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.