Apprentice Testimonials

          

             When I said I was going to apprentice for the summer on a farm on Long Island a few people were surprised. “Are there still farms on Long Island?” was their startled response. I was a bit worried myself as I took the train out the first time passing through the city and then suburbia. But as you reach the North Fork you begin to pass through open countryside dotted with vineyards and vegetable farms. Farm stands line the road in summer time. The farmers out here are lucky: beautiful countryside only an hour and a half from the city.

            Garden of Eve was a great fit for me. I was involved in diverse aspects of the farm giving me a broad knowledge base for starting my own farm. Greenhouse management was a big part of my springtime work from setting planting schedules, seeding, and transplanting to daily upkeep.

             As the weather warmed and we got out into the fields I was able to jump on the tractor and learn from the ever patient Chris. Soon I was driving in the fields transplanting and cultivating. With 15 acres in production of more than 30 vegetables there is always something different to do. Seeding flats in the greenhouse, transplanting seedlings in the field, scouting Colorado Potato Beetles, tilling new stretches of fields, a lot of irrigation this dry summer and hoeing and more hoeing. The list goes on.

           Garden of Eve is a relatively new farm with only 4 years of production [in 2005], so there is still a lot of infrastructure being built. This was especially interesting for up and coming farmers like me. We built two greenhouses this spring, got our farmstand ready to go, and built a huge deer fence. But Chris and Eve still find time for interesting projects like our no-till roll down experiment with watermelons and tomatoes, an organic sweet corn \trial with Cornell and our new Thursday afternoon children’s program.

            Well if you are ready for a summer of hard work with a lot of learning take a closer look at Garden of Eve. When you come out to visit you will realize you won’t find better people to work for and besides where else can you go for a dip in the Sound after a hard days work.

                                                                                     -Tianna Dupont, Farm Manager ‘05

                           

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              Coming from New York City, I was surprised to find the start of my apprenticeship to be a bit like jumping onto a moving merry-go-round. Though the setting is idyllic, there are no lazy summer afternoons whiled away at Garden of Eve! Apprentices are a welcome set of extra hands who are expected to match the brisk pace set by the farm's small crew. For some - myself included - the first few days are spent hustling to get oriented with the routine, competent with the tools, and capable of lifting 40 pounds of zucchini!

              Like most challenges demanding discipline and hard work, the rewards are great. Apprentices have daily contact with Eve and Chris Kaplan-Walbrecht, who are willing to field questions about everything from pest management to financial forecasting. Without exception, they are open and honest about their successes and failures, and enthusiasticially share their massive knowledge with apprentices. The produce is without a doubt some of the best I've ever tasted. And judging from my short month there - which included witnessing the birth of three goats (and raising one orphan on a bottle), enjoying a meal prepared by volunteers who happened to be professional chefs, attending a seed preservation lecture, visiting several nearby farms, and slaughtering three plump chickens for a delicious going-away meal - each apprentice will find a unique, and very memorable, set of experiences waiting for them at Garden of Eve.

                                                                                         - Colleen Duffy, Novice Apprentice ‘07

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ENTREPRENEURIAL "FARM INCUBATOR" OPPORTUNITIES...

In 2008 Field Manager Margaret Schlass grew four, 150 foot rows of about 20 varieties of heirloom and cherry tomatoes, hot peppers, tomatillos, and basil. For approximately 10 weeks she supplied about 30 CSA shares in Riverhead and Williamsburg, Brooklyn which she marketed herself through a local coffee shop and sold for $10 each.

Margaret purchased her own seeds and on her own grew them in Garden of Eve's greenhouse, transplanted them out, cultivated them, and harvested the produce. Garden of Eve contributed to the project by donating usable land and heated greenhouse space, plowing and tilling her area's soil, putting down compost which we purchased, and allowing Margaret to use our cultivating tractor, tomato stakes, and vehicles for her to transport produce to market, at no cost. In 2009 Margaret will be farming on her own in her hometown of Pittsburgh PA. She writes:

"During the 2008 growing season, I developed a specialty heirloom tomato subscription based out of a nearby popular coffee shop. On less than a quarter of an acre plot made available to me while apprenticing at the Garden of Eve, I generated sufficient funds to purchase my first cultivating tractor and several accompanying implements for the following year. 

 

The undertaking taught me the importance of setting realistic and fair prices for my product and labor as well as afforded me the opportunity to organize, manage, and solely provide for a small CSA while simultaneously working six days a week, full-time on a busy vegetable farm at the height of the growing season. If this experience of juggling various commitments does not help prepare me as a young farmer for the initial years to follow, I am not quite sure what would. I am very appreciative of the entrepreneurial opportunity that was made available to me during my apprenticeship at the Garden of Eve; no doubt it will serve me greatly in my future."

