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This is one of two things that are on the horizon, the other one being the BSc Sustainable Agriculture from Kwantlen in fall 2010. Since this fall when I realised (with a little help) that it was so hard for me, I've been saying "I want to be a farmer" once in awhile. The looks of stunned disbelief, horror, and total incomprehension I get really only make me more determined to end up there someday-- this is our food, idiots! You know that thing you do a couple of times a day without fail, eating? Well, there are people involved in that process, and I don't just mean celebrity chefs. You might think or hope that the people who grow your food will be doing so such that there is arable land left to grow food for you when you're older, or food for your kids, but that doesn't happen when the sum total of agricultural knowledge is left in the hands of the slowest kid in class and enshrined in the make and model of this year's tractor and the current theory on when and how many kgs of N-P-K to apply.
What the fuck is wrong with you that you think a smart, driven, and passionate girl wouldn't be interested in this sort of system? Are you completely ignorant as to what a food system or an ecosystem is? Do you think there would be a lack of career fulfillment in nourishing people? Perhaps you think there would be a lack of intellectual fulfillment in creating a sustainable human-productive ecosystem from a variety of organisms in a variety of (constantly changing) conditions in the most efficient manner possible, especially with ecology still in the dark ages? Maybe you think it takes a penis, a straw in the corner of my mouth, a a string of drool? I can wear a cowboy hat with the best of 'em, you know.
Jesus fucking Christ, I wish every single person who gave me that blank look (and this does include my friends) could go for a couple of weeks without eating and then come back to me with that look. Even a couple of weeks eating only food where the food producer (see how cleverly we only use the word farmer in negative contexts?) got paid a wage that made it seem like society values both our meals (we eat a fuck of a lot) and our planet (not gonna touch that one).
A friend of mine said of the progress on trans acceptance, "we're starting to get angry because we can imagine a world where our rights aren't trampled on. Every time we win a fight, we realise we can win, and then we get pissy, uppity, and (god forbid) assertive."
I'm not fighting a fight. There's no them and us here. We all eat. We were all raised on stores with named like "Save-on" and "Buy-low" where the low value of food was an incentive to buy it. We all breathe. But my god, these two classes are a step in the right direction, and that right direction needs to and will happen in one way or another. Somehow this makes me angry. If there is _anything_ to me personally, as a human being, it's caring about how the world can be fruitful and nourishing and it's the desire to be an active part of that system. It's not easy, but I'm gonna do it. And I am not capable of doing it with anything other than pride and competence.
When I was first landscaping, I used to tell people with kind of shy pride, "I'm a landscaper". I don't do that anymore.
Someday I'll tell people, "I'm a farmer". Sure I might be ambivalent -- it actually will be a fight to do it, it'll take everything I have in me and every strength I can develop to create an income selling food to you ungrateful sons of bitches who would much rather pay for video games, internet access, clothes without holes in them, watching a movie in a theatre, paying for a cell- or an iphone, flying around the countries of your choice, buying a new dresser, or going out dancing than paying expert rates for someone who grows your food. (Do you know how much a games programmer makes compared to a farmer? Seriously, priorities, people.) I'll do it, though.
So there.
Richmond Farm School- 2010
Announcing the commencement of the Richmond Farm School
The Institute for Sustainable Horticulture, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, in cooperation with the Richmond Fruit Tree Sharing Project, the Richmond Food Security Society, and the City of Richmond is pleased to announce that the inaugural session of the Richmond Farm School is scheduled to commence this spring.
Objectives and Program Features: The purpose of the Farm School is to prepare people from all walks of life to engage in human scale, urban focused agriculture enterprises including production, processing, adding value, distribution, marketing and sales. The goal is to build regional agri-food systems in, around and for municipalities. The program will focus on balancing theoretical (classroom) and applied (field/ practical) skill development studies with the express objective of teaching agriculture as the applied science and art that it is. Actual farming, processing, marketing and sales learning experience are a defining feature of the program. Upon completion of a single course, a compliment of courses or the complete program students will not just know about urban and peri-urban agriculture but will also have developed the skills to engage in it. Farm School students will learn by doing.
