Theme: interns

The peak of summer is almost here! It was super-hot all of last week, over 100 degrees Fahrenheit every day, and we had so many cherry tomatoes, melons, green beans, and sunflowers, to pick…  So last week I spent a lot of time bunching sunflowers, picking cherry tomatoes and truck loading. In terms of truck loading, during the summer we struggle to get everything into our trucks. The pallets of tomatoes and melons are very tall and heavy so it’s hard to move them and our beautiful flowers take lots of space because we can’t stack them. Needless to say, working all day under the crazy hot sun is very hard.  However, after work, you can find the best melon ever, which encourages us to go to the next day.

This kind of summer work reminds me of my first summer at Full Belly Farm. I arrived here end of May, 2015 and started working as one of the interns. I’m Shohei Shimizu, from Aichi Prefecture in Japan. I’m still a student of Hokkaido University because I took 2 years off after I finished sophomore year. At that university, I studied Agricultural Economics. When I was looking for some interesting books in the library to kill time before the next class, I happened to find a book about CSA. That’s why I’m here, in Guinda California. [Read more…]

Seasonal Reflection

Here in the Capay Valley, the days are short and the shadows long. With the cooler weather and long awaited winter rains, the dust has turned to mud and the golden hills have turned a soft green. The coyotes are out roaming the hills, the creek is running swiftly and the bright ornaments of winter decorate the citrus orchards.  [Read more…]

On Sunday night we all went down to the creek to watch the lunar eclipse. It was the perfect end to all of the farm cleaning that was done that day to prepare for the Hoes Down Harvest Festival this coming Saturday.

I have two weeks left in my internship. I arrived on the farm a year ago Sunday, and was initiated into the Full Belly life through the craziness that is the week before Hoes Down. When I look back on my time here, I am amazed to see what I have learned and accomplished. 

I learned how to work in a greenhouse and plant the seeds that became the transplants which grew into all of this summer’s melons and tomatoes.  I sat on the sled on the back of a tractor and transplanted acres of asparagus and winter greens.  I learned how to harvest and pack watermelon daikon and sun gold cherry tomatoes, among other varieties of produce, for restaurant orders and CSA boxes. I was taught how to pack those orders onto pallets and load them onto delivery trucks, and then I got up at 3:00 AM the next morning to sell those vegetables at the Farmers Market. [Read more…]

When I arrived at Full Belly back in the heat of July, the farm was well into its tomato season. As a wide-eyed city dweller with zero previous farm experience, coming on as an intern at the height of tomato season was a whirlwind introduction to how hard every person here works to create the beautiful produce that we see in our CSA boxes every week. My very first hours of work on the farm were spent harvesting Sun Gold cherry tomatoes. Several hours after that I was folding tomato boxes for packing and distribution. A few weeks later I was learning the names of forty plus varieties of heirloom and cherry tomatoes so I could help identify them for customers at the Marin farmer’s market. By the end of the summer, we were squeezing buckets worth of tomato seeds to be saved for the very plants that we now see in our fields!

Over the last few months, it has been incredible to watch those seeds become over 45,000 plants in our greenhouses.  And in the past week, we have steadily been transplanting ALL of those tomatoes in preparation for another summer season! Time flies when you’re having fun farming! One of the most delightful moments that we as interns have in our yearlong internship is witnessing the full circle of farm life, like these new tomato plants. Can’t wait for caprese salad again! [Read more…]

As I look back on my first two weeks as an intern at Full Belly Farm, I find it hard to believe that I have only been here for that long. I have already had the amazing opportunity to learn, experience and do so much that it feels like I have been here for much longer.

I applied to be an intern because I wanted to learn about all aspects of organic farming and from day one here, I have been able to jump from project to project to see how many different parts come together to make Full Belly Farm.

I worked in the packing shed with Joaquina, the shop manager, where I helped pack and put together CSA boxes and orders for stores. I learned how to correctly wash and bunch greens and root vegetables like rainbow chard, dino kale, Tokyo turnips and watermelon daikon, and I sorted through giant bins of harvested garlic and onions to find the best looking ones to be sold. [Read more…]

Taking Stock

The day I left New York was rainy and cold. I put on my winter coat and set out to live in a place I had never been and to work at a task I had never done. When I arrived at Full Belly Farm in April as the newest intern I was overwhelmed by the scale of production and by the busyness that swirled around me. But it did not take long for me to feel at home. 

The sense of community and belonging on the farm took me aback, as I was welcomed in with open arms by people willing to teach and eager to help me settle in. From the very first I began seeing, learning, and experiencing new things. Each day seems to offer a new challenge, and every person on the farm is a wellspring of information and experience that I have only just begun to get a glimpse of.  [Read more…]

Meet Hideo “Tommy” Tomitaka!  

We are so lucky to have amazing groups of youthful interns come to our farm each year. They spend their time learning about all aspects of the farm, from animal care and rotational grazing techniques, to planting, to harvesting, and even a little bit of marketing. We have been participating in a program called the Japanese Agricultural Training Program for several years now. Our interns from Japan stay with us for just over a year, and we miss them so much when they leave! This week we will say goodbye to Hideo “Tommy” Tomitaka, who has been an excellent part of the team for the past year. The following is a short interview with him about his experience:

Jenna: What were your expectations about Full Belly Farm before you arrived? 

Tomi: I didn’t have very much information about Full Belly before I arrived, but I did know that it has been doing a great job in organic farming and its CSA program for many years. I expected to learn lots about how to successfully farm organically and how to manage a farm. [Read more…]

Hi there, CSA members, let me introduce myself. My name is Tristan and I am the new intern here at Full Belly Farm. I have been here already for a whole three weeks. I came from the Monterey Bay area, having lived there for the past couple years. My experience with farming up until now has been minimal, and having just arrived to this new and welcoming place, I am reminded of what a farm is. A farm is far from “simple”. Even though I believe simplicity is what makes farming such a valuable pursuit – growing food in order for people to nourish themselves – a farm is very complex. It is an ecosystem by its own right. I have worked on two farms before this, and I can safely say that farming is unlike many jobs I have had due to its inherent nature. It combines work with living in such a way that it creates something unique and different from any other farm. Although each farm is producing food of some sort, it is also producing a culture, and a reflection of the space in which it is situated. It is a uniquely beautiful entity, a farm, no matter how big or small. And Full Belly is no exception.

[Read more…]