Pre-Apprenticeship graduates

Diversified Vegetable Pre-Apprenticeship provides introductory hands-on training for people who want to explore sustainable farming as a career but have little to no prior farming experience. Our pre-apprenticeship program is hosted by local partner organizations with established farmer training programs focused on teaching sustainable growing practices. 

To graduate, each pre-apprentice had to complete 225 hours of on-the-job training and 25 hours of related technical instruction. They also had to demonstrate competency in 15 core skill areas around vegetable production and farm business.

Carlie Antes

Host site: Dickinson College Farm

Farm Stat: hundreds of pounds of potatoes harvested with a team of four in one day

Favorite farm task: harvest

Least favorite farm task: sorting tomatoes

Favorite beneficial insect, organism, or critter: Lactobacillus

How did you grow from this experience?

“I never farmed before this.

I was surprised by the strength and leadership I gained. By the end of the season, I found myself leading our students and volunteers with ease and answering the same questions I had when I started.

A college supervisor told me ‘all we can do is take care of our small part of the world,’ and I feel like I can really live by that while farming and promoting accessible local food systems.”

What’s next: Carlie is taking the next step in her farming career: starting her two-season apprenticeship at New Morning Farm.

Sarah Kim

Host site: Truelove Seeds

Farm stat: “An innumerable and growing number of seeds and seed stories I’ve learned about through the different farmers I’ve connected to.” 

Favorite farm task: seed cleaning and collecting “—but it really depends on the crop.”

Least favorite: weeding

 Favorite beneficial insect, organism, or critter: mantids

What’s a story or memory that stands out from this experience?

“One of the best memories I have of this time is actually planting Korean crops at Truelove’s acreage, one of which was Korean cosmos—my grandfather’s favorite flower.”

What’s a lesson you learned that you would pass along to someone considering pre-apprenticeship?

“It’s truly about the people you work with and the community and solidarity you build with them.” 

Shout out: “Pasa is great!”

What’s next: Sarah plans to continue farm work with Truelove and, as an artist, hopes to merge their experience in agriculture with an environmentally-focused creative practice.

Abigail Schaus

Host site: LaFarm — Lafayette College

Farm stat: “8 awesome farmworkers I managed and mentored last season!”

Favorite farm task: harvesting brussels sprouts

Least favorite: repairing holes in drip-tape irrigation

Favorite beneficial insect, organism, or critter: worms

What’s something unique you brought to this pre-apprenticeship?

“During my time on the farm, I worked to bring intersectional lenses into the conversation, providing space for all identities in a way that things about food and farm work as a safe space for dialogue, expression, and understanding.”

How did you grow from this experience?

“This experience developed my confidence in managing multiple tasks.

I greatly appreciate the opportunity to learn new responsibilities, whether it be coordinating tasks for other farmworkers or controlling the irrigation system.”

Shoutout: “Thank you, Lisa, for your incredible work as pre-apprenticeship manager, and for caring about humans, soil, plants, and creatures in such meaningful, inspirational ways!”

What’s next: Abigail is currently serving as an intern for a community garden program and working toward completing her undergraduate degree in environmental studies.

Apprenticeship graduates

Diversified Vegetable Apprenticeship pairs beginning farmers with established mentor farmers to provide a guided pathway toward managing or starting a vegetable farm.

To graduate, each apprentice completed 2,700+ hours of on-the-job training and 200+ hours of coursework over at least 18 months. Now they’re embarking on careers growing a more sustainable food system.

Delilah Miske

Host farm: Katydid Hill

Farm stat: helped grow, harvest and dry about 1,000 pounds of dried medicinal plants

Favorite farm task: seeding or tractor cultivation

Least favorite: punching holes in the header of irrigation pipes

Favorite beneficial insect, organism, or critter: praying mantis and swallowtail

What’s a story or memory that stands out from your apprenticeship?

“Harvesting fresh milky oats by hand, and learning the ripeness by squeezing the latex out of the pods. That same day, I made the biggest tincture of my life using a large drum and a very large immersion blender.”

How did you grow from this experience?

“I learned how to do things that once intimidated me, confidently.

