by amycpat | Aug 28, 2025 | Farm School, farm to table, Farmers
Jonah volunteered as a counselor at a summer camp while in high school. The grounds featured a quarter-acre garden, where they met a farmer named Doug. Jonah’s experience there was inspirational and life-changing. It lit up a new path: the love of nature, growing food, and cooking. Although that path would twist in several directions, the core passions remained. Eventually, it brought Jonah to the CAFF Farm School, where they hope to unite all three in a vision for the future.
by amycpat | Aug 28, 2025 | Farm School, farm to table, female farmer
The decision to apply for CAFF Farm School was a slow realization that she’d like to learn farming. Living in apartments as an adult, she never had the space for a garden. But she had acquired plenty of experience with the local food system by working as a server at restaurants like The Farmer’s Table and at Ozark Natural Foods. While there, the employees toured local farms. She visited the beautiful Dripping Springs Garden, and the lifestyle was very appealing. It’s a bucolic farm growing flowers, herbs, vegetables, and fruit. Nicole says, “It made me seriously consider farming as a career. And farmers are the nicest people I’ve ever met.“ She decided to pursue it, but wasn’t sure where to start. A co-worker was applying to the CAFF Farm School and invited her to the Farmers For Tomorrow fundraiser. There she learned more about the program and the need for farmers. She decided
by amycpat | Aug 22, 2025 | Farm School, female farmer
Keira remembers the day when she realized farm life was definitely for her. Her farm crew had been working in sweltering heat, harvesting all day to pack CSA boxes and get them out. The last task was to trellis overgrown tomatoes. There wasn’t even a path through them. It was hot, and everyone was run down and tired. They decided to put on music and then started competing over who could trellis tomatoes the fastest. Next, it began to rain, and they were all getting drenched. “It was a moment when the situation was tough, but we made the best of it,” says Keira. “That‘s when I realized that a bad day farming is better than a good day anywhere else I had worked at. It was the day I decided farming was for me.”
by amycpat | Aug 19, 2025 | Farm School, Farmers
Justin had a good job working in the family business back in his hometown of Little Rock. He wore a suit every day to the office. The only problem was that he didn’t enjoy the work; it wasn’t a good fit for him. He left the company to explore other interests. That’s where he discovered how much he enjoyed working outside. “It kind of saved me in many ways,” he says. “It was the opposite of what I’d been doing, which was indoors and often stressful.”
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