Learning To Farm-The Ecological Agriculture Training (EAT) Cultural Center Way
So, as many of you know, in addition to operating Windy
River Farm, I also run the Ecological Agriculture Training and Cultural Center.
The EAT Center is a program of Five Keys Schools and Programs and serves as a
gathering space where long-time, new and beginning and prospective farmers come
together to learn, share and celebrate all things “Small Farm.” We offer a
10-month wisdom-based, science informed small farm apprenticeship where
students combine classroom delivered theory with farm-based hands on practice. We
provide in depth one day workshops and help local farmers and ranchers sell and
distribute their products.
One thing I hear over and over is “you can’t teach someone
to be a farmer,” and at first, I fought that notion. Mostly, because it damaged
my pride and questioned the value of what I spent much of my time doing. Over
time I have come to accept and even agree with the idea that you cannot teach a
person to be a farmer.
Being a farmer or rancher takes a special kind of person. It
requires determination, dedication and adaptation. Patience is a crucial element.
It demands that every time you get knocked down, you get back up. It takes
heart. Those things can’t really be taught, however, they can be learned. Some
of us were lucky enough to have those traits instilled in us early in our life and
others have the opportunity to acquire them as adults through experience and
mentorship.
What can be taught, are practices that lead to good farming.
We teach triple bottom line practices that sustain the natural, social and
economic systems of the small farm and the farm community. We focus on soil
health, biodiversity, conservation, direct marketing and community as the
foundations of production models and systems. Cooperation instead of
competition. We avoid taking political sides because neither the left nor the
right seem to embrace the Whole Farm and Farm Community the way all of us would
like.
We strive to teach more than a collection of tasks.
Although, there are some critical and essential tasks that we know must be
completed regularly. Livestock must be fed, crops irrigated, compost turned,
product sold and bills paid for examples. We teach and practice these tasks and more regularlyas part of our program. Yet, as I wake before the sun, sip
coffee and write this. I know that, instinctively, there is so much more to
those simple tasks then it seems on the surface. Through years of carrying out
those tasks, and observing outcomes from what I put in, what my neighbors put
in, and how the natural system responds, I change, redirect and adapt. It is
this ability to react, that makes us good farmers.
As a student at Prescott College in the early 1990s, I
studied Natural History. I learned the importance of observation. Today, I
spend much of my time in the field observing. Observing what birds are where on
my farm. Are they seed eating sparrows or bug eating blue birds[T1] ?
What shade of green are the leaves on my bush beans? How much has the corn grown over night? What
animal tracks have crossed my recently formed beds? How well is the soil
holding moisture? How much organic matter is in my soil? I record all of this
in my field journal.
Through observation and recording I develop systems that
work with the ecology of my farm. It allows each task to have the greatest
impact with the most efficiency. It makes me a working member of the farm
community, not merely the overseer or “manager” of a machine.
When we combine this system of ecological observation and
cooperation of our piece of the planet with the basic tasks required to produce
and provide a food, fiber or flower product, we learn to farm. I have been in and
around the horticultural industry for 30 years and have run my own farm for
more than a decade. I continue to learn every
day and this is what the Ecological Agriculture Training Cultural Center and Farm are all about.