A second defining feature of the curriculum will be its focus on sustainability. In this we mean teaching about farming and an agri- food system that is economically viable, environmentally sound and socially responsive and just. We will also emphasize agriculture as an integral element of sustainable cities in compliment to existing agri-food systems elements.
Lastly but importantly, through our program students will have access to “incubator” farm land (up to one acre for three years at very reasonable rates) to begin their agricultural enterprises. Technical support and possibly shared equipment will be available to incubator farmers.
Program overview:
Core classes- The Farm School program will consist of the following core courses that will be delivered over the course of the season. Each will have a field based component. An excellent team of practical minded, experienced, skilled and dedicated teachers to support and guide your learning, skill building experience has been assembled. Classes do not have exams or graded assignments. You can expect to be given readings. No grades are assigned or academic credits awarded. Classes will be held at Terra Nova Rural Park facilities, 2631 Westminster Highway, Richmond BC.
Title Hours
Soils and Water Management- 40 hrs
Plant Science- 40 hrs
Pest Management 20 hrs
Farm Production and Operations Planning- 40 hrs
Market Crop Production- 50 hrs
Animal Husbandry 40 hrs
Fruit Production- 50 hrs
Composts and Composting 20 hrs
Farm Business Planning/Management 40 hrs
Total 350 hrs of formal class
Practicum- All Farm School students will also participate in a minimum of 350 hours of practical crop production and post-harvest experience under the direction and/ or supervision of Farm School staff and/ or Richmond Fruit Tree Sharing Program farm staff. As you gain experience practicum activities may also be pursued independently. The majority of practical farming experience will occur at the Richmond Fruit Tree Sharing Project Farm at the Terra Nova Park and the Orchard (south end of Gilbert Rd) in Richmond. Other sites may be utilized to enhance the practical learning experience. Note that students are responsible for transportation to practicum sites. Plenty of additional practical on farm experiences will likely be available as we want you to have the opportunity to gain as much real farming experience as possible.
Many topics such as sustainable agriculture systems, farm safety, mechanization, construction, cover crops, resources and certifications, farmscaping, habitat enhancement etc. will be integrated into core courses as appropriate. Complete course descriptions will soon be available.
Other courses (not part of the basic Farm School curriculum), such as Ecology, Plant Propagation, Pasture Management and Apiculture, will be offered on an ad hoc basis throughout the year and available for a separate fee.
Additionally we plan to hold dinner seminars once or twice a month. Students will organize and lead these seminars (which may include a guest speaker, showing of a documentary film, a demonstration etc.). The public will be invited to these sessions.
Dates, days and times:
The Farm School will start March 4, 2010 and conclude November 12, 2010. We are scheduling courses and practicum on Thursday and Friday late afternoons/evenings and all day on Saturdays so that students can fit farming studies into their schedules. Expect this days and times to be occupied with Farm School classes, practicum and other activities. Specific class and activity schedules will soon be available.
Fees:
The Farm School is not a profit generating endeavor, nor is it subsidized in any way and therefore must operate on a full cost recovery basis. This means that all fees you pay are used to cover the costs of delivering the program; they are plowed back into the Farm School. We have checked into other similar programs and our cost/ fee structures are competitive.
We have established two categories of students that will be subject to different fee structures for classes because they represent differing intents and levels of commitment. They are Cohort Students and General Interest Students.
Cohort Students are committed to and sign up for the full compliment of core classes and practicum. The cost to be a Cohort Student is $5,000. A non-refundable deposit of $500 is due to the Farm School by February 1 and the balance ($4,500) by March 4. Cohort Students are also eligible for incubator farming sites. Couples, an incorporated entity, or community organization may qualify to be considered as one enrollee with one designated representative eligible to attend individual core classes. Contact us to see if you or your group qualifies.
Students who complete all core classes and the practicum will be issued a Certificate of Completion by the Institute for Sustainable Horticulture.
