Reflection #1

 This week was eye opening to understanding how a small family business operates and is maintained. We did three main things on the farm this week, we cleared land for the dogs to roam, created a space to start a Christmas tree business and cleared a path through the woods to help Trask start his sap production. While these tasks may not seem very entertaining in theory, in practice talking with Trask and understanding all the things he has to do on a daily basis creates a deep appreciation for all of the small farmers out there.

Clearing the land for the dogs was rewarding because work that took four teenagers a day to do would have taken Trask 4 times the amount of time to do the same task. This project was quite quick in comparison to the sapling project but it was a good intro project to the ranch. The sapling project took up most of our time this week it was challenging physically, there were bugs, it was hot and we were tired but mentally staying focused when we didn’t want to work was the hardest part. It was helpful to divide the big project into smaller more manageable tasks. It took time but we worked it out together. While we haven’t finished clearing the path yet it has been more fun than expected pacing a path through the woods.

While we still have a lot of work to do my love for the outdoors has been reinvigorated and it can be energizing work. I look forward to continuing to learn about the business that has been created and the struggles they encounter. Learning about the real human impact on certain scenarios has been eye opening. I would like to thank Trask for mentoring us and having us along on his farm for another week.