courses.

We know that what we offer is valuable because we have watched our graduates launch new farms, become farm managers, and take on leadership roles in farming communities.

So. We all eat. Who’s ready to grow food? Apply today for the 2025 training season!

Organic Farm School Core Program

The Program Works

Core Program students, Tommy and Jasper, toast the end of a long, hot week with an ice cream float with a cherry on top.

You’ll often hear us say “we teach what you can’t learn on-line,” and August provides so many examples of this!

 Over halfway through the 2024 Core Program now, student learning is focused in the field rather than the classroom until their business planning curriculum kicks in later in September. One might think this means they are “just working,” but that would be far from the truth.

 As they continue to weed, irrigate, and harvest from multiple successions of lettuce, radishes, carrots, beets, and greens that they started seeding and transplanting in the spring, they are also learning how to evaluate when a bed is “done” and can be replaced with fall crops. “Being done” can mean we’ve harvested all we had planned, or it can mean that for whatever reason the bed will require more time and effort to maintain than the cash benefit we will realize from it. Either way, a decision must be made along with a plan for what comes next. Can we squeeze in another succession of lettuce? Should we try more Romaine? Does weed pressure indicate that a month of summer fallow would be helpful? Are there dips in our production budget that need to be filled, or can we let a cover crop take over for the remainder of the season.

 These are the kinds of questions that emerge from a complex suite of contextual issues. Do we have enough time to flip another bed? Do we have the budget for the soil amendments? Is there a market for what we could grow or is it better to focus on the fall crops we already know we need to plant? Are we on budget? Behind budget? Do we have all of the seed we need? As students and staff begin taking well deserved time off, do we have enough labor to get everything done? By the way, how are our seed crops? How are the farmers…mental health is as important as physical health…is there still laughter in the field…is everyone taking care of themselves?

 Of course, while all of this reflection, evaluation, and planning is taking place, there are fall crops that have been seeded in the start house and are now ready for transplanting. These plants are ready for transplanting in the driest part of the year, when techniques used in the spring are not the same ones needed now. And as they do this different kind of bed and irrigation prep, they must also keep an eye on extending the season of tomatoes, summer squash, green beans, and herbs.

 Managing the diversity of plant needs across a full growing season relies as much on intuition as it does on knowledge. As one of our students, Tommy, said in our recent newsletter, he dampens his stress level by reminding himself that “no one is going to die today,” and yet the OFS recognizes how important it is to provide space for these future farmers to realistically encounter the weight of all they are trying to manage while there is a support system ready to help make sense of it all.

 There are moments when we guess students are frustrated that they are working so hard while paying tuition to learn — and yet when it comes to mid-season evaluation and problem-solving, there is no single right answer, only a few ill-advised ones. Having the opportunity to wrestle with such things while on our dime and ask a multitude of questions can help them avoid very costly mistakes in their first years of farming. Being able to feel the ebbs and flows of farming energy while someone else is there to track on the bottom line gives our students a leg up as they take on management or ownership roles. Having experienced the pressure of August and the release of September/October, they will be better prepared for their next endeavors.

 Training in this way is powerful and hard. It’s not uncommon for our students to express frustration and irritation in August when everything is happening all at once, and yet, it is also so rewarding.  What they demonstrate such competence in by August, they could not have done in April. By October, we hear a sense of genuine accomplishment and confidence from the soon-to-be graduates. It turns out that teaching what you can’t learn on-line is an act of kindness and support for the future — and we think we’re really good at it.

Soil, Farming, Eating, Thriving

“It matters what we eat now more than ever — we will determine the health of future generations.” Those are powerful words, don’t you think? I heard them in conversation with Bethany-Lynn Rodriguez, one of the two Nutritional Therapists we had speak at a recent Dishing Up The Dirt.

Her point was, as humans we have a relationship with farms whether we like it or not. Our human microbiome includes connection with the soil that supports the plants we eat. Without the soil, and everything that makes it a living system, we would starve. How we treat soil is an indication of how we connect with all that makes us human. Thus, knowing how important soil health is for our own health can drive practices that will support us as well as those who come after us.

How we farm is important.

The Organic Farm School has held tightly to a purpose of training new farmers for fifteen years, resisting the temptation of “mission creep” because of concern about overly stressing our organizational resources. So why are we now talking about Nutritional Therapy?

Because it is fundamentally the “why” of our work. In this country, we need a new generation of farmers who understand the interdependence of growing food with the health of those eating the food and the planet that allows for the growing of the food.

If we are not concerned about the health of our soil and the food that grows as a result…if we are not concerned with the health of the community that eats the food we grow…well, why would we work so hard to keep going? Farming is a challenge. Training new farmers is an exceptional challenge. And, both are fundamental to our human future.

