HIS Nation - HIS Joins Local Farmers Market
New Ventures
This school year, the agriculture program at Holbrook Indian School (HIS) begins to move beyond the “classroom” towards real-world experience. HIS started participating in the local Flagstaff Farmers Market with agriculture director, Daniel Nicholls, introducing the school’s produce and students into new territory.
Every Sunday in Flagstaff, Arizona, large crowds of people flock to the downtown area to visit the Farmers Market to buy locally grown produce and other items. Vendors from as far as Phoenix make the trip to take advantage of the crowds. Less than an hour and a half away from the school, Daniel makes the trip with students with the goal of connecting the school with a larger community through the sale of produce.
Keep reading to find out how this new venture is creating connections with the community while presenting future designs for our agriculture education program. The full interview with Daniel is below.
A Valuable Perspective
“Often when taking classes, it is easy for a student to see no practical application of what they are learning to their life outside of school.
In our gardening classes at HIS, I try to help the students see the literal value in hard work. One way of doing this is going over the numbers of the cost to produce the vegetables and the price they can be sold for.
The market will give even greater chances to help develop an entrepreneurial mentality and a sense of empowerment through the agriculture program.” —Daniel Nicholls
a New Venture, New Possibilities
Interview with Agriculture Director Daniel Nicholls
1. What is the Flagstaff farmers market all about?
Daniel:
While I could talk about this only from my own perspective, I would first point to their own website for the market to answer this question. From the Flagstaff Community Market website (www.flagstaffmarket.com):
“Flagstaff Community Market was started in 2000 as a regional producers market that operates for growers and producers of agricultural and related products. The primary purpose of the Market is to support small and medium-sized independent growers and producers by providing citizens with a local alternative to corporate and globalized food production.”
“It is our intent to connect growers and consumers and encourage people, both urban and rural, in growing more of their own food. A secondary purpose is to provide an outlet for small-scale producers of value-added food products, local artisans, and community and sustainable agricultural groups.”
In my limited experience with the market, I have found it to be exactly what they say it is. The outlet provided for local growers to sell their produce has given them a chance to interact directly with their customers and has helped them to see the value in gardening. The formation of the resulting farmer-customer relationships adds a greater sense of connection to the community.
2. What is Holbrook's role in participating?
Daniel:
While the primary desire for our produce is that it goes to the cafeteria, we also sell some produce to customers off-campus. We have been running a small CSA-style operation selling produce to families in the area for several years. This has been reasonably successful but the opportunity to participate in the Flagstaff Community Market opens up the possibilities of not simply selling more produce, but raising awareness of our school and our mission in our community.
The people who come to sell their goods are mostly from the local area. The customers who shop there are also mostly locals. These two factors make for a great setting to connect with the community.
Selling produce at the farmers market opens opportunities to talk about our commitment to the Native American community.
Many of the customers that visit the booth are very happy to hear about and support our mission to serve the Native American people.
When we tell them that the students grew the vegetables and that the same vegetables are used in the cafeteria for our garden-to-plate program, they are excited to support our school.
They see the value in connecting children with nature through gardening and are impressed by our offering of other vocational programs as well.
3. What's a typical day at the market like with the students?
Daniel:
Every week that students are available to come, we bring two to assist in loading, setting up, and selling the produce.
We start loading the vehicle at 5:30 am on Sunday mornings. We leave by 6:00 am and arrive at the market around 7:30. We set up the booth and display the produce to prepare for the market starting at 8:00 am.
The market runs from 8:00 am to 12:00 pm and both students are responsible for greeting customers and answering questions about our products. When customers ask about the school and the programs we offer, the impact of the information is far greater when given by students. It is great to see them advocating for themselves, their siblings, their friends, and their community at HIS.
“When customers ask about the school and the programs we offer, the impact of the information is far greater when given by students.” Pictured: business manager, Jessica Burns (left) with HIS senior Kayla.
4. What is the connection between the farm, agriculture education program, and participation in the Flagstaff Farmer’s Market?
Daniel:
This is our first year at the market and our participation this year has mostly been a test. We joined the market late in the season and have not had large amounts of produce to sell but our business manager and I have been working at the market with the students to see how well it will work as a means of raising awareness of our school and our mission and even as an outreach and we are pleased with how things are going this year. The market runs from May to October and we hope to be there every week of the season next year.
I even see good possibilities for incorporating this into our curriculum for the agriculture program. In addition to the opportunities to teach students about spiritual things through their connection with nature and gardening, I also try to help the students see the literal value in hard work in the gardening classes.
One way of doing this is going over the numbers of the cost to produce the vegetables and the price they can be sold for.
Real-world experience in sales and customer service is another way that we can add to what the students are being exposed to by adding the farmer's markets to the agricultural program's scope. In my experience, these types of jobs help developing minds to grow a sense of confidence and to help build an other-centered mindset.
What Students Learn
The Agricultural Education Program teaches our students:
soil cultivation
pruning and harvesting crops
trade work/building for agriculture
agriculture business and commerce
As our students are learning these vital skills, Daniel’s hope is to expound on this by adding opportunities for skills and real-world experience in sales and customer service.
You can help to pioneer this effort by making a gift to our agriculture program today.
Agriculture Program in photos
When you give to the Agriculture Program or any of our programs at Holbrook Indian School, you are not just helping our students to learn. You are helping them gain confidence and discover their potential by providing something most of these students don’t have; a safe haven to live, learn and grow.
You are giving them the opportunity to overcome the trauma and a mistrust of people that may be holding them back.
If you would like to find out more about the needs of the Agriculture Program, or any of our other programs visit our programs page or contact the Development Office at:
(928) 524-6845 ext. 109 or development@hissda.org.
Thank you for your support.