The Farm that Grows Farmers
BY PETER HARTWIG
PHOTO : Erica Baker ger mission than simply gathering a harvest . It ’ s not just fruits and vegetables , but also the stuff of human life that is more difficult to get your mouth around : education , therapy , inclusion . Melissa McLearen is the farm manager and coordinates “ all of the different worlds that make up Red Wiggler .” But because Red Wiggler is a Care Farm , she approaches her job differently than some of her colleagues at other operations might . “ We focus more on the people-aspects . We allow time for training . We allow time for vocational development . And we allow time for just peoplethings to happen ,” she says .
Red Wiggler employs 15 adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities as “ growers ”— what
Eisenis Fetida is a little critter that has a lot of colloquial names : trout worm , brandling worm , manure worm . But most often , they are called red wigglers . They are , you might say , the unsung heroes of American soil . If you want to add worms to your compost pile , they are your most common and reliable choice . They are the wriggling creatures that live in the darkness of the dirt . They rarely come to the surface . You may only take an interest in them if you come to care about the largely unseen work of rejuvenating and renutriating soil — not unlike the farm that bears their name .
Red Wiggler is a Care Farm . That means it is a farm with a bigyou and I would likely call farmers . Growers plant seeds in small pots , transfer them to the ground , and harvest them as produce . They are employees in no modified sense . There are not shortened expectations or relaxed standards . Their salaries are not donations or aid . “ The worker is worthy of their wages ,” as the saying goes .
In fact , if you talk to volunteers or staff members , you will hear a repeated story of learning just how worthy of their wages these growers are . Andrea Barnhart was Melissa ’ s predecessor as farm manager . When asked what the soul of Red Wiggler is , she says , “ It ’ s experiencing that work with someone who ’ s different from you . You ’ re coming in and you ’ re expecting a
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