General Interest Students are those that only want to study farming on a class by class basis and do not want to participate in the practicum component. Anyone is welcome to enroll in Farm School classes if space is available. Cost for individual class enrollments is $30 per class hour. So the fee to take an individual 40 hour class such as Soils, Vegetable Crop Production or Fruit Crop Production would be $1200. Enrolling in individual classes can be done at any time.
A General Interest student can opt to become a Cohort Student at any time. Upon doing so all fees previously paid to take individual classes will apply to the Cohort Student fee rate.
What the fuck is wrong with you that you think a smart, driven, and passionate girl wouldn't be interested in this sort of system? Are you completely ignorant as to what a food system or an ecosystem is? Do you think there would be a lack of career fulfillment in nourishing people? Perhaps you think there would be a lack of intellectual fulfillment in creating a sustainable human-productive ecosystem from a variety of organisms in a variety of (constantly changing) conditions in the most efficient manner possible, especially with ecology still in the dark ages? Maybe you think it takes a penis, a straw in the corner of my mouth, a a string of drool? I can wear a cowboy hat with the best of 'em, you know.
Jesus fucking Christ, I wish every single person who gave me that blank look (and this does include my friends) could go for a couple of weeks without eating and then come back to me with that look. Even a couple of weeks eating only food where the food producer (see how cleverly we only use the word farmer in negative contexts?) got paid a wage that made it seem like society values both our meals (we eat a fuck of a lot) and our planet (not gonna touch that one).
A friend of mine said of the progress on trans acceptance, "we're starting to get angry because we can imagine a world where our rights aren't trampled on. Every time we win a fight, we realise we can win, and then we get pissy, uppity, and (god forbid) assertive."
I'm not fighting a fight. There's no them and us here. We all eat. We were all raised on stores with named like "Save-on" and "Buy-low" where the low value of food was an incentive to buy it. We all breathe. But my god, these two classes are a step in the right direction, and that right direction needs to and will happen in one way or another. Somehow this makes me angry. If there is _anything_ to me personally, as a human being, it's caring about how the world can be fruitful and nourishing and it's the desire to be an active part of that system. It's not easy, but I'm gonna do it. And I am not capable of doing it with anything other than pride and competence.
When I was first landscaping, I used to tell people with kind of shy pride, "I'm a landscaper". I don't do that anymore.
Someday I'll tell people, "I'm a farmer". Sure I might be ambivalent -- it actually will be a fight to do it, it'll take everything I have in me and every strength I can develop to create an income selling food to you ungrateful sons of bitches who would much rather pay for video games, internet access, clothes without holes in them, watching a movie in a theatre, paying for a cell- or an iphone, flying around the countries of your choice, buying a new dresser, or going out dancing than paying expert rates for someone who grows your food. (Do you know how much a games programmer makes compared to a farmer? Seriously, priorities, people.) I'll do it, though.
So there.
Richmond Farm School- 2010
Announcing the commencement of the Richmond Farm School
The Institute for Sustainable Horticulture, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, in cooperation with the Richmond Fruit Tree Sharing Project, the Richmond Food Security Society, and the City of Richmond is pleased to announce that the inaugural session of the Richmond Farm School is scheduled to commence this spring.
Objectives and Program Features: The purpose of the Farm School is to prepare people from all walks of life to engage in human scale, urban focused agriculture enterprises including production, processing, adding value, distribution, marketing and sales. The goal is to build regional agri-food systems in, around and for municipalities. The program will focus on balancing theoretical (classroom) and applied (field/ practical) skill development studies with the express objective of teaching agriculture as the applied science and art that it is. Actual farming, processing, marketing and sales learning experience are a defining feature of the program. Upon completion of a single course, a compliment of courses or the complete program students will not just know about urban and peri-urban agriculture but will also have developed the skills to engage in it. Farm School students will learn by doing.
A second defining feature of the curriculum will be its focus on sustainability. In this we mean teaching about farming and an agri- food system that is economically viable, environmentally sound and socially responsive and just. We will also emphasize agriculture as an integral element of sustainable cities in compliment to existing agri-food systems elements.
