Adam in Ontario!

I'm writing this from the GO bus terminal in Union Station, waiting for my bus to McMaster University, where I'll be meeting the rest of the Labourer-Teachers for a training week before we head off to our farms. I must seem like the consummate traveller, harried-looking, muffin and coffee resting on a worn-out suitcase, typing furiously on a netbook I produced from an overfull backpack. It's my hope that I can get my thoughts out in the next 20 minutes, and post this on Union Station's excellent wireless connections, the last sure internet connection I am to access before I leave terra firma.

It was my hope to make this a sort of disclaimer, as the blog shifts over to my experiences as a labourer-teacher. The post will be modelled on Josh's far more eloquent entry (read his blog!), which I am shamelessly plagiarizing.

So, without further adieu: I hope that this blog will be informative, entertaining, and an all-around excellent reading experience. I hope that I can bring city-slickers like myself into a world that I know is completely foreign to me even though it is only a two-hour drive from my home. I hope that through this blog, people can see the world of farm labour in Canada, and the work that Frontier College does. If sometime down the road, this blog was useful to someone who was considering the Labourer-Teacher program, I will be very happy indeed.

However, there are a few important caveats here. Farm labour in Canada is a highly contentious issue. Most fruits are picked by so-called 'guest labourers' who are flown up for the growing season from places like Mexico, Jamaica, or Vietnam. Their presence, working conditions, rights and safety are issues that a host of labour unions, NGOs, and grassroots organizations are concerned with. Also, the workers I am working with will be in a teacher-learner relationship for me for the entire time, and therefore confidentiality is of the highest importance.

All this is to say that in order to be respectful to the people I am working with, and to ensure that I do not place Frontier College in an awkward situation, I will not do any of the following things on my blog.

1.Post any names, be they of farmers, workers, or Frontier College staff. The only name you will know will be mine. I'm Adam, by the way!
2.Post the location of my farm. I am working on a farm in South-Central Ontario. Those who know me personally will know where it is; I ask that you not post this in the public domain, i.e. this blog.
3.Discuss situations that involve legal issues that would be compromised by my writing about them.

Hope that works for everyone! I'm super excited to share this experience with everyone, and I hope you enjoy! And now, off to catch my train! Bus? I should probably know this by now!