So, what exactly is Nutritional Therapy? To be honest, you should talk with Bethany directly, or with Jenny Goff, or with both of them! But for purposes of this post, Nutritional Therapy is about recognizing that eating is an act of creation…creation of our human bodies. What we eat, how we eat, these things have power to help us navigate chronic diseases, hormonal issues, general immune system vigor, and more. Our human bodies have co-evolved with the food that is available to us, so learning how to listen to our innate wisdom can position us to be more balanced, vibrant, and grounded. More clearly, Bethany says, "Nutritional Therapy is connected to farming because if we grow nutrient deficient food then we grow nutrient deficient bodies. Our relationship with farming must deepen if we are to see our way out of the chronic disease crisis.”

Over time, we have become disconnected from the source of our nutritional needs. We have turned to pill bottles, surgeries, and unfortunately to an acceptance of ill health.

But we can change this. 

Any of you who have gone on a Farm Tour with me have heard me say that “farming is an honorable profession.” Let’s take that a little deeper and say that “eating is a radical act of health care,” and see where it goes.

To learn more about Nutritional Therapy and how to connect with Bethany, visit her landing page HERE or email her HERE. And stay tuned for more info from Jenny Goff, about her thoughts on Nutritional Therapy! 

Regenerative Banking? Yes!

OFS is proud to welcome sponsorship support from Beneficial State Bank (BSB) for our Farm Friday Community Potlucks on July 19 and August 16. We have been BSB customers for more than ten years, and we chose them because of their strong values around social, economic, and environmental equity. It was also inspiring to us that the founders of the bank started an educational foundation, focused on regenerative farming and ranching, and soil development.

Historically, banks have enabled concentration of wealth and power, prioritizing profit over all else. The founders of BSB set out to design a new kind of community bank — one that placed equal priority on people, planet and long-term financial sustainability. For more than 35 years, BSB and its predecessor institutions have shown that a different type of bank — a beneficial bank — is possible. Through it’s unique model — BSB’s assets are held by a foundation and not by private shareholders — BSB produces meaningful social justice and environmental impacts while being financially sustainable. In other words, we think they are bringing regenerative concepts to the economic realm.

We hope you give them a warm welcome at the Farm this Friday, and that you ask them questions about their values and mission, and how their approach is supporting good work throughout the Puget Sound Region and beyond.

Please visit their website to learn more: https://beneficialstate.org/

A Week In The Life of a Non-Profit Training Farm

Farms are amazing, productive, fast-moving places! All at once, they are:

• geologic sites with specific legacies from the previous thousand years;

• biological units with crazy dances between things living in the soil, on top of the soil, and in the air and water all around;

• meteorological and climatological landscapes over which farmers have no control;

• and human systems that rely on individual and collective physical energy, mental health, complex planning, clear communication and good humor.

In other words, every week is an adventure on a farm, we just add a few aspects of running a non-profit organization for good measure. It’s a life we love and think we manage well, but we realize much of it is hidden from your view. So, here’s a quick overview of the past week.

Monday morning began with the arrival of Janie, from the Greenacres Farm in Cincinnati. That farm is one program of a handful, run by an endowment funded foundation. Their beginning farmer training program has goals similar to ours (yay! This country needs lots more new farmers!), but is run quite differently and is only in its third year of operation. Janie came to spend a few days with us to see how and why we do the things we do.

Fifteen minutes after she got to the OFS, she joined students in the classroom for their session on bookkeeping. One student had come down with the wicked cold that’s going around, so there was a quick technological shuffle to make sure we could record the class for them to review later.

After class, staff, students, and Janie all walked the Farm for the weekly Field Walk. A farmer’s version of grand rounds, everyone evaluates each bed of the Farm…what is in it, does it look healthy, how has it changed since last week, what needs to happen in it this week, is it ready for harvest, how much can be harvested, to which outlet should that harvest go, what’s going in next, and who will be responsible for what? Students take turns leading these walks each week, as the ability to describe what’s happening on a farm is a key component of their future success.

From the walk, everyone goes to the big white board in the classroom where more definition is added to the plan…of all the tasks identified in the Field Walk, who does what on which day? What equipment will need to be coordinated as multiple people take on different tasks? Do we have enough fuel? Is all the equipment in working order? Do we have the tasks lined up in the right sequence?

By Monday afternoon, everyone has a work plan and off they go to tend to them. Some doing solo tasks, others forming teams. On Tuesday, the day starts with harvest. Nothing is planted at the Farm without thoughts about where it will end up, so harvest days are “run” by the student supervising wash pack for the week. They gather up orders for the Farm Stand, direct-to-retail, and other customers, establish totals to be harvested as well as subtotals that will direct how produce is packed. They send the team out to gather, and then make sure it’s all washed and quickly stored in the cooler for freshness. I bet you haven’t spent much time thinking about how many times your food is handled from seed to plate, but our students can give you some hints.

Tuesday afternoon, volunteers arrived to help with yet another step in construction of our new high tunnel! Their help was so important, as that tunnel was purchased with a reimbursement grant, meaning we don’t get reimbursed until it is complete and inspected. The faster we finish it, the sooner that money goes back into our cash flow - a topic we call students’ attention to all the time (creating a budget is one thing, managing a cash flow for a farm is quite another).

