Civil Eats

Last month, thirty-one biodynamic and organic farmers and gardeners gathered at Hawthorne Valley Farm in Harlemville, New York for the first Farmer-Mentor Workshop of the North American Biodynamic Apprenticeship Program. The farmers came from across the United States and Canada. Their operations run the gamut from small homesteads to large CSAs. Some have been farming for ten years or less, others for forty years or more. What they share is a fierce commitment to the education of young farmers. They see themselves not just as growers, but as teachers, and they have all chosen to participate as mentor farmers in the new apprenticeship program. Read More

I had my first apprenticeship the summer before my senior year of college. I had just returned from a tumultuous year abroad in South America and was ready to get back to “the simple life.” Map in hand, I scrolled through description after description of idyllic farms that participate in the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners apprenticeship program. I dreamed of crates of blueberries, bundles of fresh cut flowers and baskets full of newly laid eggs. Needless to say, the excitement and possibility of a new adventure completely ran away with me. Read More

I must admit, as with many seminal choices in my life, I came to farming as much by chance as by design. I was surfing through the Georgia Organics website for a grower who might supply me with the trappings for a haggis; I stumbled across the posting for full season apprentices at Serenbe Farms; I thought to myself, “now THAT could be a great way to spend next year;” and life somehow fell into place. I do not think that most haggis quests end quite so fortuitously. Read More