                                                                                         - Margaret Schlass, Field Manager '08

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              My introduction to Garden of Eve was as a volunteer for two consecutive days one weekend in the summer of '07. The work was less than usual on that particular day than I would eventually come to know there as an apprentice (because it was the hottest day of the year) but it was still strenuous. For me the work, good exercise, was its own reward, but the other benefits turned out to be just as great. Beautiful fields with tall old trees in the distance was the jobsite, the best blueberries I ever had were our snack of the day, and farm fresh eggs full of flavor with yolks more orange than orange juice were my dinner and breakfast that weekend along with other wholesome foods I purchased from the farm stand.
              I started work at the farm a few months later and stayed for two and a half months until the season ended. I continued to have similar benefits to the ones mentioned before such as access to healthful food, work, and location with the addition of learning in depth about the workings of an organic farm. Besides learning by doing, questions that I had were answered in depth and with enthusiasm whenever a spare moment opened itself, such as a ride to the fruit farm with Chris, or to a GMO conference with Eve. In addition to the knowledge and experience they freely give, the other apprentices and myself were also given the opportunity to visit a local vineyard, visit a local farm, attend a slow food gourmet meal prepared by two skilled chefs, witness and participate in a raw food demonstration and meal, among other opportunities.
              All in all it was a bit of a disappointment to go home at the end of the season to where I reside in Queens, NY. Especially since the trees in the field had transformed with the coming of autumn and were now adorned with a gorgeous mixture of deep reds and yellows and greens. Especially since the only job opportunities in Queens have concrete buildings as scenery instead
of trees, cars as companions instead of deer and rabbits, smoggy air instead of clean air, and a disconnection from the source of nourishment                                                                                                                      One realizes when scoffed at for going to work on an organic farm by friends why say "join the real world" (meaning get a job in the neighborhood and work to rent an apartment and commute on busy streets to work every day) that the "real world" is a highly relative term. It takes a communion with the real world to realize that the life they are talking about isn't really real. It is more constructed. It is a healing experience to see something older such as harvesting the corn, beans, squash, greens etc... that you put into the ground and being nourished by it. I believe that more people would benefit from learning these skills that were once so important to all of us, these skills that most of us have lost, along with new and healthful organic evolutions of them as well.

                                                                    -Daniel Faulkner, Novice Apprentice Sept.-Nov.  '07

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After joining the Garden of Eve's CSA program, I spent a month working at the farm. I learned that you can't really appreciate a green bean until you've spent hours picking them in the rain. You can't really appreciate a potato until you've spent a day on your hands and knees, pulling them from the dirt. Being part of a Community Supported Agriculture program isn't just about eating good food, but it's about understanding where good food comes from, and it's about building a sustainable relationship between producer and consumer. Only by walking in each other's shoes, and by listening to each other's stories, can the city dweller and the farmer understand each other's concerns, limits, and aspirations."

                                                                                          - Michelle Burke, Novice Apprentice August '08

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                   October 29, 2008. Today, I harvested turnips in the freezing rain. Braced against the wind, I bent over again and again to unearth those savory white treats then bent my frozen fingers enough to twist the tie around four together.  “Those CSA members better appreciate their turnips this week!” I exclaimed as the hail started to pound us once again. This morning rates as one of the most physically uncomfortable experiences of my life. Even with two pairs of pants and seven layers of tops on, I was cold to the core. My fingers were beyond numb into the realm of shooting pains, accompanied by my toes. And yet, we had to finish the shares.

                   Why can’t we just take the day off? I wondered silently, in complaining agony. But farmers don’t get the day off for bad weather. They don’t get to sit inside, wrapped in blankets, and sip hot tea. We fantasized about that, but we were the ones watching the green and brown earth get spotted with pea-sized hail. I’m so over this whole farming thing, I added to my inner monologue.

                   One of the apprentices was curious about this hail, being from Peru where such weather doesn’t occur. “Tastes salty,” he said, recognizing the effect of the ocean in the air of Long Island. It’s funny, I thought, how we base so many of our observations on taste when working with food constantly. 

                   Lunch couldn’t come soon enough, and at 1 pm we nearly sprinted off the fields into the farmhouse for homemade borscht. Feeling returned to fingers and toes; spirits lifted. The clouds cleared and though the temperature remained cold, the sun shone down.

                  Today will be a day to remember. To remember that farming is not so romantic. That someone has to brave the elements to ensure quality food. To remember that when we pay for food, we pay not just for the product, but for the human labor that gets those turnips from the mud on a sleeting Wednesday to your warm kitchen on Saturday. 

                                                                              - Alexandra Buck, Novice Apprentice Sept-Nov 2008