Learning from the ground up at Green String Farm

Chris Castro didn’t have a clue what “cardoon” was until he began working and studying at Green String Farm in rural Petaluma.

Castro, 25, who grew up in Riverside, now knows it’s a vegetable related to the artichoke.

His fellow intern, Jenny Cade, 24, of Mountain View, has expanded her appreciation of unusual vegetables too, and has become a fan of kale since enrolling in Green String Institute.

Castro and Cade are students in an unusual, new internship program that immerses students in the financial aspects of managing a farm-based business as well as the planting, harvesting, and selling of fruit and veggies at the farm’s retail stand.

When winter downpours kept them inside, they focused on marketing by painting big colorful signs, which have been posted along Adobe and Lakeville roads to advertise the farm’s retail offerings.

Sonoma-based veteran farmer and former Santa Rosa Junior College agriculture instructor Bob Cannard, 56, unveiled the internship program last fall, fulfilling a longtime dream of his after leaving his JC post 10 years ago.

The program is set up as a three-month residential internship with students living together in an old farmhouse that Cannard renovated on the property adjacent to the Petaluma Adobe State Historic Park.

The interns, primarily in their twenties, share domestic tasks like cleaning, cooking, dishwashing, and caring for a flock of about 100 chickens. The program has attracted interns from Italy and South Africa.

The interns view this intensive immersion in farming as a useful route to attaining a green job. Many of the students are from suburban or urban areas, and while they haven’t had previous experience raising crops, they are optimistic they’ll find — or create — a career niche for themselves in the agricultural industry.

“I want them to learn how we grow our food. There is so much opportunity, and so little (internship) experience out there,” Cannard said.

He is well-known for his versatile farming skills coax crops to perfection without using chemicals, using composting, recycling, and water conservation whenever possible. He has 70 acres planted on the 140-acre plot and plans to continue expanding the farm, which he and vintner Fred Cline started eight years ago.

Cannard has been a supplier to Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkeley for 25 years, and his farm makes weekly deliveries to many other high-end Bay Area restaurants.

The internship curriculum provides 70 lectures on “natural process farming” and taps the knowledge of experts, such as Glen Ellen soil consultant Bob Shaffer, who speaks to students about soil health. Other authorities talk about beekeeping, chicken-raising, seed selection and art.

Cline, Cannard’s Green String partner, owns Cline Cellars and Jacuzzi Family Winery in Sonoma. He and other winery managers have taught classes to interns about financial and business management, including the importance of diligent bookkeeping practices, being prepared for farm inspections and securing operating and property permits.

Although the lectures are informally presented at a large table in the farmhouse kitchen or on the deck outside, the education of the interns is not informal. Their days are structured to include work, study, and social time, and on occasion they venture away from the farm to visit nearby food producers.

Interns get room and board free and receive a small stipend in return for putting in work on the farm or produce stand.

“When they leave, we want them to understand how to interact with nature so nature is supported by humanity,” said Cannard, dressed in jeans and a light-blue work shirt. “They also learn how to use standard farm tools and maintain them, like a shovel, hoe and tractor. And they learn ergonomics so they can be agricultural athletes and keep their physical health and not get worn out.”

Cannard has delegated managing the internship program to his son, Ross, and one of his first interns, Allie Iacocca, 22, a recent UC Santa Cruz graduate who apprenticed with Cannard two years ago. Ross Cannard, 25, graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a linguistics degree and asked his father if he could work on the farm.

As the program expands, the two intern managers are setting criteria for admissions into the residential internship, and also are setting up programs for community members who want to volunteer on the farm while learning more about Green String operations.

“I understand now because I’ve been in many intern experiences that you’re often regarded as a cheap workforce,” Iacocca said. “ But this is Bob’s dream, and it’s centered around learning, and it's economical too. It's beneficial to him and to us."

Spring intern Katrina Fowler, 22, of Dallas, has a college degree in nutrition from New York University and learned about the program from a friend who worked at Chez Panisse.

“I knew nothing about plants and wanted to do more with a farm focus," said Fowler, who is particularly fascinated with raising livestock. "”We’re learning about plant diseases, the annual aspect of farming and the little intricacies about plants. The lessons with Bob are relaxed. And I’ve never eaten so many vegetables in my life.”