Initiating CRAFT Kingston
The following letter was sent out to the original farms interested in hosting CRAFT interns at the projects inception. It is included here as a sample only – for those interested in started a CRAFT chapter in their region. PLEASE NOTE: The event was in 2009 – this is not a current invitation!
CRAFT Kingston meeting and potluck invitation
Seasons greetings,
I’m writing to inform you of the CRAFT Kingston potluck lunch and meeting on Sunday January 11 from 12pm to 3pm at the Heirloom Seed Sanctuary of the Sisters of Providence (1200 Princess St. in Kingston, see bottom for directions). The goal of this meeting will be to form the CRAFT Kingston network of organic farms for the 2009 season and get to know each other. During these three hours we will introduce ourselves, eat lunch and give our short presentations to demonstrate that we meet the requirements of being a CRAFT farm (see Becoming a Member Farm of CRAFT Kingston, pdf).
Not everyone on this address list has said that they are interested for 2009. I’ve included you because you’re welcome to come for the potluck and learn how CRAFT Kingston will operate in the future and what criteria must be met to be a CRAFT farm.
CRAFT Kingston is being initiated as a part of the NFU New Farm Project, a 4-year project aimed at building farm capacity and farm community in the Kingston area. During these four years, CRAFT Kingston will be supported by the New Farm Project, but will ultimately be a stand-alone network of organic farms offering internships. Over the past three months, the CRAFT committee has been planning the beginning steps of CRAFT Kingston and developing a process which will guide the formation of this network.
In order to become a network of farmers sharing equal responsibility for the long-term sustainability of CRAFT Kingston, each interested farmer will be expected to do a short presentation on their farm to demonstrate how they meet the requirements of a CRAFT farm. Farmers attending the meeting will collectively assess each presentation and give constructive recommendations to those who do not demonstrate the ability to meet the requirements in their presentation.
Remember, 2009 will be the first year of many for CRAFT Kingston. If your farm is not ready to offer an internship right away, please do not rush it! It would be much better to take this coming year to plan the unique internship that you will offer so that it makes sense for your farm and it will be a very good learning experience for an intern. The NFU New Farm Project has a very useful book on offering a farm internship for sale for $25. I will bring them to the potluck on January 11.
If you are ready to offer an internship in 2009, here are some guidelines that may help in preparing your short farm presentation (approx 5 mins) on January 11:
Internship Practicalities:
1. Internships are an exchange of labour and commitment for guidance, education, instruction, often including room & board and/or a small stipend. What type of internship will you be offering in terms of housing, work hours, educational components, length of season, etc?
2. CRAFT farms are required to follow organic standards. Under this standard of production, what type of production do you do on your farm and what work would an intern be expected to do? (ie. How would the intern be guided in work with tools, sowing, cultivating, harvesting, marketing, animals, machinery, business planning, etc?) This answer might include a general description of your farming operation with attention to an intern’s position in all of it.
3. CRAFT Kingston is essentially a network of farms whose common objective is to improve the educational experience offered to their interns. By planning monthly CRAFT days, for example, interns get together at one CRAFT farm for a half-day workshop, lunch and a half-day work bee. Workshop examples include: crop rotation, harvesting/cultivating techniques, seed saving, marketing, business planning, homeopathy, bee keeping, soil science, etc. Do you have other ideas of how to offer a well-rounded internship? What workshop topics would you be willing to host on your farm?
4. Presentations are meant to be short and to the point. Does your farm meet the requirements listed in the attached document? If you don’t currently meet the requirements, what changes can be made in order to comply?
Please RSVP to me if you’d like to come to the January 11 potluck meeting. And don’t hesitiate to contact me if you have any questions.
Ian Stutt
ianstutt@newfarmproject.ca
613.767.6037
Directions to Heirloom Seed Sanctuary of the Sisters of Providence: 1200 Princess Street entrance is on the south side of Princess Street just west of Sir John A MacDonald Blvd across from Kelsey’s restaurant and Mark’s Work Warehouse. Turn into the main entrance and follow the lane left around the back of the building. The event will be held in the barn that you see once behind the big main building.