Teen Farm Fellows at Willing Hands
Aidan is a senior at Berkshire School and a two-year farm fellow who enjoys mountain biking and swimming in his free time.
This season, the Teen Farm Fellows have had the opportunity to visit Willing Hands several times as part of our service learning program. Each time, we have worked alongside Ehrin, learning about their farming approaches and contributing to the work they do for the community. Willing Hands recovers fresh food from local farms, grocery stores, restaurants, and regional wholesalers, and delivers it year-round, for free, to over 85 social service organizations across the Upper Valley of Vermont and New Hampshire. They have four separate locations throughout the Upper Valley, and we specifically worked at the location that is tied in with Cedar Circle Farm and is right down the street from the main farm.
During our visits, we spent much of our time weeding onion beds, using scuffle hoes and our hands to carefully remove the weeds. Working through the rows, we learned how different tools can be used depending on the size and location of the weeds. While the scuffle hoes allowed us to quickly clear larger areas, we had to slow down and work by hand when weeds were growing close to the onions. We talked about how Willing Hands chooses which crops to grow, focusing mainly on crops that are donated less often and are easy to harvest, helping them fill gaps in the food they receive from other sources.
When visiting their distribution facility, we saw the ways in which they organize the food they are donated. We got to see their huge walk-in coolers and their tunnels with eggplants, summer squash, zucchini, peppers, and melons. We also learned about their gleaning system, through which they harvest surplus crops that local farmers are unable to sell and put them to use rather than letting them go to waste. Cedar Circle is one of the farms that offers this to Willing Hands, and we see them in the fields every couple of days gleaning our extra produce that would have otherwise been left behind. Seeing this process from both sides helps us understand how much of the food that we grow can still have a purpose even when it cannot be sold.
Working alongside Ehrin made each visit enjoyable, and it was rewarding to know that the work we did there was eventually helping provide people throughout the Upper Valley with fresh food. Our visits there gave us a better understanding of how farming can extend beyond growing food and can truly support the community.