As the volunteers worked, students and staff prepped for the chicken harvest that would happen the following day, but they also moved irrigation lines, started on a round of transplanting, and perpetuated the ongoing work of weeding.

Wednesday morning was completely taken over by the chicken harvest. Students, staff, and even a couple of alumni all reviewed the process…gather birds in small batches, dispatch, de-feather, eviscerate, and chill. Within 5 hours they had processed over 175 birds, but more than that, they had brought an important learning cycle to completion.

They remembered all of the excitement of getting the chicks in the mail, the daily challenges of feeding, watering, and keeping them safe, the work of moving chicken tractors to distribute the fertility of the birds as they helped with pest and weed management in our fields, and the intense morning of transforming the birds from feathered field workers to healthy and nutritious food for our community’s plates. Next week, they’ll look at the financial implications of each of those steps.

Adam, our hospitality manager, made lunch for the students at the wood fired oven. That in itself was a task of prepping everything, timing it for the readiness of the students, and awkwardly answering questions in the middle of it all from a reporter who was working on an article about our new Farm Stay program. It’s important to share our story with the community, so we’ll take such awkwardness just about any time.

Right after lunch, the Pop Up Farm Stand took center stage. After a slow start in the spring, the community seems to have “found us” again, which is always a good sign for the non-profit as well as for the students who are eager to interact with all of you!

Adam prepared take-away meals for our new Friends of the Farm members, and then as a final element of the day, we hosted Perry Lovelace up at the Feed & Seed for a “Dishing Up The Dirt” conversation around WATER. We take it so for granted, and yet without abundant, clean water, there is no food. Think about that.

On Friday, volunteer Farm Stewards joined me up at Keystone Farm & Forest Preserve. We gather every Friday morning from 9-11am. This week, we concentrated on mowing and string trimming an area that will soon become a demonstration plot for cover crops. Kirsten works with a different group of volunteer Farm Hands at the Maxwelton site, typically on Tuesdays, but more frequently these days as we work to get the Farm looking super spiffy for the upcoming Outstanding in the Field dinner! It’s not a fundraiser for us, but has great potential to increase our visibility outside of our island boundaries - and program visibility is so important when it comes to recruiting new students.

And of course, while volunteers were working, so were staff and students. So many transplants to be put into the soil, so much irrigation to be strategically moved around to keep everything healthy, so much cultivation to keep weeds at bay.

Saturday was a bit quieter without the broiler chickens to care for, but still, the student in the Farm Manager role this week was on site, responsible for feeding and watering the pigs and sheep, rolling up the sides of tunnels to keep plants from overheating, irrigating things that still needed a drink, and in general keeping an eye on the place.

You might think that Sunday brings a welcome chance to breathe, reflect, and plan…and it does BUT, someone also will be loading up produce, tables, table cloths, a cash box, and a canopy to go to the Sunday Tilth Market. Will we see you there? We hope so, because seeing your smiling faces as you fill bags with OFS produce gives us the boost we need to start all over again tomorrow.. with classes, a Field Walk, and all the other things that make training at the Organic Farm School so deeply meaningful, effective, and inspiring.

I’m absolutely sure even I didn’t see everything that happened at the Farm this week. Jeff and his team work so hard to keep all of the pieces moving forward in ways that a non-farmer simply cannot imagine or track. But I think you get the gist…community scaled farming is important, and it’s a LOT. Our hope is that we all take just a minute or two each day to think about how farmers across the country do their own version of this dance to keep us all healthy and fed.

Progress Report on Keystone

It’s been a busy season up at Keystone Farm & Forest Preserve! A dedicated band of volunteers, “Farm Stewards,” worked for weeks to remove all of the horizontal boards from large creosote treated posts so those could be removed. Thanks to all the connections the Whidbey Camano Land Trust has, the appropriate machinery was available to actually pull the very heavy posts out of the ground, and the Department of Natural Resources came and took them away for responsible disposal as part of a grant funded project. Teamwork!!!!

Now, we’re getting our systems in place to keep that area mowed in order to manage the very abundant weeds. 

Also, the Organic Farm School field team came out to terminate the fall/winter cover crop of Austrian peas, then they let the field lie fallow for a few weeks before doing the soil prep to plant a cover crop of Sorghum Sudan. Regenerative ag encourages reduced tillage, and yet when going from an unmanaged setting to a production setting, there is often tillage work to be done to break up soil compaction and to manage a “seed bank” of unwanted grasses and weeds. After a few years of tillage to work in organic matter and terminate invasive species, you’ll begin to see grain and legume crops and much less heavy tillage. As with most things in life, it’s about progress, not perfection.

Back to managing weeds, my oh my the Canada thistle is robust at Keystone! And we’re approaching a key window for managing it. I’ll need a good humored group of about 6 volunteers to spend an evening with me cutting and bagging thistle heads. To be honest, it’s not the most pleasant work — but laughter, stunning scenery, and a few cold beverages can make the task go faster.

Let me know if you can join me this coming Tuesday, July 2, or Wednesday, July 3, from 5-7 p.m.

RSVP to Judy if you can help!