GOISD agriculture interns complete first season

By RICHARD JENKINS

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Ironwood Township - With fall here on the Gogebic Range, the first year of the Gogebic-Ontonagon Intermediate School District's agriculture program wrapped up recently.

Two Bessemer students spent much of the summer working on Taiga Farm in Ironwood Township, participating in a "totally unique learning opportunity for students," according to Abbey Palmer.

Palmer, the education coordinator at the Michigan State University Upper Peninsula Research and Extension Center in Chatham, was one of those involved in developing the GOISD's program and others across the Upper Peninsula and manages the federal grant that funded them.

"Basically, across the U.P. we've got seven different farmer-school teams, where the (teacher) ... has teamed up with a local farmer so the students have a chance to solve a real-world, on-farm sustainability issue," Palmer said.

Locally, Bessemer junior Vai Triggiano and sophomore Reiley Hollenbeck looked at a farm's financial stability by helping Taiga Farm launch a CSA, or community-support agriculture effort.

"I thought (the internship) went exceptionally well. I'm impressed by both interns, the quality and quantity of their work," Taiga Farm owner Darrin Kimbler said. "It really helped get the first season off the ground."

He explained the CSA has people buy shares in the farm's produce, receiving weekly produce deliveries as dividends for their investment.

"We used the grant to essentially fund the interns to help develop the CSA since this is its first year," Kimbler said, referring to the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education grant through the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Working 11 hours a week from mid-June to Oct. 6, Triggiano and Hollenbeck not only help grow and harvest produce for the CSA, but also helped with marketing efforts.

"They made a newsletter template and kind of addressed Darrin's Facebook presence and gave him suggestions on how to advertise this new part of his business," Palmer said. "The students also had an opportunity to learn when things get planted. They had a chance to visit the farm, and see what it's really like to:

-A. produce food and

-B. be a farmer."

That real-world experience gained during the internship is intended to supplement what agricultural instructor Bob Genisot is teaching in the classroom.

"I can't do in the classroom what (Kimbler) can do out on the farm, it's not really feasible," Genisot said. "It's a perfect situation, it's a win-win for both of us."

While neither Triggiano and Hollenbeck are actually members of the agricultural program - the internship was open to anyone junior or lower, but this year's program had a large number of seniors - they still found their experience educational.

"We learned a lot, it was totally new information," Triggiano said. "We had a garden at my house, but that's kind of the extent of my knowledge."

She said she brought some of what she learned home to apply in the family garden.

Now in its third year, Genisot said the GOISD's agriculture program has involved various districts in the GOISD each year. The elective class is primarily juniors and seniors this year, Genisot said, with some sophomores also participating.

Even though the internship involved those not directly in the program, Genisot was pleased with how the experience has gone.

"They were just ones that were interested in the program and they decided to do it," he said. "I only had a couple of juniors this past year, and they weren't interested. So I'm glad a couple of local students got the chance to do that."

He hopes to be able to send some program participants to Taiga Farm next summer.

If interns return next year, they'll be involved in a farm Palmer said "represents a new wave of farming" for the region.

"That's really a growing sector of our agricultural portfolio here in the U.P.," she said. "People who want to do more of that kind of thing."

Kimbler is also looking forward to the return of interns.

"It's a wonderful opportunity for students in the area to understand where their food comes from," Kimbler said. "When they walk into a supermarket, how much effort it takes to grow those carrots."