The Search

I have started this blog because I noticed a lack of information about what it is actually like to become an intern or apprentice on an organic farm, something that has become more popular for young people recently. Serving on an organic farm in Vermont last summer, I worked with five other young women who had decided to become low-paid workers on a small, sustainable farm. Reasons for their choice varied, and included curiosity, environmental ethics, a feeling that it might be fun or at least interesting, and--for me, specifically--a desire to learn how to farm. Interestingly enough, I was the only one who was totally dedicated to becoming a farmer in the future; while one woman thought that it might be a possibility, none of the others were really considering dedicating their working life to producing food for others.

For whatever reason, many young and maybe (I don't know) not so young people have decided to spent at least a few weeks working on farms. If anyone reads this blog, I would be happy if they came away recognizing some of the challenges that farm interns face, and what their day to day reality is like. If you want to be an intern, or you already ARE an intern, this blog is for you. If you are just plain curious about what it is like to be an intern, this blog is for you too. And if you happened to stumble into this blog by some very unlikely chance, I hope you will read it and get something out of it.

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I am currently in the first stage of looking for my second apprenticeship on a farm: the search. When I search for apprenticeships, I have a set of priorities that I use to evaluate farms on a few of my favorite internship listing websites (attrainternships.ncat, ruralheritage.com/apprenticeships, mofga.org). I scroll through the listings and see if the farms meet the requirements, which are, roughly:

-Use of draft horses, which I have a keen interest in for a number of reasons

-Mixture of livestock and crops

-The potential for a season-long position

-A friendly tone (whatever seems friendly at the time, anyway)

The first one is so rare that I usually only have a small number to choose from. I send these farms emails and call them, and then wait and see what happens. I have had a number of frustrating experiences in which a farm will never respond in any way--not with a yes or no, not with "we'll see what happens," not with any kind of information whatsoever. I am then left with the difficult decision about whether to "write them off" and assume that they will never respond, or whether to wait and see if they respond months later (which some do, complicating the issue slightly). I know that farms are busy, even in winter (I have experienced farm business, to be sure), but I wish that I could get at least some sort of response in those situations.

I have contacted about eleven farms, but two have not responded, and three have been "dead ends" (which means that they did not have the opportunities I was looking for), so I now have a working list of six. I am in the "wait and see" position as yet.