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40+@40: Profiles of Apprenticeship GraduatesAlan Chadwick's arrival at UC Santa Cruz in 1967 marked the start of what has become a 40-year legacy of training student apprentices in the craft of organic gardening and farming. The first "apprentices" were UCSC undergraduates drawn to Chadwick and the Garden project. He put them to work digging beds, planting crops, harvesting flowers, and learning his "French intensive/biodynamic" approach to gardening. In 1971, using their newfound knowledge, an inspired group established a second site on the campus to put Chadwick's techniques to work on what would ultimately become the present 25-acre UCSC Farm. With support from the campus, UCSC Extension, and the Friends of the UCSC Farm & Garden, the Apprenticeship in Ecological Horticulture was established in 1975 as a year-long program to formalize the trainings available to participants. By 1981, the Apprenticeship transitioned to a streamlined, intensive six-month program open to participants 18 and older through UCSC Extension. Apprenticeship graduates have their training to work in myriad ways worldwide-as farmers, gardeners, educators, policy makers, caterers, and leaders in the organic food industry. Here we briefly profile some of the program's more than 1,200 graduates.
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