Farm Skills 101 Diary: Practical Knowledge Already Absorbed

Farm Skills 101 student Cassi Dutcher builds her take-home sawhorse during the first weekend of the fall semester on Oct. 2-3, 2015.

By Cassi Dutcher • Farm Skills 101 Student

The Fall 2015 Farm Skills 101 students with their completed sawhorses: Holly Pearson (from left), Sarah Mogilevsky, Cathryn Henning, Andy Gricevich, Cassi Dutcher and Amy Fenn.

The first weekend of this fall’s semester of Deep Roots Farm Skills 101 was stacked with practical skills. We spent time building fences out of the most efficient materials for rotational and multi-species grazing as well as removed outdated fencing.

Our carpentry skills portion of the weekend was designed to be useful for those of us who have virtually no skills, and was still appropriate for students well-versed in woodworking. As a bonus we were able to build and take a home a sawhorse.

We extensively discussed and observed classes of animals, and learned how to choose animals to achieve our farming goals. The considerable time we spent handling the animals allowed us to become familiar with animal husbandry techniques such as hoof-trimming and temperature-taking, among others.

In addition to the list of tangible skillsets necessary for farming, we enjoyed outright encouragement to farm, which is an experience always relished by a beginning farmer. The socializing that takes place during all of the learning makes for a dynamic and fun environment that makes me very excited to return in a week!