Well… Here we are. The final week of the season. Do you all feel as much a sense of finality as I do? Maybe not. The spring Salad Kit CSA is just around the corner, starting in February. If I can shamelessly plug, it’s a great program if you want to try a smaller version of the summer CSA. Especially if you have a palette for mixed greens and hydroponic cukes and tomatoes. The spring CSA is the newest addition to the farm and was not without its growing pains this year so we look forward to a second go at it. I really enjoyed working the spring season last year. It’s not as demanding, and it gives the interns something to do during the typical ‘off season’. However, I won’t have the pleasure this coming spring. As I’ve lightly mentioned in past emails, I’ll be graduating in less than a month- insane for me to think about, by the way. I haven’t had time to let that sink in yet, so pardon me as I use this final newsletter to process my past three years as a Student Farm intern.
Let me run it back real quick… As a post COVID, high school graduate, I had no idea what I was going to do with my life. Two years locked in your own home while the rest of the world falls apart had its way of unravelling what previously made sense about adulthood. To me, the most reasonable course of action was to study something that would be useful no matter what happens in the world. And for me (at the time), that was growing food. Before I was officially enrolled at Purdue, I reached out to Chris basically begging to work at the Student Farm. No response. Not surprised. I knew I needed to work here though. Even before taking classes in the Horticulture department, I knew that I wouldn’t learn what I wanted to know about growing food unless I was fully immersed in the field. Farming requires so much intuition; it’s not something that can be gathered from a book alone. As soon as the opportunity presented itself, I caught Chris in person at a Purdue Student Farm Organization callout and pestered him for a job. Fast forward, and I was meeting the farm intern team for the first time in March of ’23.
Apparently, I picked a good time to work at the farm. Chris will describe this as one of his favorite years managing the Student Farm, and I’m fond of that summer as well. I remember being taught most of what I know by Wil, who had worked at the farm for four years already at that point. I grew close to the rest of the interns as we spent hours setting up cat tunnels in the spring, transplanting rows of crops, fertilizing and fussing with irrigation. I had the most wonderful group of coworkers that year. Nellie-who I also had the pleasure of living with that summer-she had a memorable habit of starting the most interesting, trivial conversations, often by asking a question like, “What’s your favorite song that makes you feel like mud wrestling someone?” I wish I could spend a day in her mind. Autumn and Basim, both the gentlest people you’ll ever meet, were wonderful to get to know through sweat and sunscreen breaks. That year, we also hosted a student intern from South Dakota- Joe. He was a machine! The type of guy to work all day long, doing the worst tasks, in 90 degree weather, cracking jokes and making people laugh, and you would never hear him complain. Almost all my coworkers have been incredible cooks- Friday cookouts being an outlet for them to flex their abilities. I also got to know Robert, an ex-marine getting a degree in sustainable farming so he could learn how to turn his property into a homestead. We later took a group road trip out to his property in beautiful southern Indiana to camp for a night. We spent the day hunting for crawdads, cooking a beautiful stew from farm veggies in a huge 90 lb cast iron cauldron that miraculously survived the trip in Wil’s beater sedan. Just before the start of my first CSA, Chris treated us all to a group canoeing trip out on Sugar creek. I remember we all stayed up so late the night before, making empanadas together to take with us on the trip. Amazing memories from that summer.
The purpose rooted in the Student Farm is education, and I can attest to this. I’ve learned so much through the past three years. I’ve learned about how food is grown, how to keep soil healthy, how unpredictable climate and weather affects production, how to problem solve on the fly, how to work through discomfort and fatigue, how to build deep connections with coworkers, how a good boss should be, how to repair irrigation, to repair a deer fence, to repair a high tunnel, to repair a tractor, to repair my jeans after I bust a hole in the knee, how to teach people, how to give a tour, how to write a newsletter. I’ve learned about beneficial insects, beneficial tools, beneficial ways to spend as little energy as possible during a hot day. I’ve learned how to take care of myself after 10 hour shifts, how to barter with free vegetables, how important it is to record everything.
I’m proud of what I’ve learned about sustaining life and growing connections with people. If I could work another three years at this farm, I would in a heartbeat. But it’ll be good to take what I’ve learned and apply it elsewhere. I could only hope that my next employer will make me laugh as much as Chris does and my coworkers would be as special as the ones I’ve worked with here. But that’s gonna be a high expectation to meet. I’m disappointed to leave the student farm, I’ll miss what I’ve gotten to become so familiar with. But as the cycle of life goes, I’ll someday appreciate being once again thrown into the unfamiliarity of learning a new skillset. As for now, thank you all for being such wonderful customers each Friday, and for supporting such an important fixture at Purdue University. Thank you especially for reading the newsletters each week. You all don’t know how much fun I’ve had writing these silly little updates. I will miss this!
The photos this week are of my favorite farm memories.
– Jane Pickey (signing off indefinitely)
