Introducing...Vic's Fall Farmternship (and Other Farm Shenaniganry)

Vic Gravel-RGF Staff

Howdy, farm blog-iverse! My name is Victoria Gravel (she/they)-I often go by Vic- and I am so excited to be introducing myself as a farm intern here at Red Gate for fall 2023! I am currently a senior at UMass studying Sustainable Food and Farming as well as English, so you can imagine my excitement in taking over a FARM BLOG for nearly three months, especially this one.

I began working at Red Gate this past April as a part-time educator and quickly fell madly in love with this place. Funnily enough, I began work here at the farm the day after my birthday- I consider my continued ability to be present on the farm as the greatest birthday gift I have ever received…sorry, Mom. The electric purple roller blades were great, but bearing witness to the awe on a child’s face after unearthing their first potato? Can’t be beat.

As a student of farm and nature-based education, I am constantly mulling over what makes this work meaningful-for students, for educators, for society as a whole. As a student of language and literature, my core guides me toward metaphor, toward what feels poetic, toward what feels most true and precious and beautiful. My English degree has also instilled in me the importance of a strong thesis both as a concept in the art of the essay and, more broadly, as a lodestar shepherding one’s attention toward that which feels most alive for them. The guiding questions directing me this fall toward what feels most alive and true are, simply put, why agriculture and nature-based education at all? What are students taking away from their experience here on the farm, and how is Red Gate Farm intentionally designed to foreground those experiences, values, and ways of being? What stands to be gained from an agriculture-based education that is different from “traditional” compulsory schooling?

Together we will explore these questions in the form of photos, poems, reflective responses, and maybe even a few interviews! I’ve always wondered what Jack the ox thinks about all this, there seems to be such profound wisdom just emanating from those horns. I’ll keep you all updated on whether his schedule allows for an interview-he is quite the busy bovine these days.

I hope to post a new blog every other week on Fridays, but I ask for your forgiveness for any future delay: I have many gardens to tend to this fall, both literal and metaphorical. What, you thought I was going to end this blog without a single metaphor? Clearly you don’t know me very well, which leads me to my next point: who am I beyond the farm, anyway?

Both on and off the farm you will likely find me with my nose in a poetry anthology, scribbling in my little yellow notebook, and seemingly staring blankly into the distance when in reality I am searching for the soul of a flower petal by petal or tracking a honey bee from hive to forest and back. I love to practice yoga, lift heavy things up and down, travel, hike, write, dance, cook and enjoy meals with others, laugh with friends until my sides split, and hang out with animals any chance I get.

That’s all for now, folks. I hope you’ll get to know me and the farm even better with each new blog post. Welcome to The Chronicles of Vic’s Fall Farmternship and Other Farm Shenaniganry-enjoy the ride!