I learned all the ins and outs of running and managing a farm. From rebranding to fixing the tractor to seeding and going to markets. I got a real experience of what it takes to get locally grown goods out to a community.”

Shout out: “I am just so grateful for [mentor farmers] Ben and Katelyn and to Dan for all that I have learned and will continue to explore because of this experience.”

What’s next: Delilah is pivoting to writing work that supports farms and conservation organizations. Her ultimate goal is to find land in the Appalachian mountains, where she hopes to grow woodland medicinals like ginseng, goldenseal, reishi, cordyceps and more.

Ventura Ortiz

Host farm: Apple Ridge Farm

Farm stat: “I have worked at about 8 different markets over the past two years from all the way up in Warwick, NY to Wrightstown, PA.”

Favorite farm task: planting seedlings

Least favorite: weeding “—it feels like a never ending war against weeds!”

Favorite beneficial insect, organism, or critter: ladybugs

What experience got you interested in farming?

“I was not really connected to food or community growing up, I was a video gaming, fast food fan.

But when my family decided to move to a place with enough land to be able to have chickens, goats, ducks, and even turkeys—It made me realize I wanted to get involved, and find a farmer who could teach me how to start my own farm.”

How did you grow from this experience?

Only being 18 going into the apprenticeship, I have matured and learned so much from so many people!

I grew in many ways, from having to take on the role of teaching my fellow farmworkers to teaching myself to speak up and take the initiative to solve problems when they arise.

What’s next: Ventura has stepped into a role as head brewer at Untamed Ferments, a value-added operation making kombucha from surplus crops (started by her boyfriend Erik Sink—another apprenticeship graduate).

Michael Salzl

Host farm: nook & cranny

Farm stat: 5,000 shares worth of vegetables provided to CSA members

Favorite farm task: harvesting cabbages

Least favorite: deconstructing cucumber trellises

Favorite beneficial insect, organism, or critter: garter snakes

What’s a story or memory that stands out from your apprenticeship?

“I remember during my second year in the program, our farm had an end of summer party for our crew and CSA members. I felt a lot of pride being able to share knowledge about our farm with families who directly supported us.”

What’s a lesson you learned that you would pass along to someone considering Diversified Vegetable Apprenticeship?

“I learned that people in this network truly want to share their experiences and knowledge. It is crucial to really put yourself out there early because the experiences you make early in the program snowball, and determine who you meet and the interests you can pursue for the rest of the apprenticeship.”

How did you grow from this experience?

“This experience helped demystify the art of farming for me.

Before my experience growing food seemed like a magic trick, and now I feel like it is a crucial and attainable piece of any household or community.”

Shout out: “Dan and I would spend 99% of our check-in meetings talking about farm business, but we would be sure to chat at the end about our shared love for soccer, in particular the English Premier League.”

What’s next: Michael has accepted a position as a crew member on an organic no-till diversified farm in his home state of Minnesota, and will work towards the dream of owning and operating his farm in the future.

What’s the next step in your farming career?

Whether you’ve been farming for decades, have a year or two of ag experience under your belt, or have never set foot on a farm—Pasa has farmer education and training opportunities for anyone who’s looking to grow.

The post Meet some recent Apprenticeship & Pre-Apprenticeship graduates appeared first on Pasa Sustainable Agriculture.

Two-wheel, walk-behind tractors like the BCS are a powerful tool-of-choice for many small scale growers, and also play a role in larger operations. In addition to safe operation and basic maintenance, attendees got to hear from established farmers about how they’ve really put these machines to work in their production plans.

“It was so helpful to learn from another farmer who started from where we are now,” 

shared participant Brittney Pheobus of trainer Dean Buttacavoli of Cabbage Throw Farm, which uses a two-wheel tractor as an integral part of their minimum tillage operation.

“We have been trying to make a decision about whether or not a BCS would be a good fit for getting our operation started.”

Now Brittney says, “I have a much better understanding of the size, scale, and handling of these machines… as well as an idea of what kind of planning to do around incorporating a two-wheel tractor into our farm design.”

