Students start with a familiarization of various types of lumber both sourced from the farm forest and local lumberyard, move on to project design and material pricing while valuing the possibility of recycling material from around the farm, and then complete many practical on-farm projects such as animal and equipment shelters, feeders and farm repairs. Course includes thorough presentation of the tools students will need for their future farms including a working knowledge of the safe and efficient operation of basic hand and power tools.

Here students gain a basic introduction to shop tools, engines, lubrication, cooling systems, batteries, charging and starting systems, ignition, fuel and steering systems and no starts. Vehicle maintenance and common automotive questions, tractor maintenance, schedules and manuals, and some shop work including jump-starting a tractor, pull starting a tractor and changing a tire are also covered. During workdays, students will gain confidence and competence in basic maintenance and repair procedures such as checking engine fluids, changing oil, greasing equipment and replacing parts when necessary.

This is a course that begins in the Fall upon arrival at the Farm School and continues through the whole year. Our primary goal is for students to learn to use all of our tractors safely and effectively.This is done first through a basic orientation and the use of obstacle courses and then through safe and controlled practice in the field with our various tractor implements. After students gain a comfort level with the farm's tractors they take part in a set of Tractor Skills Tutorials periodically through the spring and summer. These tutorials cover the use of our tools for tillage including the BCS Walking Tractor, the Chisel Plow, the Disc Harrow, and the Spring-Toothed Harrow as well as our tools for weed cultivation including the Basket Weeder and the Cub Cultivator. We also orient student farmers to the purpose, function and safe use of the bucket loader, the brush hog and the manure spreader as well as tractor-pulled hay equipment and horse-drawn implements such as the forecart.

A guided introduction over several classes to stick welding and cutting metal with torches in order to be able to fix farm implements and equipment. Workshop culminates in a collective student project, applying the skills taught throughout the series.

In this course students will learn the effective use and maintenance of hand tools. Particular attention will be paid here to the simplest set of tools necessary to grow food, for example a digging fork and a scythe. Skills practiced include choosing the appropriate tool for a specific job as well as how to care for that tool. Tasks will include sharpening and oiling tools, both in the winter and periodically throughout the growing season.

In this week-long workshop, student farmers are carefully guided in using a set of plans in order to chisel out and then erect the frame for a small building. Developing muscle memory and real skill with a simple set of hand tools, students are given the confidence to know that wherever they land, they can put up a sturdy barn.