Do you want to farm?

Last week, someone asked me the question, “Why do you want to farm?” 

It’s a fair question- after all I grew up in a privileged neighborhood in the city and never thought much about food or farming.  I now go to a liberal arts college and not an ag school.  The closest I get to farming at Wooster is studying it, in the classroom, from a sociological perspective.  It wasn't until I had my first internship with an urban farming program in Cleveland, Ohio that I got any sense of what it looked like to grow food.

After a bit of agricultural experience I've found out a few things about farming.  Some positives: It’s mentally and physically challenging.  There's tangible output.  It is beneficial for your community.  You get to eat good food.  It’s a never-ending learning experience.  Some of these things about farming don't always seem so positive: It’s mentally and physically challenging.  It’s a never-ending learning experience.  But the point of this post is not really for me to talk about why I should or shouldn't want to farm.  The better question is to take a step back and ask, Do I want to farm?  I’m hoping that my experience this coming summer can help me answer this question.

A few days after I graduate from Wooster this May, I will drive to southern Oregon where I will make my home for the next five months.  I’ll be living and working as an apprentice at Dancing Bear Farm located outside of the tiny town of Williams.  Alongside two other interns and farmer Steve, I will grow certified organic produce and seeds on six acres of land.  We will work almost entirely by hand.  The produce will be sold at a few farmers markets and the Siskiyou Sustainable Cooperative, a 300+ member CSA that is sourced by a group of local farms.  The seeds will be sold to a half dozen different seed companies, many of which work to preserve and distribute heirloom varieties.

In addition to my full-time farm work, I will meet up with interns on other farms that are part of the Rogue Farm Corps’ Farms Next program.  Together (about twenty interns in all) we’ll learn more about the basics of running a sustainable farm and visit a variety of farms that exist in southern Oregon.