The 19 participants at this full-day, interactive training included several of Pasa’s Diversified Vegetable Apprentices and Pre-Apprentices, incubator farmers at The Seed Farm, and apprentices in the Rodale Institute Farmer Training program.

After learning about overall safety—and warming up in the greenhouse over lunch from Wonder Kitchen— each participant got the chance for some supervised hands-on practice using the tiller and flail mower attachments. They did great!

Like many Pasa events, this was truly a community effort. The Seed Farm not only hosted, but helped coordinate and plan. And along with myself and Dean from Cabbage Throw, Dan Kemper from Rodale Institute and several Seed Farm incubator farmers pitched in to share advice—and wound up picking up tips from one another.

While the weather and the clocks could have been kinder to us (did I mention we inadvertently scheduled this for the first day of Daylight Saving?)—seeing this community come together to teach and learn always makes for a great day in my book.

Can a two-wheel tractor help your farm get growing?

Join us the next time we offer this training, on Sunday, April 23 at Weavers Way Farms—Henry Got Crops site at W.B. Saul Agricultural High School in Philadelphia.

The post Field Notes: Training Wheels appeared first on Pasa Sustainable Agriculture.

Being members of the Pasa team for the past six weeks has been an incredible experience as two individuals wanting to learn more about their community. We’ve both learned about what goes on in farms besides just growing fresh food.

Land & spirituality

Sankofa Community Farm at Bartrams Garden was more than just a farm. More than just growing foods. They are cultured around the African Diaspora.

We had to have a reason, a good purpose of walking onto the farm.

“My purpose was to understand more about Sankofa and to get more spiritually connected to myself. When I walked in there I felt a different aura. It felt peaceful and safe in the garden.”

— Mir

Culture & history

Norris Square Neighborhood Project is based on Puerto Rican and African culture. People in the community feel more connected to the farm because it’s their heritage and it’s their lifestyle.

Management & organization

When we visited Novick Urban Farm we learned that even though their space was small, they had two farms. They had a community garden and another garden to grow food to sell.

Organizing farms is very important. It’s important that you know which plants are which and that they are labeled. In order to have healthy and good growing food you need to have them separated and organized. You can’t have two plants that don’t benefit from each other growing side by side.

One of the main things we learned is that when certain crops don’t grow right, you have to learn from your mistakes and improve on them the next time. Learn from your losses.

Education & cooperation

In order for farms to manage farmers have to work together as a team. They have to communicate and trust each other in order to maintain a good team relationship. Our experience from going to farms like Truelove Seeds and seeing teams of farmers working together was amazing. They are respectful and take pride in growing the plants at their farm. They respect each other and are good at explaining and learning from one another.

Many of the farms we visited had youth involvement. Showing the youth how to manage farms and how to grow food is very important. It’s also better for communities to have the young ones working and being productive at farms. Training them and teaching them how to manage a garden or farm will be good for the future. It’s also making the younger generation more aware of the farm’s mission. The more the youth is educated about this the more help to the cause.

Community & policy

Learning about the experiences of others working at different farms felt amazing. We also got to work on a mapping project locating Pasa member farms in Pennsylvania on a map both digitally and on a paper map in the Philly office.

Meeting the Pennsylvania Secretary of Agriculture and learning about the farming system as a whole was such a privilege to have had while working here.

We will be sure to take everything that we’ve learned and incorporate it all into our future as much as possible!

This internship opportunity was coordinated through the Philadelphia Higher Education Network for Neighborhood Development.

The post How Farms Grow More than Food appeared first on Pasa Sustainable Agriculture.

Last year we launched our Diversified Vegetable Pre-Apprenticeship with two beginner farmer training programs in Pennsylvania. As pre-apprenticeship heads into its second growing season, seven new training partners have signed on to offer this credential to aspiring farmers they work with. Four college-based farms have joined, along with a nonprofit that helps people overcome barriers to employment, and two programs in Philadelphia including an educational nonprofit and a farm business. 

The flexibility of pre-apprenticeship allows each training partner to implement the curriculum at a pace that makes sense for them and for the participants. 

