Many Hands Farm Corps

Many Hands Farm Corps

Summary

28 people between the ages of 17 and 20 were hired and trained by the Many Hands Farm Corps this past summer. 14 farms hired crews of 6-12 interns and crew leaders for part time or short notice help from the Many Hand Farm Corps. We have received favorable responses from every farm worked on and many of our interns took on full time or further seasonal work from some of the farms we worked on or other farms in the pioneer valley. Three interns studying at the University of Massachusetts have switched majors to Plant, Soil, and Insect Sciences. We are sending out surveys to be completed by the farms that hired crews, as well as feedback for the farms of practices some farms engaged in that made each crew’s work more efficient and of higher quality.

Objectives/Performance Targets

Our written objectives in the original proposal were to hire 5 interns, provide housing, transportation, meals, educational activities, and a 600$ stipend for each month June, July, and August. Instead, we hired 10 interns for each month, and provided them with housing, transportation, meals, educational activities and a 700$ stipend. We hired more interns because of the success of our recruiting and paid higher stipends because of our success in contracting work on various farms.

Another objective was to reach out to dozens of farms in the Pioneer Valley and to have crews of our interns hired regularly throughout the summer, by about 12 farms. 14 farms hired our services, and we had more requests for work than we could meet.

Accomplishments/Milestones

Finding land to lease to begin a farm as a base for training was one of our primary milestones. On February 1 we signed a lease for four acres of land on Pelham Rd in Amherst that were part of the Amethyst Farm property on Northeast St in Amherst. Hiring interns continued throughout the Spring and was mostly concluded by the end of May, though a few last minute cancellations required that we hire more people in the last weeks of June and July. Many of the intern applicants came from the Sustainable Living class taught by John Gerber at the University of Massachusetts, and also from the WWOOF website, which advertises opportunities for work on organic farms around the world. A house for the interns was secured by May 1st, and a van for transportation was bought from the Valley Transporter in Amherst on May 23rd. Outreach to Farms began in October 2010, and continued through the Spring of 2011. We had secured 120 hours of work each week from Red Fire Farm in January, and 120 hours of work from Simple Gifts Farm around the same time. Most other Farms contracted our crews the last week of May, and some contacted us at various other points throughout the summer. Finally, at the end of each month, the departing crew spent a day orienting and training the incoming crew, and following that a community potluck was held. out of 28 total people hired, only 2 quit prematurely, the end of each month marked a successful completion of the internship for each person hired.

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

We have had the most outstanding positive impact with our interns. Almost all of the interns we worked with this summer keep in touch and have furthered their connections to local agriculture. They also continue to stay in contact with each other and have built strong relationships that will certainly help them in the future. We are already receiving applications for next summers program and at the rate they are coming in we could double our intern positions and fill them up by April. Many of the new applicants are friends or family of interns from last summer.

Our impact on the farms that hired us in the area was immediately clear. There was no shortage of work that needed to be done and every farm commented on the speed and quality of the work we accomplished. Some farms that took special efforts to prepare for us to come were especially pleased and the amount of weed pressure was greatly reduced at these farms, some even noted dramatic decreases in insect pests due to the weed free environment the crops were able to grow in. All the farms also experienced boosts in morale on the days we worked.

Through our residential and educational aspects we often interacted with the community by attending small concerts, going to farmers markets (especially ones without a large customer base like the one in North Amherst), attending agricultural commission meetings in the town of Amherst, and participating weekly with Food Not Bombs, an organization that encourages people to gather together in different areas around the world to share food with the general public and especially those in need. We received a surprising amount of support from the people we met at these outings, from employees of other farms, from our CSA members, and from the owners and the entire staff of the Dirty Truth, a restaurant we sold produce to throughout the summer. Many of those people helped facilitate learning opportunities by hosting discussions, teaching workshops on herbalism, beekeeping, blacksmithing, carpentry, meditation, cooking, and leading birding walks, and mushroom walks.

The overall outcome of our first season is that we will be hiring additional leaders, additional interns, and we will be able to do so with more resources, an established clientele, and more opportunities for education in the 2012 season.

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