Lastly but importantly, through our program students will have access to “incubator” farm land (up to one acre for three years at very reasonable rates) to begin their agricultural enterprises. Technical support and possibly shared equipment will be available to incubator farmers.
Program overview:
Core classes- The Farm School program will consist of the following core courses that will be delivered over the course of the season. Each will have a field based component. An excellent team of practical minded, experienced, skilled and dedicated teachers to support and guide your learning, skill building experience has been assembled. Classes do not have exams or graded assignments. You can expect to be given readings. No grades are assigned or academic credits awarded. Classes will be held at Terra Nova Rural Park facilities, 2631 Westminster Highway, Richmond BC.
Title Hours
Soils and Water Management- 40 hrs
Plant Science- 40 hrs
Pest Management 20 hrs
Farm Production and Operations Planning- 40 hrs
Market Crop Production- 50 hrs
Animal Husbandry 40 hrs
Fruit Production- 50 hrs
Composts and Composting 20 hrs
Farm Business Planning/Management 40 hrs
Total 350 hrs of formal class
Practicum- All Farm School students will also participate in a minimum of 350 hours of practical crop production and post-harvest experience under the direction and/ or supervision of Farm School staff and/ or Richmond Fruit Tree Sharing Program farm staff. As you gain experience practicum activities may also be pursued independently. The majority of practical farming experience will occur at the Richmond Fruit Tree Sharing Project Farm at the Terra Nova Park and the Orchard (south end of Gilbert Rd) in Richmond. Other sites may be utilized to enhance the practical learning experience. Note that students are responsible for transportation to practicum sites. Plenty of additional practical on farm experiences will likely be available as we want you to have the opportunity to gain as much real farming experience as possible.
Many topics such as sustainable agriculture systems, farm safety, mechanization, construction, cover crops, resources and certifications, farmscaping, habitat enhancement etc. will be integrated into core courses as appropriate. Complete course descriptions will soon be available.
Other courses (not part of the basic Farm School curriculum), such as Ecology, Plant Propagation, Pasture Management and Apiculture, will be offered on an ad hoc basis throughout the year and available for a separate fee.
Additionally we plan to hold dinner seminars once or twice a month. Students will organize and lead these seminars (which may include a guest speaker, showing of a documentary film, a demonstration etc.). The public will be invited to these sessions.
Dates, days and times:
The Farm School will start March 4, 2010 and conclude November 12, 2010. We are scheduling courses and practicum on Thursday and Friday late afternoons/evenings and all day on Saturdays so that students can fit farming studies into their schedules. Expect this days and times to be occupied with Farm School classes, practicum and other activities. Specific class and activity schedules will soon be available.
Fees:
The Farm School is not a profit generating endeavor, nor is it subsidized in any way and therefore must operate on a full cost recovery basis. This means that all fees you pay are used to cover the costs of delivering the program; they are plowed back into the Farm School. We have checked into other similar programs and our cost/ fee structures are competitive.
We have established two categories of students that will be subject to different fee structures for classes because they represent differing intents and levels of commitment. They are Cohort Students and General Interest Students.
Cohort Students are committed to and sign up for the full compliment of core classes and practicum. The cost to be a Cohort Student is $5,000. A non-refundable deposit of $500 is due to the Farm School by February 1 and the balance ($4,500) by March 4. Cohort Students are also eligible for incubator farming sites. Couples, an incorporated entity, or community organization may qualify to be considered as one enrollee with one designated representative eligible to attend individual core classes. Contact us to see if you or your group qualifies.
Students who complete all core classes and the practicum will be issued a Certificate of Completion by the Institute for Sustainable Horticulture.
General Interest Students are those that only want to study farming on a class by class basis and do not want to participate in the practicum component. Anyone is welcome to enroll in Farm School classes if space is available. Cost for individual class enrollments is $30 per class hour. So the fee to take an individual 40 hour class such as Soils, Vegetable Crop Production or Fruit Crop Production would be $1200. Enrolling in individual classes can be done at any time.
A General Interest student can opt to become a Cohort Student at any time. Upon doing so all fees previously paid to take individual classes will apply to the Cohort Student fee rate.
