Finger Lakes CRAFT

[Donn Hewes]

CRAFT (collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training) is a program that started with a group of organic farms in the Hudson Valley several years ago. The group of farms all send their interns or apprentices to a monthly gathering at each of the different farms. This gives the interns a broader experience and a chance to see different farms and meet a few other young farmers.

This summer will be our first year of CRAFT in the fingerlakes and yesterday was their first chance to visit our farm. Due to the holiday our turn out was a little smaller than I hoped, but it was a very fun and successful day. We barbecued a leg of Lamb and had some sheep’s milk ice cream for the Memorial day lunch. Maryrose talked about raising sheep on pasture and showed how we move a group of lambs. In the afternoon I talked about why, what, and how, of farming with horses.

I tried a new trick for describing the feel of the lines with “no pressure diving”. I used two carabiners attached to a fence with a bungee cord running through them. I attached a set of single lines to them and let people pick up the slack to make contact and “steer” the “animal”. I liked the effect of the prop and will probably use it again. We also practiced driving each other as teams!

A very fun day overall. There are a few pictures here.

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