April is full-tilt work,
made trickier due to unpredictable weather. More people are active on the farm, it’s time to prepare and plant spring crops, and the greenhouse is bursting.
You are planning for, and leading, interns, volunteers, and program
participants. This is your chance to build a leadership team and to test the farm systems you developed earlier in the year....and most of all, set the stage for a bountiful season. Here are 5 tips to support your success:
Train leaders:
Whether interns, program participants, or other staff, make sure you build in several leadership and
facilitation trainings so you can share the load leading work in the fields.
While your trainees may not have your deeper agricultural knowledge, by taking
the time to walk them through specific activities and making sure they have the
core skills to lead, you’ll be able to work with more volunteers and offer more
learning opportunities for everyone. Make sure you participate while leaving
them room to learn their new roles. Leave time for reflection and feedback so
trainees can improve their leadership and facilitation skills over time. Your
joy is to step back and watch (with some back-up support) as they take over.
Spring interns
are great, especially because there is so much work to do and not usually a
consistent work force yet. Remember though, they are there to learn. Build a
learning contract with them, setting out their goals, the goals for the farm,
and your expectations. Set up weekly check-ins as a group to review their
experience, problem-solve, and slowly support them taking more responsibility.
Take them on field walks, sharing what you see, and eventually leaving them
room to improve their own “farmer’s eye” for tasks and prioritization. Offer
weekly trainings, and try to connect them with learning opportunities in other
parts of your organization. Interns are awesome and will be great spring
support if you can develop a good support/communication structure for them.
Volunteers
are definitely coming out now. Ideally the volunteer coordinator is playing a
major support role in scheduling and communication, but you’ll need to make
sure you are clear about your needs and especially the volunteer schedule. Your
leadership trainings pay off, as much of the group facilitation is taken on by
interns and program participants. Take this time to make connections with
volunteers, offer more technical support to the leaders, and keep a step ahead
in your project planning. Anticipate the transition times like the end of the
school year, when few people will be on the farm. Now is the time to recruit
the volunteer team to help you through until the next program group begins. Also,
don’t be shy about deflecting volunteer energy to where it is needed. You will
run yourself ragged trying to adapt your program to fit every potential
volunteer’s needs and schedule.
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| A little overwhelmed with all of the spring tasks? Volunteers can a make a big job fun! |
Marketing is
one of those things that is easy to put off, but now is the time! If you haven’t
already, you’d better make a big advertising push to fill your CSA, announce
your upcoming farm stand hours, and otherwise make sure the public/supporters
can take advantage of all the bounty you are producing. Consider other
advertising or direct outreach approaches if you are not meeting your goals.
Keep
planning ahead: Spring activities can be overwhelming, but the
summer is just around the corner! Continue to meet with staff, counselors,
teachers, or whoever else bases their program on the farm. Make sure you have a
shared summer schedule and everyone is clear on their roles and
responsibilities. The Farm Manager role means you facilitate everyone’s
relationship with the farm in a way that meets production and program goals.
The meetings and special trainings are worth it! You can also use the spring
work parties to improve and evaluation the farm systems you want in place for
the summer participants.
If you are looking for help developing facilitation or leadership trainings, intern programs, farm planning systems, or other farm-educator support, contact info@rootforward.net.
