Via Community News Service, a University of Vermont journalism internship
RICHMOND — There’s weeding, picking and planting just off the highway in Richmond. The farmers work tirelessly under hot sun, occasional rain and early mornings. They work in groups, focused, but not without laughter. The work is not solitary but social. They work hard and together. Who are the farmers? Young people, often high schoolers, ages 15 and up.
The Youth Conservation Corps is a nonprofit that has been providing young people with paid service opportunities since 1985 in small crews of six to eight. The Food and Farm Program is one of two offered every summer, alongside the Conservation Program, which helps improve water quality, sustainable recreation and maintains forest health.
These young people come from all over Vermont, often finding out about the program through VYCC visiting their high schools. Some are new to farmwork, others have previous experience.
“I had always really liked chickens ever since I was a kid, and we had chickens on the farm, and when I heard they had chickens, I was like, ‘All right, I can do that,’” said Anu Shilling, 15, from Burlington.
The Food and Farm Program works to cultivate 11 acres of vegetables, take care of pasture-raised chickens and create nourishing meals from the fresh ingredients on the farm. Shilling learns how to care for agriculture but also how to do so together in an environment that cultivates community.
Chickens are only part of the perks, as the surroundings of the farm are outlined with nature and green on all ends. Shilling added that these surroundings are also something they enjoy about the program, changing their perspective about nature.
“Being outside constantly, you learn to love the little things about nature, like when you’re weeding for hours and it’s sunny and there’s no clouds and it’s just beating down on you. When you feel just a little breeze, you’re like, Yes — finally,” Shilling said.
Shilling also added that their group does a rain dance, cheering for the water about to get dropped on them, instead of the disappointment one might usually feel. In fact, VYCC also practices what the org calls beauty appreciation moments, or BAM.
Liv Sharp is 15 and from Westford. They explained that BAM moments are when the group members look for reminders in nature to remember the positives of working outdoors.
“It’s our way of when we take a break, especially last week ’cause it was so hot, to sit in the shade for like 10 minutes, and we would just like kind of talk and look on the bright side when people were like, I just wanna go home ’cause I’m so hot and sweaty and take a shower and stop doing this,” Sharp said.
This natural beauty is one of 15-year-old Niko Gordon’s favorite parts of the program. They go to Winooski High School so their hometown is more urban than Richmond. However, they have welcomed this new environment.
“I’m really used to just being in a city, like people all around buildings, but like here it’s very open, and I feel like it’s like a breath of fresh air,” Gordon said.
These moments of beauty are reminders for when tasks get tiring, or boring. A commonly disliked task on the farm is weeding.
Edward Hall is 15, from Burlington and not a fan of weeds. But Hall recognizes that pushing through this dislike is helping him grow on and off the farm.
“I would say learning how to persevere through hard work, even when you don’t wanna do it, is like a huge part of this. Hand weeding — nobody wants to hand weed — but it’s something that’s super important that we need to do and we just push through it,” Hall said.
Teamwork is also key to farm chores because it helps them go faster and makes the hard work more rewarding, according to Sharp. Something as simple as weeding can be turned into a social event that passes the time quicker and connects different crews.
“We call them weeding parties when we get to combine groups and all work on one giant section of pulling out weeds for whatever vegetable,” Sharp said. “It’s pretty big here, but it’s a small place to be in terms of you can walk around and you can always be like, Oh, that’s so-and-so’s crew right there.”
Beyond the fun and games, crew members also take value in knowing that they are doing something good for themselves and beyond themselves. Their work directly positively impacts hundreds of Vermonters and could not happen without their efforts.
Devon Cooke, director of development and community at VYCC, joined the crews for a day of farming. Cooke said that this program doesn’t just benefit young people but also much of the produce goes to the Vermont Health Care Share, where it is distributed through a food share.
The food share delivers food to 13 medical partners throughout the state who distribute it to families in its network experiencing food insecurity or diet-based illness, explained Cooke. Last year, 480 families, totaling over 900 individuals, received these weekly shares. The medical partners, such as Central Vermont Medical Center, Richmond Family Medicine, Community Health Centers of Burlington and more, help identify families for the program to receive the product.
“In the health care shares comes a whole variety of vegetables — sometimes there’s even fruits and chicken and eggs from our farm here as well,” Cooke said. “They also get information on how to prepare this food so they feel empowered to not only benefit from a food system, but really be a proactive part of it.”
This is the unique part of the program, as the crews are not only gaining professional experience, but helping their community, something Cooke believes speaks to the character of the young members.
“These young people could have jobs doing other things, but they’re choosing to work really hard and they’re choosing to come out here in the elements and spend their time doing manual physical labor that then makes a strong change in their state — I think that’s really inspiring,” Cooke said.
But such programs require funding to run. In the wake of federal cuts to AmeriCorps grants, from which VYCC gets funding, the program had to prepare for the loss of over $500,000. While the funding cuts don’t impact the youth programs, according to Cooke, they do affect the leaders running the programs and their ability to receive education awards through AmeriCorps.
“We dug deep into our own internal budget to find opportunities for lesser spending and find opportunities for more efficient programming,” Cooke said. “That was really helpful for us to try and figure out a way to not limit the amount of positions that we were offering this year.”
However, the issue is not resolved, and Cooke encourages community members to exercise their support in any way they can to keep VYCC running and providing transformative experiences.
“It’s a matter of staying vocal, telling people that you’re going to vote for, that you prioritize youth engagement, investment in workforce development for young people and that you see a future for Vermont having a well-skilled, passionate workforce of people who wanna give back to their community,” Cooke said.
“I feel like as a fellow human being, you have to help each other in order to grow and be happy. I’ve always been taught personally to help others no matter what,” Gordon said. “It lets me feel like I actually have a purpose within Vermont.”