We piloted the program in its first season at two educational nonprofit farms. The LEAF Project cultivates youth leaders from diverse backgrounds through meaningful work in the food system and operates a three-acre vegetable farm in Perry County, Pennsylvania. Grow Pittsburgh’s Urban Farmers in Training Program provides local teens with the opportunity to gain summer employment while learning about the value of growing and eating healthy food.

“We’ve been excited to implement Vegetable Pre-Apprenticeship as an innovative way to synthesize working on our urban farm spaces and sharing education in a very hands-in-the-dirt kind of way that intentionally tracks what someone is learning.”

Eva Barinas, Director of Farm Education and Production at Grow Pittsburgh

Three college-based farms have signed on as training partners to offer pre-apprenticeship to students.

Bucknell University students engage in sustainable farming and food access programs at the Bucknell Farm on campus and at the nearby Lewisburg Community Garden.

LaFarm is a sustainability initiative at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania. The farm’s mission is to integrate curriculum and practice in sustainable food and agriculture for the campus community. They grow produce for the dining halls, recycle nutrients from composted food back to the soil, and serve as a home for collaborative student-faculty education and research.

Dickinson College Farm is an 80-acre, organic farm where students can gain hands-on learning experiences in sustainable agriculture and renewable energy. Student employees, graduate apprentices, and volunteers are involved in all aspects of food production and research on the farm, which provides food to the campus and local community in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Dickinson also hosts a full-time farm apprentice through our Diversified Vegetable Apprenticeship.

Some training partners work with people as young as 14, while others work with those well into adulthood.

Located outside of Pittsburgh in Ambridge, Pennsylvania, Crop & Kettle is a nonprofit that utilizes the food system to provide job training and social development for members of their community who are eager to overcome barriers to employment. Grow Pittsburgh has also expanded its participation this year to offer a pre-apprenticeship track to an adult beginning farmer cohort.

Two of the new training partner programs are based in Philadelphia. Greensgrow is an educational urban farm and demonstration garden that provides an essential connection to food and nature in Philadelphia. Truelove Seeds is a seed company focused on providing culturally-important seeds to people longing for their tastes of home. They also have many community facing programs including a farmer training program for growers aspiring to incorporate seed keeping into their work as growers and stewards of culture. 

As farms across the state are struggling with labor shortages, this program offers a valuable tool for workforce development. Pre-apprenticeship can also play a role in advancing diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice in agriculture by serving as the first stepping stone on a career path toward becoming a farm manager or owner.

The curriculum is based on the core duties, skills, and qualifications for our two-season vegetable farming apprenticeship program, Diversified Vegetable Apprenticeship, which means pre-apprentices who want to keep learning about agriculture have a built-in next step for more extensive training. Both programs are registered with the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry.

Any organization that currently administers, or is planning to administer, vegetable farming training opportunities for either youth or adults can become a Diversified Vegetable Pre-Apprenticeship training partner! Training partners manage recruitment, training, and supervision of pre-apprentices, while Pasa provides curriculum and administrative support.

Over 50 pre-apprentices are currently enrolled in pre-apprenticeship. Two participants completed their pre-apprenticeships last year, and four more are on track to graduate in the next few months. Stay tuned to our social media for profiles of the new grads and an Instagram takeover from some current pre-apprentices.

Learn more:

Read about sprouting pre-apprenticeship last year at the LEAF Project.

Interested in becoming a pre-apprentice or a training partner? Learn more about the program here, and reach out to Lisa at dvp@pasafarming.org or 814.349.9856 x725 with any questions.

Already have a year of farmer training under your belt? Check out our two-season apprenticeship.

The post Welcome to our new pre-apprenticeship training partners! appeared first on Pasa Sustainable Agriculture.

Whether they studied math, education, or culinary arts, whether they served in the military or grew up on a farm, the six individuals graduating from Diversified Vegetable Apprenticeship this spring each brought their own unique strengths to the farms that hosted them.

Each apprentice completed 2,700+ hours of on-the-job training and 200+ hours of coursework over 18 months, and they’re now embarking on careers growing a more sustainable food system.

