McKenna, Apprentice 2016

Let’s be honest, it is very easy to romanticize farming…we’ve all done it at one time or another. But until you actually complete a season, there are a few things you should probably know. You will get wet. You will be cold. You will get dirty. You will sweat. You will be hand weeding for long hours in unmerciful weather. You will be bending and lifting, and bending and lifting. And your body will ache in new and unfamiliar ways. Did I say you will get hot? The list goes on, but these unpleasantries are all part of the daily realities of farming: it is indeed hard work. I know, bummer. But it is also such rewarding, meaningful, humbling, and necessary work as well. And there is light at the end of the tunnel so to speak, sweet bouts of magic and pure beauty mixed in there as well.

At the CSG at Genesis Farm, you will be grateful for the opportunity to have worked with Judy, Mike, Smadar, Gina and Hannah. Individually they bring to the land unique personalities, skills, and backgrounds, yet together they are a force to be reckoned with. You will not only be a better person for knowing them, but will not be able to imagine your life without them in it.

At the CSG at Genesis Farm, you will fall in love with this community of amazing human beings who will open up their hearts and their doors and invite you inside. They will share a bit of their lives with you while working together in the fields or perhaps, if you are lucky, even over a home cooked meal. At the CSG at Genesis Farm, you will relish in the beauty of the Earth as a cool breeze tickles the back of your neck on a hazy, hot afternoon, or when the leaves over the pond change from green to yellow to burnt orange and deep dark ruby red. At the CSG at Genesis Farm, you will tap into this whole new side of yourself and the interconnectedness that exists between you and the soil. You will bear witness to living through the seasons from start to finish. To see the sun rising and falling, the crops growing and dying. The beauty of it all.

In other words, the CSG at Genesis Farm will ruin your life in the best kind of way. You will never be the same again. You will only wish it could last longer. You will understand why farming can be romantic, as you have seen it and felt it on good days and on bad. This I know for sure, and if you are lucky, you will too.