By: Bobby Hricko, senior, Plant Sciences- Horticulture

This semester, I spent many mornings on the Student Farm at Penn State. I need just a few more horticulture production credits in order to fulfill the requirements of my major, but no classes fit my schedule. So, my advisor and I decided that I could spend some time on the farm for independent study credit. My initial impetus for wanting to work on the farm was purely practical – as virtually all of my hands-on experience in agriculture has been with tree fruit, I really wanted to develop a working knowledge of a vegetable production system. However, while I absolutely did learn much about vegetable production, this was not my most important take-away.

When I graduate in December, I plan on going back to work with my grandparents on their tree fruit farm. Often, when people hear of my plant science major and my intended career path, they ask: “So, did you grow up on a farm?” I usually answer that I didn’t grow up on the farm in the most literal sense of the phrase, but that I did indeed do a lot of growing up on the farm: since my early teen years, I have spent every summer living with my grandparents. But when I try to distill this down to a “yes” or “no” answer, I’m not sure where I should land. I find myself caught between two peer groups – agriculture majors who have had no experience with ag and those who spent their entire life on a farm. I often ask myself – can I, in good faith, claim to have grown up on a farm?

So too did I feel out of place on the student farm. Most everyone else I worked with had been an intern since the summer – when tour groups came or volunteers needed to be led, could I claim to be a bona fide student farm worker capable of directing others when I myself had only spent such a short time there? Could I claim to be as authentic a student farmer when – all too often – my mind rested on the homework that needed to be done rather than the beauty of the morning sun coming up over the high tunnel?

After interacting with my co-workers and falling into the rhythm of farm work despite the temptation to think of homework, I realize that this all of this doesn’t really matter. Because I didn’t spend my early childhood on a farm makes me no less of a farmer now. Even though I couldn’t spend the summer as a paid intern on the student farm, I am still a student farmer. I realized that my mental energy could be put to far better use if I focused more on living the experience rather than worrying about whether or not I deserved to.

So, during my time on the Student Farm this semester, I learned to harvest a myriad of fruits and vegetables, to work with irrigation systems and hand tools, and to sort and pack produce for a small-scale market garden operation. I helped prep a high tunnel for its first planting, built shelving in one of our renovated sheds, and led volunteer groups while sharing information I learned in my agriculture classes. My practical experiences on the farm were as diverse as the array of crops we grow. But my most valuable take-away this semester is personal, not practical. More than ever, I am comfortable with who I am, who I was, and who I’m trying to be. I’ve reached a place where – socially, academically, and professionally – I feel that I belong. I’m not done yet, of course! I doubt I ever will be. But I’m closer than I was before, and that’s what counts.