Hello! If you’ve found this blog, maybe you’re considering an apprenticeship at a farm. What a tremendous learning opportunity that can be!! Whether your experiences are good or bad, you will come away years ahead on your learning curve. If a place is negative, you learn what not to do, or how you definitely do not want to run your own farm. If it is positive, well, you can’t really get any better than that!
I have had some experiences on each end of that spectrum, and want to offer a few words of advice to those who might be struggling to decide which farm is best for them. That advice would be: references are important! Employers, including many farms, wisely ask for references before hiring future employees. This gives them a look into your character before they actually offer you a position.
Many farms require a growing season-long commitment. This is a very significant amount of time, and might require you to give up your current job, your current apartment lease, and more. It is a vulnerable place to be in, especially if you travel a great distance to live and work at the farm you choose. Given that, I believe that asking for references for the farms you are considering is a very reasonable request.
My words of caution on this subject are because of my apprenticeship experience at one particular farm that stands dramatically apart from the others. If you’re considering apprenticing at Terrapin Farm, with Judy Owsowitz, I would especially encourage you to heed the advice given on this blog. If you would care to contact me via this blog, I would be happy to go into more details but I will leave it at that here.
Do your best to get an unbiased list of individuals to contact. The farm will likely have a list of people they are happy to have you call. If I think back to my own experiences, I would definitely call that group. But I would also think about others in the community that might have reason to be in contact with the farm. Does it (the farm) sell to the natural food and or grocery stores in the area? Call them and ask to speak to the produce buyers there. Have their interactions been positive? Previous interns/apprentices are invaluable sources of information….see if you can come up with several, independent of the list the farmer gives you, that have spent the season at your potential farm. They will be able to give you a picture of what your daily life will probably be like. If you talk to more than one, hopefully you can begin to get a more accurate picture. If you do manage to talk to any previous interns, ask if they wouldn’t mind putting you in touch w/ others that have been in contact w/ the farm. Ask about the hours worked….were they reasonable? How did the farmer interact w/ his or her interns….was it in a respectful way? Did the intern have to fight to get enough hours to sleep at night, for days off or for the promised pay/stipend? What were the living quarters like….were they acceptable? Did the intern feel that his or her learning experience was what they expected? Were they happy that they chose the farm they chose? Did the farm treat its customers with respect? Did it treat the land with respect? Thinking back, I believe that these are questions that deserve answers before a months-long commitment is made to live and work at a place.
If you do the above, I think that you will get a good feel for what type of place the farm you’re considering is. Do you have any red flags (even little ones?). Examine those, and compare them to other places that you might also be considering.
If you have misgivings about one place, don’t hesitate to continue your search. As I said above, there are some AMAZING farms out there, with people who can teach you SO much. Do not limit yourself to the first place you come across, or the first person to respond to your inquiries about available positions. A growing season commitment can be eight months long, and you deserve to spend that length of time at a place that appreciates and respects you for who you are.
Best of luck to you, and thank you for being interested in raising food. I can’t think of a more worthwhile profession 
If I can be of any help to you, please do not hesitate to contact me via this blog.
