Learning Spanish for the Farm: Summer Week #12 – 8/21/24
Learning Spanish for the Farm
My goal is to farm for at least another 10 years – perhaps more if my body will allow me to do so. I have no idea how much things will change in another 10 years, but I know that in the twenty we have farmed so far, much has changed surrounding the market for what we do, the weather we do our work in, and the people who want to do this work with us.
Our work force is predominantly from the Madison area – mainly well-educated, single individuals who share our environmental and food security ethos. There is a lot of labor turnover in our industry due to its seasonal nature. However, we are able to train and keep on a small number of folks who return from year to year. (And we are proud that the retention rate of our work crew has steadily increased as both Michael and I have invested in them and in our own educations around labor management). Always, though, we need new employees for each season.
We have always been able to find the number of workers we need each season, but we are learning that this is not true for many farms in our region. Many farms are starting to lean on to H2A labor, which is the practice of ‘sponsoring’ employees from other countries. There are lots of pros and cons to this labor program (which I won’t get into now), but I will say that it is not a program we are super interested in supporting and using due to its racist and abusive historical basis.
A good business owner, however, tries to stay ahead of the curve. Every year I turn down potential employees who would want to work here because I only speak English (well, French, but that was a waste of some formative education years!). Learning Spanish seems like a wise business move, so that we can expand the potential labor pool for our farm. * It is worth noting here that Michael does speak some Spanish, but he does not lead or manage the crews.
Enter Pimsleur. No I am not getting paid to promote this app, but I LOVE it. Pimsleur is a language learning program that is audio-based. It’s a half hour listen and speaking lesson every day. I am able to use it while I am working with my hands. I practice Spanish when I am mowing the cover walkways in the tomatoes. I practice Spanish when I am watering in the greenhouse. I practice Spanish while I am setting up drip irrigation. I had hoped to be braver and practice my Spanish while harvesting in a group setting by working a little aways from others, but I am ultimately too embarrassed to talk beginner-level Spanish to myself in the presence of others!
It turns out I love learning Spanish. It’s like a puzzle that forces my brain to pull away some cobwebs of aging. I love figuring out the patterns, and the click of understanding something new for the first time. And who doesn’t love rolling Rs?!
This winter I hope to do some volunteering once a week, somewhere where I can hear Spanish being spoken. (I’m all ears for suggestions if you have one!!!)
Who knows if we will ever reach the point of having two different languages spoken on the farm, but I am having a lot of fun preparing for the possibility.
