Interview: Youth Farm Reflection
I always feel September’s pull — there’s change in the air as kids get ready to head back to school. Swimsuits and sunscreen are put away and backpacks pulled out. On our farms, we are harvesting potatoes, corn, tomatoes, peppers and onions. Soon it will be time to bring in winter squash and think about planting garlic again.
September also brings a big change to our workforce here at the Youth Farm. As a part of Garden City Harvest’s four Neighborhood Farms, we grow food for our CSA Farm Share members and for several partners. But we’re different than our fellow farms because we hire teens as a major part of our workforce.
The Youth Development program is all about supporting teens—16 to 18 year olds—by giving them a chance to earn a paycheck, learn real job skills, and find a sense of community. Instead of just talking about responsibility or teamwork, they get to live it out every day in the soil.
On our 2+ acre farm, the Youth Farm crew grows food for a CSA Farm Share and grows thousands of pounds of fresh produce every year for family service agencies. That means the food they plant, water, harvest, and haul ends up feeding their neighbors.
The teens who work here don’t just learn how to farm (though they definitely know their way around an irrigation line by the end of the season). They take on real responsibilities—talking with CSA members, managing parts of the farm, even leading other youth volunteers. Along the way, they build confidence, practice social skills, and start to that they are capable members of our community.
They put in ten solid weeks of hard work on the Youth Farm, starting when the corn was barely sprouting and leaving as it comes time for harvest.
For some teens, farming with us is their first job experience. For others, the Youth Farm is a place they have come to know from summers before. For others, it is a jumping off place for future employment. The team of Garden City Harvest Youth Farm staff get to know the teens that come to us each June. Which makes August a bittersweet time of goodbyes for us.
Before send-off at the end of this farming season, I spoke with one of our rockstar teen employees about his experience on the Youth Farm. This was his first year working with us.
What follows is a transcript of our conversation.
Tell me about the summer. What has been challenging, what has been fun?
My summer has been pretty good. It is interesting working on the farm. It’s hard, but it's not too hard. People think farm work is so hard and it's so dragging on and everything, but truly, there is a lot worse farming experience you could get. But honestly for me, the farming experience here was pretty good. The work here isn’t hard, you just have to follow orders, that sort of thing.
Sometimes things on the farm get a little hard, but I can easily talk to my coworkers and get to know them, and also they can help me through some things. The cultivating has been challenging, just because of my physical state.
This is my first actual job, but it's like the easiest. It could be because it suits me well. Or it could be because staff here are pretty flexible. They are willing to hear what you have to say. They are willing to change things if something does happen. Like for me, I had a rash on my hands and I couldn’t do the processing dunk tank. They changed me to cultivating, something I could wear my gloves for.
I really enjoy harvesting the carrots, or when me and Shane used the tractor to pull out the stakes for the peas. Honestly, what I did pulling up the stakes, that was the kicker for me. That was the most fun for me.
What new foods have you tried?
I have tried fava beans, beets, radishes, kale and chard. I have never heard of chard and kale before. I have learned a lot of stuff on the farm. Galinsoga — “darn you soga!” Basically, galinsoga is an invasive weed that doesn’t like being pulled out from the ground, it's very easy to replant itself. It has little tiny hairs that like to sprout roots.
How did you feel starting on the farm? And what it was like to start there and move to leading teams by the end of the season?
When I started, it was a little shaky. I was a little nervous because of new people, new friends, stuff like that. It was hard to work on the farm, because brand new on the farm, not enough tolerance to the heat, not enough tolerance for the work. Over time, I built up the tolerance for the hard work, the physical labor. I started to get along with my peers. And they really like me too, I think. Same interests and stuff. I believe I helped with the farm with my ideas and my experience.
I had to lead two teams. I led hanging up the onions by myself and I led another coworker to do the cultivating on the hot crop section. It felt pretty good to lead something for once, to not be a follower.
“It felt pretty good to lead something for once, to not be a follower. ”
The goal of the farm is trying to give back to the community and show younger people that agriculture is not that hard; farming, food, it’s not that hard to do. Honestly, what we are doing on this farm is harder than some other farms that use big machines and stuff. But we – we use our bare hands. We put our soul, sweat, and tears into the work we do. And it's definitely worth it, seeing all the people we see come in, see all the smiling faces, all the little kids pull out a carrot for the first time.
“We put our soul, sweat, and tears into the work we do. And it’s definitely worth it, seeing all the people we see come in, see all the smiling faces, all the little kids pull out a carrot for the first time. ”
What advice would you give to a new teen starting on the Youth Farm?
I would give them a warm welcome, first off, and then some advice. Just try to be positive because plants really like the positivity. They have like this aura feeling sense, they can feel the aura around you and feel how good of a person you are.
Future plans?
I am going to work on the farm past the summer. I will be working Saturdays during the school year to help me with this thing called JobCorps. It would help me get some money. JobCorps said having some cash on you is pretty nice. Future plans – once I get accepted to JobCorps, I will sadly leave the farm and do some trades. But I hope to come back.
Would you do it again?
Yeah, I would take the chance to come back here again. Honestly, the pay is pretty good and also just the people I have met. It is a lot better to spend your time giving back to your community than just sitting on your butt all day.
This farm isn’t that hard to work on. You just have to get along with your peers. You have to at least try to put your effort into the work. When you look back at all the work you have done, it is very satisfying to see all the work put into the ground, into the soil, into the plants. Like the corn, for example. The corn wasn’t doing so good in the beginning, but now it's thriving. Same thing with strawberries and raspberries. I have been working hard on those. It is very nice to see how much work you put into it and then see all the bright smiles that come after that and once you are done here, you can challenge or inspire people to come here and do what you did. And that can make you feel good too. I definitely encourage people to come.
The other thing is you have to be willing to get up in the morning and definitely have to be here and see all the stuff you have done. Things change here on this farm in the snap of a finger.
This farm is really nice. I can’t express that enough, it’s very welcoming.
“We really think our North Star is having fun out there. Kids oftentimes have a preconceived notion that it’s going to be the worst thing they’ll ever endure, but as the season goes on, and relationships establish and grow and the beginnings of a community emerge, the farm becomes a site of camaraderie, acceptance, and joy. Farming is a challenging pursuit, but the spirit we bring to the work is one of fun.”
