I've been in Fergus Falls for 2 weeks now. Actually, I should say I've had my apartment for two weeks. I've probably spent just as much time in Minneapolis as I have in Fergus Falls lately.
I just completed my fifth day of class, and I'm amazed at how much I've learned. Today I drove a 4-stroke John Deer mower with a trailer attached; I practiced driving up and down hills, and "parking" the trailer by driving in reverse. This morning, I collected samples of several forage plants, including Kentucky bluegrass, alfalfa, timothy, sweet clover, smooth bromegrass, birdsfoot trefoil, and pea vetch. This afternoon, I learned about electric fencing and started designed an organizational system for a 12 foot trailer to hold the fencing supplies for the Sustainable Food Production program.
It was an odd feeling, passing by classrooms filled with students hunched over open textbooks while half-listening to the professor's Power Point presentation, while wearing rubber boots and carrying a bouquet of plants to press. Or walking by football practice to the back field where our class was sorting tools and fencing equipment, getting sunburned and eaten by mosquitoes.
This is not the kind of "school" I'm used to. It's so hands-on -- so practical. I feel like an idiot most of the time because I don't know the basics about farming or carpentry or mechanics, whereas most of my classmates do.
My book-learning has come in handy, though. Yesterday, when a grass-based beef farmer quizzed us about the source of all food, I provided the answer he was looking for: photosynthesis, the process by which plants turn sunlight into sugars.
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