July 24, 2026 | Education
Summer Stories: Youth Development Program, Week 4
A field trip and lots of farm work kept the students busy this week
The Youth Development Program is a paid opportunity for high-school-age students to develop and hone various skills in preparation for life beyond the classroom. The summer session is called the Seed Crew, and is 8 weeks of working, learning, and connecting as a team.
Week 4 arrived with some terrible air quality due to fires in the Boundary Waters, and we opted to cancel work. Thankfully, some much-needed rain came through the remainder of the day, and that really helped the air quality and our plants.
On Tuesday, we started with a bunch of harvesting: beans, peas, okra, squash, cucumbers, turnips and radishes. A crew also went to Groundswell to support café prep. They had a staff member out on vacation, so they had a lot of work to do. Our workshop was focused on community health. Kylie, one of our farm education interns, walked the team through a discussion on food deserts, basic nutritional needs, and programs available through Iowa to support healthy food access. They finished by testing their knowledge with a very heated game of team jeopardy.
On Wednesday, we took a field trip to Sun Dog Farm / Local Harvest CSA. It was a fantastic experience. We started with a tour and ended with farm work. Our crews assisted with harvesting onions, weeding, laying down ground cover, and transplanting flowers and peppers. It was a great opportunity to see another local farm with a CSA and how they have scaled up more than our urban farm. As a bonus we got to meet all the animals they care for, including goats, sheep and their guardian dog; meat chickens; and a few amazing farm dogs.
Thursday was a big day of harvesting. We also tackled a few bigger farm tasks that included sheet mulching and planting and transplanting more crops for the remainder of the season. Earlier in the week the team decided they wanted to have a potluck-style lunch with each person bringing something connected to their heritage or a family recipe. The potluck was a complete and total hit, and they were already plotting the next one. After we decided to celebrate the halfway point of the summer session, we played a game called “Guess the Staff.” We read statements,
and the high schoolers had to stand behind the chair of the person they thought the statement was true for. It was a lot of fun, and it gave us all a chance to get to know one another better.
It’s hard to believe our eight-week program is already halfway through. Stay tuned for more updates next week!