Amber Bahn

hosted by The LEAF Project

Before farming: studied education and taught abroad

Farm stat: 82 households fed from LEAF’s weekly share

Favorite farm task: seeding and planting

Least favorite farm task: bed-prepping by hand

Favorite beneficial insect: assassin bugs

Up next: Amber is staying on as farm manager with LEAF for the foreseeable future and continuing to help with students participating in our Diversified Vegetable Pre-Apprenticeship.

“Farming requires an incredibly diverse skill-set. Using the program’s skills checklist, I was able to easily figure out where my strengths were, as well as the areas I had not yet been exposed to.”

Erik Sink

hosted by Apple Ridge Farm

Before farming: studied math and economics

Farm stat: worked 7 farmers markets in 3 states

Favorite farm task: weeding—very relaxing!

Least favorite farm task: anything involving chickens

Favorite beneficial bug: lady bug

Up next: “I started a fermented drink business in 2021 with my mentor farmer. We’ve seen a lot of growth. I’m looking forward to continuing the business and expanding to other markets and products.”

“I’ve really developed a lot not only as a farmer but also as a business professional. I’ve gained many connections and learned a lot about working with people and customers. Although apprenticeship focuses on farming, you’ll come away with much more experience in life as a whole”

San Sankofa

hosted by New Morning Farm • Tooth of the Lion Farm & Apothecary

Before farming: served in the military

Farm stat: dried over 1,000 pounds of herbs and flowers last season

Favorite farm task: installing and maintaining irrigation

Least favorite farm task: weeding

Favorite beneficial bug: praying mantis

Up next: San’s planning to start a farm business growing herbs, making teas, tinctures, and herbal smoke blends to help fellow veterans and soldiers dealing with stress, anxiety, depression, and insomnia. He also recently joined Pasa’s board.

“I was involved in all sides of these farm businesses, from planting seeds to harvesting and marketing the finished product… I now feel confident that I have the skills I need to succeed as a farmer.”

Phoebe Brubaker

hosted by Village Acres Farm & Foodshed   

Farm stat: planted close to 3,000 trees and shrubs for a riparian buffer project

Favorite farm task: planting and weeding

Least favorite farm task: fixing broken irrigation pipes 

Favorite beneficial bug: lady beetles

Up next: Phoebe’s getting back to growing and designing with specialty cut flowers in a new business venture with her sister.

“Flexibility is key, particularly in a pandemic. I tend to love the planning side of things, but the ability to assess value and pivot within a season is so important. Holding on too tightly to an idea that is not profitable can be damaging to a bottom line.”

RJ Brison

hosted by North Star Orchard   

Advice to prospective apprentices: “Don’t run the undercutter too deep.”

Favorite farm task: cultivation

Least favorite farm task: wash room

Favorite beneficial bug: “Worms are cool.”

Up next: RJ plans to work on his family’s farm. “We’re making a big transition from conventional monocropping to a diverse landscape that’s as good for the wildlife as it is for us and our well-being.”

“I found my personal farming niche, Truthfully, it really helped me find what I want to do as well as what I definitely do not want to do. And apprenticeship allowed me to do this in an environment that’s a bit more forgiving than if I attempted things on my own farm.”

Subarna Sijapati

hosted by New Morning Farm

Before farming: trained as a chef

Favorite farm task: harvesting greens and garlic

Least favorite farm task: waiting out the slow-growing winter months

Favorite beneficial bug: crab spider

Up next: Subarna plans on starting his own farm-to-table operation, specializing in culinary herbs. He was also recently elected to Pasa’s board.

“It’s very intimidating in the beginning… to manage a crop and take full responsibility for its well being. But don’t forget, plants are resilient—just like us, they want to grow well.”

Interested in becoming an apprentice?

Get comprehensive on-the-job training while you earn a progressive wage. Learn more and apply here.

Interested in hosting an apprentice on your farm?

Help train the next generation of sustainable producers—and gain a committed, pre-qualified employee. Host an apprentice on your farm.

Want to support our farmer training programs?

Make an investment in a brighter future for our food system and our planet. Become a Perennial Donor. 

