Support
Thanks to the support of the SLU Fellowship Program, my summer was spent working at Birdsfoot Farm in Canton, NY. Birdsfoot Farm is first and foremost a community of like minded individuals, similarly passionate about activism and healthy food. The farm itself is a low-till organic farm which cultivates vegetables for its CSA shares, the Canton farmers market, as well as community consumption. I spent the summer working alongside Dulli, the head farmer, and gaining first hand experience in organic farming practices.
I started in June beginning the planting process with a lot of bed prep by forking and raking deep weeds. We were then able to focus on planting and transplanting vegetables, herbs, and flowers. The planting process began with a lot of bed prep by forking and raking deep weeds. In the following months, daily work shifted to maintenance of crops through hand weeding or wheelhoeing. Throughout the season, I learned how to set up irrigation and high and low tunnel covering systems. Twice a week was harvest day which was incredibly fulfilling to watch everyone's hard work come to fruition.
I hope to apply the methodologies and ideologies I learned during my time at Birdsfoot to my future endeavors focusing on food sovereignty.