CHICO — Is farming in high school worth the effort? Ask four Chico High students that today and they’re certain to tell anyone to hurry up and join the farm, so it must be.
Dalton Ramay, Jack Hervey, Diego Campbos and Garrett Cunningham are sophomore and junior students in Ronnie Cockrell’s agricultural class at the high school. They’ve helped engineer Chico High’s pumpkin patch at Henshaw Farms, that opened last weekend.
These four Chico High students shared their experience on the school’s FFA farm, doing their own weeding and irrigation for pumpkins, melons and more at the patch now open at Henshaw Farms. Why do it now? They’ve learned a lot and have fun, they say. @ChicoER pic.twitter.com/MZRfgEaEsx
— Natalie Hanson (@nhanson_reports) October 4, 2019
Since the start of the summer, it was at first just Ramay, Hervey and Cunningham who were working out at Henshaw Farms, Hervey said, working on weeding, planting and irrigation.
Their teacher, Ronnie Cockrell, calls them his “farm managers,” and is full of nothing but praise for the group. The kind of teacher who ends the morning class with a high-five line as students exit, Cockrell also got the farm going after a five-year hiatus and started a sign-up sheet to get students working on it over the summer.
These were the students who started out the farm and kept working up until school started, and Cockrell is proud.
“That’s my core group of guys,” he said.
Starting early
The students use the farm work for their supervised agriculture project as part of their classwork. Any students can join, to compete for Future Farmers of America awards depending on the type of work they do.
The students’ experience levels are all unique.
The youngest, Campbos, has grown up farming “since I could pretty much walk,” while Hervey and Cunningham were “green” at the start of the summer. Ramay describes himself as “a little more in between,” having gotten started in cattle ranching. But, they said, they have all gained significant experience after working all summer.
“There’s some things that Diego’s better at,” Cunningham said.
Outside of school, Ramay and Hervey have also been FFA officers and competed, placing third out of 18 teams. Ramay has raised animals and prefers that type of farming, while the others say they prefer plants and crop maintenance to raising animals.
But they have gained a lot of knowledge.
“I think if a farmer were to come up to us and ask us to do it, we would be able to work,” Ramay said.
Gaining life experience
Looking ahead, Campbos said he plans to stay in agriculture. “I had that conversation with my mom last night and she says no, you’re going straight into a four-year.” He said he has “pretty much” set where he wants to go for an agricultural major, and has checked out Chico State’s University Farm already.
The others aren’t sure if they want to go into agriculture as a career. However, they all agree that working on the farm has given them plenty of skills for later jobs.
“We go out there and we have fun,” Ramay said.
“I feel like a lot of the stuff we do out at the farm can translate into other careers like managing and customer service … it gives us an advantage,” Hervey said.
All four agree that Cockrell is their biggest influence.
“He started the farm up after our freshman year … after a five-year lapse period. He organized the whole thing — it was us three the only ones working out there for the entire summer,” Hervey said.
Is it worth the effort?
Farming is a lot of work, especially working on weeding irrigation, the group said. However, they all think other students should try it out.
“Shoot, we have a blast out there,” Ramay said. “I just think you could give it a shot and see if you like it, but it won’t hurt if you try.”
“We do work out there, but it’s not like we don’t have fun,” Hervey said.
“We get a lot of kids who aren’t even in the FFA but still come out. So I think it’s good cause they get that exposure, so if they’re interested and like going out there, they come out more often and it gets them more involved.”
“We make good workers out there,” Cunningham said. “It gets people out of their comfort zone, too.”
The pumpkin patch
Henshaw Farms is open 4 p.m. until dusk hours on weekdays and starting at 10 a.m. on weekends. A variety of pumpkins, melons, sunflowers and more are available while the patch is open to visitors.
Pumpkin carving is a major attraction at the patch, Cockrell said. Students continue to work and manage the farm while the public enjoys the patch.
The patch will also be used for Ag Field Day on Oct. 26 with food, drink and other activities.
Pumpkin patches
Henshaw Farms is on Henshaw Avenue between Alamo and Guynn avenues. Signs placed by the students should help you get there.
Hours: 4 p.m. to dusk Monday-Friday; 10 a.m. to dusk Saturday and Sunday.
Some other pumpkin patches in the area include:
- Book Family Farm, 153 Heavy Horse Lane, Durham. Open September-December, seven days a week, 342-4375.
- TJ Farm Estates, 3600 Chico Ave., Chico. Open 2-6 p.m. weekdays; 10 a.m.-6 p.m. weekends through October. Call for the most current pumpkin patch status, 343-2294.
- Petersen Sisters Pumpkin Patch, located at Bell Road. Fri 3 pm to sunset. 10 am Sat and Sun. 624-7134.
- Country Pumpkins, 7151 Highway 32 on the way to Orland — Country Pumpkins also offers a corn maze. Open daily 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
- Patrick Ranch Museum 10381 Midway, Durham. Open: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays until Oct. 26, 342-4359.
