Theme: interns

Today’s News from the Farm is an interview with Kouki Takahira! He is part of the 2025-2026 Japanese Agricultural Training Program cohort and one of our awesome interns (more detailed information about the Program here)! He arrived at Full Belly Farm last September and will be with us until the beginning of October when he’ll head to UC Davis for a few months of classes before heading back to Japan at the end of the year. He’s a regular part of the Palo Alto Farmers Market Team and is an excellent baker! 

He generously sat down with me last week to chat about his background and experience here. Here’s a lightly edited version of our conversation.

Elaine Swiedler, CSA Manager

Where are you from? What was your connection to farming?

I’m from Inami, a small town, in Hyōgo prefecture. It’s near Osaka. 

My family is involved in agriculture. My grandmother is a farmer, my mother’s mother. She grows vegetables on one acre – daikon, napa cabbage, turnips, things like that. She grows year-round and sells her vegetables to supermarkets. My family helps. But working on the farm is my parents’ second job. They have other main jobs. My mother works in the hospital and my father works for the government, on roads. I have an older brother. He is in the military and is not interested in farming. I am interested in farming and went to an agricultural high school, which was three years.

Today’s News from the Farm is an interview with Yukiya Ueda (who also goes by Kylo)! He is part of the 2024-2025 Japanese Agricultural Training Program cohort and one of our awesome interns! He came to Full Belly Farm last September and will be with us until the beginning of October when he’ll head to UC Davis for a few months of classes before heading back to Japan at the end of the year. He’s a regular part of the Palo Alto Farmers Market Team and can regularly be seen zipping around the farm on his way to take care of some of the animals. 

Here’s a lightly edited version of our conversation from last week after work.

Today’s News from the Farm is an interview with an awesome member of our team, one of our interns, Misuzu (Mizu)! She is part of the 2024-2025 Japanese Agricultural Training Program cohort. She came last September and will be with us until the beginning of October when she’ll head to UC Davis for a few months of classes before heading back to Japan at the end of the year. 

Here’s a lightly edited version of our conversation – it only scratches the surface but gives a glimpse into the diverse backgrounds and day-to-day experiences of the Full Belly team!

Hi you all! My name is Hannah; I’m both the newest intern and the newest Hannah on the farm. After four months at the farm, I don’t know that I can accurately write about the entire intern experience, but I can surely share some of the simple joys that have been adding up in my time here – the easily looked over, sneaky building blocks to a fulfilling life. 

Hi everyone!

My name is Marie and I’ve been an intern at Full Belly for the past 11 months. As my year of internship and my time in the magical Capay Valley is coming to a close, I thought it was high time to say hello to you all and share a bit about my experiences here at the farm. [Read more…]

Hi everyone, this week’s news is coming from Carly, a new Full Belly Intern!

I’ve spent the last two years living in Whitefish, Montana; a town famous for skiing and spectacular mountain views. While there, I worked on two organic veggie farms through cold mornings and hot smoky afternoons. And, although I loved Montana, my partner and I decided we needed more farming than the short summers up North can offer us. We decided to pack up all our stuff and head to California, a place where, in my mind, it’s always warm and the sun always shines. [Read more…]