What It’s Like to Work and Live on an Organic Farm

A few years after college, I felt lost.

I had spent one year doing AmeriCorps, which I loved, and moved onto doing nonprofit work. But another year later, I kept thinking, “Is this what I want to keep doing?” I felt like life was too short to work hard and miss out on opportunities that I longed for.

Instead, I moved out of town and found all kinds of rich opportunities that fed my need to travel, explore, and try new things. I worked in retail to save money so I could travel to California, to India, to Nepal. I was a nanny for a summer so I could spend all of my time outside, playing.

And I worked and lived on an organic farm.

I first found out about Hawthorne Valley Farm, an organic, biodynamic farm based in the Hudson Valley in New York, through The Back Door Guide to Short-Term Job Adventures. At the time, it was my go-to resource for all of the adventures I wanted to experience.

I started as an intern for their visiting students program, and over the next two years I went back to Hawthorne Valley to work in the vegetable garden, to work in the natural foods store, and to help run the summer camp.

For my six months as an intern, every week a different school visited, and the children would stay in the large farm house. Every day we interns led the kids in different activities: bread baking [sourdough bread cooked in an outdoor, wood-fired oven], butter making, hiking, composting, gardening, cooking, mucking out the barn, and horseback riding.

I absolutely loved it. I felt so good about the work I was doing – I was teaching children the importance of knowing where their food comes from, the process of growing and then cooking your own food, and different ways to appreciate nature.

Some of the moments at Hawthorne Valley were just magical. Once a week, very early in the morning, a few students and I would feed the calves, chickens, piglets, horses, and gather eggs from the chickens. There is nothing like waking up before sunrise in the quiet countryside.

Eating at the farm was great too. All of the food I ate as an intern was organic and vegetarian, including farm fresh eggs, whole grain breads, European-style yogurt, and cheese, which were produced at the farm.

Luckily, now, I only live one county away from Hawthorne Valley. When Steve and I are in the mood to go on a car ride, or when the farm is in the midst of a festival or open house, we like to take the drive to stop and visit. I always run into a friendly, familiar face, and I love to check in on the chickens scurrying through the fields, to say hello to Lisa, the cow named after me, or to pick up some delicious yogurt and cheese from the farm store.

Whenever I think back to those few years where I took some time off from “traditional” jobs and work, I feel thankful. If I hadn’t taken that time to do the things I love, I may never have found the magic in places like Hawthorne Valley Farm.

Have you ever worked [or lived] on a farm?