Program Puts 'City Kids' on Farms
Denver teenagers get taste of life in rural Colorado

By Mark H. Hunter
Special to The Denver Post

April 24, 2002 - MONTE VISTA - The next time Bear Creek High School senior Jessica Newcomer goes to the grocery store, she'll know where some of the vegetables came from - because she helped plant them.
So will Todd Carr, Derek Fankell, and 27 of their "big city" classmates who recently spent 10 days living and working on Colorado farms or ranches. The cross-cultural program, sponsored by the Colorado Farm Bureau and the Lakewood-area high school, gives students a new appreciation of what it takes to put food on America's dinner tables.

Derek Fankell (center), Todd Carr (right) and 27 of their "big city" classmates recently spent 10 days living and working on Colorado farms and ranches.

"Senior Field Studies is among a growing list of "Ag in the Classroom' programs which educate students of all ages about agriculture," said Angela Ryden, chair of the Farm Bureau's Women's Committee. "We want them to understand the issues important to rural Coloradans, and that we take pride in producing a safe, plentiful and inexpensive food supply."

The program is more than farming and ranching, added Mark Leachman, Bear Creek High teacher and program coordinator. "The students study urban, suburban and wilderness areas; explore career opportunities; participate in community service activities; go whitewater rafting and backpacking in the desert."

Jessica Newcomer, 18, of Morrison stayed with Paul and Cindy New on their 1,000-acre organic farm/ranch near Mosca in southern Colorado's San Luis Valley. She was the fourth student to stay with them, Cindy New said.

"They've all had great experiences," New said. "Now they understand that food doesn't just come from the grocery store."

"I watched a calf being born. I liked that," Newcomer said. "I watched pigs being castrated. I liked that, too. I drove a tractor, planted some fava beans and burned some ditches. This is definitely a different lifestyle than I'm used to."

While Newcomer was helping Cindy New, a volunteer teacher's assistant, watch some first-graders splashing in the warm-water Great Sand Dunes swimming pool - rural life isn't always work - Carr and Fankell were sorting potatoes at a nearby potato-grain farm. The young men took turns operating a conveyor that scooped spuds from a cavernous storage bin into a waiting semi-truck.

"I had no idea what goes on out here," said Carr, 18, who stayed with Rob and Beth Jones on their sprawling farm-ranch near the dunes. "I didn't know how hard the work was - it's pretty hard!"

Earlier that morning Carr had driven a 13-speed Kenworth grain truck down a sandy country road so he and Rob Jones could begin "drilling" (planting) barley seed that afternoon. He'd also driven a tractor and each dawn fed Jones' 50 cow-calf "pairs."

"Everybody I know in "the real world' has jobs - but they don't really care about them," Carr said. "Out here they like what they do, and they're good at it."

"We're trying to show them that you don't have to be a "pitchfork farmer' anymore," Jones said. "There's a lot of technology involved. For example, I buy supplies over the Internet all the time."

"We're also trying to dispel the myth that big corporate farms are the most effective - that's not true," Jones said. "A family farm can outproduce the big farm; it's just that they have better marketing."

Fankell, 17, stayed with John and Tina Slane on their potato-grain farm near Mosca.

"I never really understood what it takes to get food in the city," Fankell said. "I drove a tractor the first day I was here and drove a semi-truck the next day. It was interesting."

"He did pretty good for his first time," added John Slane.

"It seems a lot more peaceful here," Fankell said as drifting clouds cast large shadows over nearby fields being prepared for planting. "Everybody waves when they drive by. Everybody is pretty friendly."

For more information, contact the Colorado Farm Bureau at 719-564-4861, or Mark Leachman at Bear Creek High School at 303-988-7946.

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