By Mariel Shaw (Martha’s Vineyard, MA)
Learning to milk a cow is all part of a day’s work.
I rarely gave much thought to where my food came from until the line between processed and unprocessed food started becoming more defined. Until then, on the rare occasions when I went food shopping, I looked for clever logos and reasonable prices. Organic? Organic what? Aren’t all carrots organic?
It was time for me to learn more about the what, how, and why of organically grown food, and I would do it by volunteering to work as a farmhand at the FARM (Farming, Agriculture and Resource Management) Institute in Edgartown, a year-round working organic farm located on the 186 acres of Katama Farm. Its focus is the education of children and adults through programs, volunteer work, and summer camp.
I arrive at the FARM Institute at 7:30 on a Wednesday morning, struggling to stay awake. Never having been on a farm before, I hope I won’t embarrass myself. As I step out of the car, a rooster the size of a wheelbarrow waddles up to me clucking loudly, as if recognizing my nervousness and demanding to know what I am doing on his farm. I pass him cautiously and head towards the farmhouse with brightly-painted stools on the porch where a “No Farm, No Food” sign is posted and where a smiling and energetic Melinda DeFeo, the FARM’s education program director, waits.
Listening to her talk about the FARM Institute’s mission, I am impressed by how much she cares about her work. She explains that the FARM teaches students where food comes from and how to make the connection between what is on the land and what is on their plates.
“It changes their world,” Ms. DeFeo says about the reaction of the children who attend the summer day camp at the institute. “The hands-on inquiry helps them to better understand and learn about agriculture.”
Ms. DeFeo and the other equally lively staff members make me so welcome I soon forget about being an outsider. The passion and respect they have for the land is clear within the first 10 minutes of meeting them, and my anticipation grows as I wait for the work to begin. Meeting these people makes me want to be a part of the FARM and its teaching program. As the staff members eat their breakfast and chat with each other about their campers and the day’s plans, I look out the window and absorb the beauty of my surroundings. The sun is shining through a foggy morning mist, making the garden in front of the house look like a fairyland.
My first task of the day as a volunteer is to help Dylan, one of the ten FIT (Farmers In Training) students to mow a maze that is to become the Corn Maze, a feature designed for family fun. As he shows me the two monstrous machines, I realize that I might not be completely ready for farm life.
I know where I am supposed to go, but I cannot seem to get it to follow. Though my frustration is increasing, I cannot help but stay calm with Dylan’s encouragement accompanied by the stillness of the morning. Finally, I learn how to easily maneuver the machine by throwing my entire body weight into it as I follow the trail of 12-inch grass. The chore becomes easier with time. “Yeah, I can do this all day,” I think.
During the time I spend alone, mowing away with my ear plugs on and a huge farmer’s hat that I have borrowed, I think about how much I take for granted about the fresh food I eat that somebody else grows and picks.
There is a feeling of accomplishment after finishing mowing my portion of the field. Maybe that’s what volunteering at the FARM is all about; doing your part to help this amazing organization of people and common interest for a healthier and more sustainable Martha’s Vineyard.
The next task of the day is to feed the chickens with a counselor named Bridget Meigs and her campers. The chickens at the FARM live in groups of the same age in large partially covered enclosures with grass for a floor. Each pen is moved periodically to make sure that the chickens get new clean grass.
As I poured the powdered yellow feed into the trays for the meat chickens, I cannot help but think of their fate, but Bridget helps me and the campers understand that these chickens have a short but sweet life, and this is just the way life is on a farm.
From there, I begin my third task: milking a goat with assistance from Jane Loutzenhiser and her campers. Before milking, we all practice on a latex glove. Ms. Loutzenhiser explains how to close off the teat with your index finger and thumb before squeezing out the milk with your other fingers. Once I feel comfortable with the glove, I’m ready for the real thing. It is exciting. The goat becomes comfortable with me as I gain confidence. After acquiring the milk with my own hands, I have to try it. I must say that warm goat milk is definitely not something that will quench your thirst, but it is surprisingly similar to the milk I drink in the morning. Compared to the one percent milk I usually drink, it tastes a lot sweeter and richer. “This must be the most natural thing I have ever drunk,” I think. No processing, add-ins, or even hormones involved. It is a weird notion to know that what I am drinking is in fact what I milked from the goat’s udder five minutes before.
Rob Goldfarb, the FARM’s communications and event director, talks about the institute and its mission, affirming how dedicated the staff is to the institute’s goals for the future of the Island. Though the FARM Institute is a working farm that produces meat and crops, what it really is selling is education.
“The mission of the FARM Institute is to educate and engage children and adults in sustainable agriculture through a diverse working farm,” says Mr. Goldfarb. “It is so important for the youth of today to learn about where the food they eat comes from and how it is produced.”
At the camp, when children carry out the chores and gain more knowledge every day, they come to understand what Mr. Goldfarb describes as “the dignity of labor.” They gain a sense of responsibility for the land and the animals and they feel good about the tasks they accomplish.
Mr. Goldfarb stresses the importance of buying from local farmers. “Know the hands that feed you,” he says, talking about how we know less and less about the food we eat as it comes from farther and farther away. The farm, he says, belongs to the community and its mission is to empower that community for an educated and sustainable Island.
Mariel Kramer Shaw, age 17, is a senior and editor of the campus newspaper at Brooks School in North Andover.
A first encounter with a cautious rooster— Photo by Martha Shaw
Mariel Shaw tackles the mowing of the corn maze.— Photos by Alan Brigish