The post Meet our 2022 Diversified Vegetable Apprenticeship graduates appeared first on Pasa Sustainable Agriculture.

In this blog post, LEAF Founder and Executive Director Heidi Witmer explains how hosting our pre-apprenticeship program complements LEAF’s work engaging youth leaders in the food system. Heidi is also a Pasa board member.

The seeds that grew into LEAF

We asked Heidi where the idea for the LEAF (Leadership Education and Farming) Project came from, and she pointed to several seeds of inspiration. When she started a market garden side business after college, she drew on her childhood experience helping on family farms with production and canning, and she had her extended family as farming mentors. “I was lucky to grow up very connected to our regional food system,” she said. “With LEAF, I wanted to help make entry points into the food system for kids who grow up outside of farming families.”

It was when she was working at a school in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania that Heidi recognized a problem that was really an opportunity. “There was a lot of research at the time about ‘summer learning loss.’ But I felt like rather than talking about what students were losing, we should be imagining different kinds of experiences they could be gaining over the summer break.” She gave her students an assignment to find summer jobs or volunteer positions, but at the time (late 2000s, early 2010s) youth employment was at a record low. Heidi said, “My students were coming back with 20 plus rejection letters. I realized it wasn’t the world I had grown up in, where everyone could have a summer job. There was a critical need for youth engagement and employment.”

Growing connections & leaders

“If you don’t grow up on a farm, you can just drive by corn fields all your life and you have no idea the work that goes into it. There’s a profound disconnect.” 

Heidi saw an opportunity to connect the vibrant agricultural sector she grew up in with an untapped resource — youth employees — to meet some of our region’s most pressing challenges: food insecurity, a rise in food-choice-related health challenges, and workforce development. She imagined LEAF as a way to help students discover their strengths, grow their leadership skills, and gain experience that would help them qualify for any job or entrepreneurial endeavor they want to try next. She also hoped that many of them would begin to see themselves as part of the food system. “If you don’t grow up on a farm, you can just drive by corn fields all your life and you have no idea the work that goes into it. There’s a profound disconnect.” 

LEAF works to grow that connection by cultivating youth leaders from diverse backgrounds through meaningful work in the food system. Students ages 14–18 can participate in up to four years of paid positions, beginning with introductory work, then progressing to specialized roles and taking on leadership responsibilities. 

The LEAF farm is located on the same land in Perry County, Pennsylvania where Heidi started her market garden. “It’s a relatively small farm, but it’s become a much bigger enterprise than when I was running it solo,” she said. Students operate one-and-a-half acres of production fields and tunnels, and distribute 100 weekly summer farm shares to community members. They also sell at regional farmers markets, manage wholesale accounts with local restaurants, and donate to hunger relief organizations. LEAF additionally runs its own commercial kitchen that specializes in preserved and value-added products. 

“The young people here are doing every piece of this farming business puzzle. Not just in the field and in the kitchen,” said Heidi. “They’re doing profit analysis, marketing, assessing our strengths, finding where the gaps are, and asking bigger picture questions, like ‘what does food system equity look like in our region?’”

LEAF also partners with many local for-profit farms to give students a chance to experience different types and scales of production as well as to meet food system role models. To Heidi, these partnerships are the backbone of LEAF: “Our students are at a really pivotal point. They’re starting to make decisions about the direction their lives will take and asking ‘what do I want to do for a career’? So it’s wonderful for them to be meeting farmers and other food system leaders who are making a difference in their communities.”

The first rung in a ladder

Of the 25 students participating in LEAF this season, nine are enrolled in our Diversified Vegetable Pre-Apprenticeship. 

Heidi says, “We’re so excited to add the Pre-Apprenticeship program to the work we’re doing with LEAF. It’s great to be able to offer students the credential of Pre-Apprenticeship registered with the Department of Labor and Industry. It really compliments our goals of introducing youth to farming while also honoring their talents and accomplishments. We also offer our students pay raises when they reach certain levels of competency, and the structure of Pre-Apprenticeship really gives us a perfect framework for that.”

