HardCorps FarmiCorps #10
Meet Sydney! 
“Hi there! My name is Sydney Kerbyson and I am from good ‘ol New Hampshire. Upon starting my time serving with AmeriCorps NCCC I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to study once I started college. Since I am fresh out of high school joining AmeriCorps was a great way to explore new fields that could possibly end up as my new area of study as well as having the advantage of traveling the beautiful Pacific Coast!
One very important fact you should know about me is that I am very much in love with food. With that said, something equally as important to me is staying healthy, and after these past ten weeks I have found myself becoming more aware of what I choose to put into my body as well as how much work it takes to get organic food onto my plate. Growing and living organically has always been essential to me, so working with a farm that supports it makes it easy to feel excited about the work that I do. I suppose it goes without saying that the weather here is much preferred over the abundance of snow my family is getting back on the east coast. Each day I am motivated and eager to work out on the worksite with Ruthie, Fallon and Tim with the sun shining overhead.”
“Over the past ten months my mind has been blown with how much there is to learn about sustainable agriculture. Between gardening, pruning, and preparing compost, I feel pretty confident that I have been trained to become a farmer…as a novice… in my small backyard. This is not because I feel that I didn’t learn a lot from this project; just the opposite actually. Farming is INTENSE and definitely hard work. If I were to walk away with learning just one thing from Ruthie and the others, it would be that farming takes a forward thinker. Farmers put a lot of thought into their crops and always have our future in mind. With that said, I think it is quite impossible to gain the amount of knowledge it takes to become a successful farmer in the ten short weeks we have worked here, but I have walked away with more knowledge than I ever thought I would. With what I have learned from the Grange Farm School and the rest of the Ridgewood Community, my mind has been opened to endless ideas for what I would like to study when I start my college career this upcoming September. This coming fall semester I will be starting my classes to earn my bachelors in Health Nutrition. Wish me luck!”
I am not much of a painter, photography is usually my go to, but with multiple computer and camera complications I figured expanding my artistic horizons would be good for me. The painting is inspired by the utterly breathtaking scenery here at the Ridgewood community. One of my favorite things to do in my free time is sit out on the grass and take in all of the smells, noises, and sounds in. As I close my eyes, the presence of the cool afternoon breeze or the sun beaming down on my face makes all of the difference in my day. I have been so fortunate this past two months living in such a paradise. A big thank you to Ruthie, Fallon, Tim, Ellen, Charlotte, Hunter, Mayhew, Cody, Tracy, Erin, Deb, Pete, and the rest of the Ridgewood Ranch community for making these past two months a joy and inspiration! I will miss you dearly and look forward to when I will be seeing you again. It’s never goodbye, only a ‘see you later.’
-Written by Sydney Kerbyson of AmeriCorps NCCC
