I started at Desert Farming Initiative six months ago with no prior farming experience. With the patient guidance of the Farm Manager, Tanner, and my fellow coworkers, I can confidently complete all farm tasks and teach others as well! Working on the farm is not easy. It is physically and mentally challenging spending long days in everything from extreme cold to extreme heat while completing all that needs to get done on the farm. I can confidently say that I have come out stronger on the other side. The effort it takes to plant, weed, prune, fertilize, and harvest the plants is well worth it for the abundance of delicious food and the positive impact on the earth and community that come out of it. I felt supported every step of the way as I slowly learned how to complete all of the tasks on the farm including propagation, bed preparations, planting, harvesting, and deliveries. When volunteers come to the farm, I am confidently able to walk them through exactly how to perform any given task and share all of the wonderful features of DFI. Best of all, the team at DFI is incredible. The many hours spent on the farm provide a unique opportunity to have great conversations that have opened my eyes up to the Reno community and so much more. I will definitely miss spending everyday with the friends that I have made at DFI. Everyone on the team is passionate about what they are doing and is ready to put in the hard work to get things done. I am so appreciative of Jill and Tanner’s confidence in me to take on different tasks, such as running the social media and planning a community event. Overall, working at Desert Farming Initiative has been some of the most challenging and rewarding work I have done and I am so grateful for the experience.
