Farm + Garden: Reality? There's No App for That

With another winter behind us and spring fully upon us, the level of activity on the farm and in the garden spaces is in high gear.  The bursting energy seen in the pinks and whites of blooming fruit trees, and yellow specks of dandelion, is but a part of the manifest vitality surging through the Earth from the soil up, as it reawakens from its wintry rest.  Students have joined in the procession of erupting life as they work together to turn over beds planted last fall with rye and pea cover crops, plant trays of the season’s flowers, vegetables and herbs, and prepare the greenhouse for summer crops.  Maple syruping already seems ages ago and the summer of cultivating, trellising and harvesting is but a blink of the eye away.  As I oversee and work alongside the students, who are busily engaged in digging in groundhog proof fencing along OSS North’s new field, directly seeding sugar snap peas and favas, and improving the fencing around a small multi-species orchard, I see a glimpse into the future.  

I observe and note that they are not just planting seeds for this year's crops or securing a fence.  There is a much bigger picture to their endeavors and collective efforts; a greater cause they are working towards and working for.  In their work and their learning, through the tasks they take on in Farm and Garden, they are planting the seeds for a healthier and more consciously caring future of humanity.  By exploring and engaging in the protection and preservation of our natural resources and learning techniques with that goal in mind, they are creating a reality  that not just them or their family and friends are dependent upon, but that all of humanity depends upon. 

A reality that is thoughtful and caring.  A reality that is far reaching, expansive and lasting.  An unpackaged reality that does not come from a box, screen or app; one that is both tangible in the moment and one that bears fruit in time.  A reality that is not just about them and their wants, but one that is for us all.  The students practice patience, resilience, fortitude, cooperation and inclusion.  Every student, regardless of ability, is depended upon and important.  They gather together in community around the one thing that unites all humans, regardless of race, religion, creed, geographic location, age, sex, or identification- food.  Through all the multitude of tasks from seed to harvest, including the monotonous, tedious, back breaking, finger bleeding to the bone jobs that Mr. Bosch sets them to - it is all for this one objective, to see themselves in the whole and the whole within themselves.  Farm and Garden is merely the backdrop for these ever important lessons in humanity.  Within the sharing of tools, working together to carry heavy loads, awareness of others while using large or heavy tools, are embedded the true lessons that will last beyond their schooling years.