The public broadcasting show, Growing a Greener World, had an episode related to farming education this morning. They profiled a Farm School in New England where learners go for a year to learn all aspects of farming. It sounds tempting.

We have been very much learning on the job with help from books, the Internet and our local extension agent. We have informally partnered with a local man who worked with the former owner of our house. He helps out with our crops and uses some of the garden to plant his own. He has lots of knowledge about what to plant when and takes the vegetables up to road to the more urban areas to sell.

The idea of opening our farm to students is very appealing. It would be nice to work with local students who might want to use farming as a way to stay in an area where jobs are scarce. One of the powerful messages from the director of the Farm School was that it is now possible to make a living as a small local farmer. But there is a lot to learn about from running a business to growing crops to fixing the plumbing. Lots of opportunities to make practical applications of classroom learning including science and math along with business and marketing skills. Technology would be used in appropriate ways from bookkeeping to crop tracking to website development.

Is it possible that growing and selling food could really be coming back as an area of job development?  I was reminded of a segment I had seen about Braddock, Pennsylvania, a former manufacturing town trying to survive into the 21st century. They have a small scale urban organic farm as part of their revitalization plans. This video is worth a look to see how people are solving problems in creative, roll-up-your sleeves kinds of ways that don’t rely on government:

Watch A Town Revitalized? on PBS. See more from NOW on PBS.