The Farm Institute wants you and your children to bury your hands in the fertile soil, not in you wallets.

While most of today’s children are unlikely to grow up to be farmers, they will eventually become the stewards of the land regardless, in one form or another. Healthy food, land and minds have always been essential to building and sustaining a healthy society. Unfortunately, the vast majority of those living in the modern world lack any connection to the sources and production of their food. The staff at the Farm Institute are passionate about educating people of all ages about the farms and the farmers who nurture them.

Rob Goldfarb, the institute’s director of development, says, “The Farm Institute’s ‘triad of experience’ — work, enrichment and enjoyment — is the core of what our organization does and believes. Workinstills the idea that if the child can take care of the farm, the farm will take care ofthem. They learn and experience the dignity of labor and how each of us can act in the service of making a difference. The enrichment component of the Farm Inst itute, the working farm, allows for interdisciplinary learning, connection andreflection. Finally, children given the opportunity to enjoy, play and have fun on the farm become motivated and inspired to act, learn and give with environmental responsibility.”

While the Farm Institute has always offered summer programs for people ages 2 to 17 that involve direct participation in farm chores, whether feeding the animals or tending the vegetables, they are expanding their offerings for teenagers. The Work Income Sharing Project (WISP) invites students ages 11 to 15 to learn planning, planting, tending and harvesting. WISPers will tend the vegetables and then bring the produce to market. The young farmers will then reap a share of the financial returns from sales to restaurants, at the West Tisbury Farmers’ Market and at the new farm stand on the institute’s Katama campus. This summer, the institute is adding spring and fall sessions to make WISP a three-season program. In addition, the inauguration of the institute’s new 2100 square foot greenhouse and the 3-acre vegetable market garden, WISPers will be able to produce more vegetables during a much longer growing season, thus increasing profits.

Future Farm Hands (FFH) joins WISP as a program tailored to the interests of young farmers ages 11 to 15. FFH will offer more general Farm projects dealing with livestock, gardens, facilities and equipment, with one day each week spent working on a different Island farm.

Vineyard Heritage Week, which runs July 6 to 10, is another innovative new program at the institute. Vineyard Heritage Week combines the Island traditions of farming and seafaring with emphasis on the stewardship of both the land and sea. Participants will spend time growing food on the farm at the beginning and end of the week, bookending a three-day overnight cruise on a traditional 28 foot wooden sailing vessel, reminiscent of the Nomansland fishing boats of the 1890’s.

Other 2009 spring season programs at the farm include Farmers-in-Training (FIT), the school-year mainstay program on Friday afternoons for students ages 10 and up who have had some experience on the farm, and the Saturday afternoon program for children ages 5 and up who just want to spend time on the farm doing chores, taking care of the animals and helping plant spring crops and seeds in flats for seedlings in the new greenhouse.

The Farm Institute is also offering 25 per cent discounts to Island students for all this summer’s weekly programs. For more information and registration for all programs, go to the program calendar page at farminstitute.org, or call education director Sidney Morris at 508-627-7007, extension 104. Mr. Morris can also be e-mailed directly at education@Farminstitute.org.