Weather Forecast: Mid-to-high 50s, 10-20% chance of rain, winds around 10mph.
John and I are looking forward to getting to know you and introducing you to our farm this week! It sounds like we may escape the rain on both Tuesday and Wednesday, but the ground is quite wet, so please make sure you have footwear that can accommodate mud. Depending on the weather, we may do a short walkabout to give you a sense of the farmland, the farm's history, and the ecosystem within which all of this exists.
Our primary goal for our Week 1 practicum is to start to get to know you and to give you a sense of our farm and the context within which it exists. Before you come out to the farm, please take a look at our farm's website:
https://harvestofjoyfarm.wordpress.com/
The content of this class will be driven, in large part, by your questions and curiosities. So, after you've looked through our website, post a question in the comments section of this blog that you'd like us to answer for you about our farm or our experiences as farmers. We'll do our best to address your questions during the practicum.
If time permits, we'll also start to introduce you to one of our favorite parts of farming: seeds! We may even start doing some planting.
We will be giving each of you a small section of one of our garden beds to play with, so start thinking about what vegetable you might like to take responsibility for this quarter.
We'll see you soon on the farm!
What suggestions would you give to someone who has zero experience in farming?
ReplyDeleteThis is my comment sorry!
DeleteWhat advice would you give to someone who wishes to start farming or growing crops, but lacks the environment like that found on a large farm? For instance, someone who lives in a more urban area.
ReplyDeleteIt was mentioned that there are multiple strategies used to sustain the farm financially. What are these strategies?
ReplyDeleteHow do you balance your ideals with financial strains/struggles? How much are you willing to compromise in order to ensure the continuation of the farm?
ReplyDeleteWhile farming (I imagine) there must come a moment where what is good for the farm isn't necessarily good for the environment (ex. keeping the ash trees at the cost of pesticide vs. loosing trees that play important ecological role) - how does one make decisions at that point?
ReplyDeleteHow do you address unpredictable weather, as well as issues surrounding climate change? (I'm thinking about those 60 degree days we had in February!) How do these things change farming practices?
ReplyDeleteIf there were no financial restraints, what would your ideal farm look like? Which current components would you keep and which would you change?
ReplyDeleteHow is human labor input on this farm (Harvest of Joy) different in its nature from the labor required to upkeep industrial agricultural systems?
ReplyDeleteWould community supported agriculture programs be efficient models to use in urban areas? What about community gardening? I wonder if it would be possible to approach the issue using both models.
ReplyDeleteHow is gardening/small-scale farming related to overall well-being and health? *specifically, how can we explain this to someone very removed from the source of their food?
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ReplyDeleteIn terms of access, are the farm's resources availbale to different member of socioeconomic groups?
ReplyDeleteHow the farm keep in a balance ecology system with growing multiple crops?
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