The Satisfactions of the Harvest. Learning activities, consisting of regular farm and household chores and whatever farm work is in season,will be supervised by qualified instructors who will suggest readings complementing farm activities , arrange for regular class discussions and evaluate student performance. Students will be provided with room and board in exchange for their work. The Field Experience Course is important for several reasons. It is a practicum which can help students acquire elementary skills in food production and processing, livestock management, operation and maintenance of farm equipment, and methods of organic farming.
Students can also benefit from the very intensive and sustained experience in group living.
After a few months of actual farm experience, students are in a much better position to appreciate and evaluate the academic content of the additional courses in agriculture and appropriate technology they can be expected to take. The farms on which students would be doing their Homesteading Practice course could be of value to non-resident students who could visit the farms, monitor their operations, participate in appropriate technology projects or carry out experiments there. One major advantage of these proposed homesteading courses is that an organization outside of the University, Michigan Land Trustees, has agreed to provide housing and land for at least the first section of the Homesteading Practice course. The plan is for MLT to lease a farm to the Homesteading Instructor on a year-round basis for a nominal fee. MLT thus provides the Homesteading Instructor with a place to live along with land and equipment with which to become self-sufficient in food production.