Filter by Popular CategoriesNOTES FROM THE FIELD: Nat Sluis – Almost Urban Vegetables
Meet Nat, one of the Young Agrarians 2025 apprentices spending their season at Almost Urban Vegetables near Winnipeg, Manitoba. Nat grew up in rural Manitoba and always dreamed of owning a farm. Previously, she has helped out on a cattle and horse ranch, and potato farms during harvest. Now, she is gaining skills in mixed vegetable market gardening at Almost Urban Vegetables, while also growing as much as she can in her own home garden, buying local meats, and making as much as she can from scratch.
Nat hopes to one day own and manage her own farm so that she can supply vegetables and meat to her family and the local community. She’s keen on growing her skills in greenhouse production, livestock care, and vegetable growing, while living an environmentally sustainable life that gives back to the land and community.
Nat is also a professional contemporary dancer! She has learned a lot about expression through movement, which may help in the garden.
In late July, 2025, Young Agrarians Apprenticeship Coordinator Sara caught up with Nat to hear about her season so far.
What’s something funny that has happened on the farm? We put in some nesting boxes (egg beds) and all of a sudden the chickens started chasing me when I was picking the eggs. One started brooding before the nesting boxes were in and just wanted to cuddle with me. I would pick it up and hug it. Chickens are the highlight of my day!
Any plants you’re especially excited about this year? I LOVE asparagus. Another coworker and I want to write a book about them. They are just so funny the way they poke out of the ground, so different from anything else. Oh and I LOVE the cabbages, I remember being in the cabbage patch and laughing thinking, I’m a cabbage patch doll!
Can you tell me about a challenging day you were proud of? Yes, any tarping task. It’s a lot of work, but once it’s done I can look at the finished bed and think wow, look at this! First we prepare the soil, lay down big, bulky tarps, apply fertilizer, transplant all those baby plants, lay the irrigation lines, sometimes also put row cover over them, and voila they are ready to go! Lots of steps but it’s very rewarding at the end of it.
What new skills are you grateful to be learning? I had very little experience growing veggies, but now I feel competent and able to share info with friends, family, and at the market. Harvesting and storing vegetables in the heat has been an important skill.
What are your future farm aspirations? I’d like a farm to supply vegetables to my family and community to keep the food local. I would also love to raise animals. I’d love our farm to be a place for people from the nearby town to use as a community space for fall suppers or music festivals.
Nat’s journey this season is a beautiful mix of hard work, skill-building, and joy. Whether she’s laying tarps, harvesting in the summer heat, cuddling a chicken, or laughing in the cabbage patch, she’s growing more than vegetables—she’s growing a future rooted in community, sustainability, and care for the land.
If you are interested in the Young Agrarians Apprenticeship Program, please visit the program page or email kiyomi@youngagrarians.org. Applications for the 2026 season will open in December 2025.