Our Pre-Apprenticeship is based on the core skills and qualifications for our intensive two-season vegetable farming apprenticeship to offer a built-in next step toward more extensive farmer training.

As a Pasa board member and farmer educator, Heidi was involved in the development for both programs. “For the full apprenticeship, we asked ourselves, what does it truly take to run a farm? And it was pretty humbling to recognize the breadth and depth of those job requirements. Ultimately we identified 15 key competency areas.” 

Then when it came to translate those learning objectives to an introductory program, Heidi said, “We asked ourselves what do you need to know to get the basics? Fewer competency areas? Or maybe just a smaller percentage of each topic, and that’s the way we decided to go. So the Pre-Apprentices are really getting a broad introduction to all these aspects of running a farm business.”

The breadth of the Diversified Vegetable Pre-Apprenticeship curriculum is clear when you talk with the pre-apprentice students at LEAF. Pre-Apprentice Emma den Hoed has been out in the field learning about pest management. She says, “I’m really looking forward to learning more about crop rotation as well as how to operate greenhouses.” Pre-Apprentice Jared McChesney has been learning a lot about the financial side of farming: “I was shocked about how much it takes to make a budget for even a small nonprofit farm like this.”

Heidi says, “I love that it’s like this ladder — Pre-Apprenticeship is the first rung. And then a two-season apprenticeship or one of our more specialized internships after that, and then hopefully one day managing a farm or starting a food-related business. My goal is to see how far we can get our youth up that ladder.”

Host pre-apprentices at your organization. Any organization that currently administers, or is planning to administer, vegetable farming training opportunities for either youth or adults can become a Diversified Vegetable Pre-Apprenticeship host site! If you’re interested, contact Dan Dalton at dan@pasafarming.org or 814.349.9856 x710 for more information.

The post Sprouting Pre-Apprenticeship at the LEAF Project appeared first on Pasa Sustainable Agriculture.

The Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training—more commonly known as CRAFT—began over twenty years ago in New England when a network of farmers began hosting informal farm tours and educational events for their interns, apprentices, and employees. These events helped beginning farmers learn about the growing methods and sustainability principles guiding the physical work they were doing each day. Since then, a number of state and regional CRAFT networks have formed across the country.

We partner with Penn State Extension and PA Women’s Agricultural Network to offer a full calendar of diverse CRAFT events located on working or educational farms in southeastern and western Pennsylvania. Each event is hosted by a farmer, or group of farmers, who conduct a farm tour focused on a specific topic. CRAFT events offer valuable opportunities to learn from your peers, and to see firsthand the unique farming models they’ve developed over years of trial and error.

Here’s a quick Q&A to learn more about CRAFT.

Who are CRAFT events for?

CRAFT events are open to everyone. While they are designed for beginning and aspiring farmers, they nonetheless provide valuable opportunities for more experienced farmers to glean insights from other successful farming operations.

Note: We also offer more advanced workshops and farmer-to-farmer events outside of CRAFT. Take a look at our full calendar of workshops and events. 

What can I expect to learn from CRAFT events?

Our CRAFT events are designed to expose attendees to a number of different production systems and scales—from orchards and vegetable farms, to pastured poultry and diversified grazing, and everything in between. You’ll have the opportunity to tour an established farming operation and ask farmers questions about their production systems.

Each CRAFT event is focused on a particular topic. Some examples of topics include season extension, indoor seed propagation, integrating pasture-raised laying hens on a vegetable farm, growing tomatoes in a high tunnel, multi-species grazing, farm startup, and on-farm fertilizer production.

How do I know when CRAFT events are happening?

All upcoming events are listed here on our website. Subscribe to our email list to get notified about upcoming events.

How much do CRAFT events cost?

All of our CRAFT events are free!

Where are CRAFT events taking place?

Currently, CRAFT events generally take place in eastern and western PA. We host a variety of

How can I host or facilitate CRAFT events?

If you are interested in being part of the CRAFT network, either as a host farm or as a facilitating organization, or if you would like to organize a network in your part of the state, please contact us. We would be happy to work with you!

The post Q&A: What is CRAFT? appeared first on Pasa Sustainable Agriculture.