Every year in the late winter Chris and I sift through applications for our summer internship here on the farm. We love the interview process and getting to know why so many people want to spend their summer on a farm. This year we had about twenty-five applicants from all walks of life. We've had ivy league students, professional writers, vagabonds, folks in mid-life looking for a change, and many more seeking the opportunity to learn more about sustainable farming. We are honored to pass along the knowledge that we have gained while farming and get excited about igniting a passion for farming in others.
So what do we hope to accomplish with the internship? In addition to having extra hands to help us here during our busiest season, our aim with the internship is to help educate the next generation of farmers and eaters. When we look for prospective interns we look for people who are either interested in starting their own farm someday, aspire to work in the farming industry or hope to be an advocate for sustainable farming.Through working with the animals each day, attending farmers' markets, processing poultry, canning, gardening, making deliveries, and working in our farm store, we hope to instill in our interns the importance and the inner workings of the local food movement. While the interns are here with us we assign reading on sustainable agriculture and livestock, we watch films together and discuss reading assignments, so it is more than just physical work day in, day out.
This year the girls we chose are all here because they were looking to deepen their understanding of where their food comes, to work with livestock and to gain more experiece for future endeavors. Aidan (left) loves horses and is studying Environmental Science at Delaware Valley College, Heather (middle) an aspiring writer is planning to put her farm experience down on paper when she goes back to UNC in August, and Julia (right) a recent college graduate, is hoping to attend veterinary college in the fall and desires more large animal experience which she'll definitely get here on the farm this summer.
Our interns will be here until the month of August so please come on by and meet them at the Walpole Farmers' Market on Friday or at our farm store on Saturday.
Caitlin
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