http://modernfarmer.com/2013/12/robbery-drugs-fistfights-dark-side-community-gardening/
We haven't seen to many articles that portray the actual human side of the labor in farming. You till up a little piece of land and you start to build that connection...... country, city..... doesn't matter. Long hours in the hot sun (or pouring rain) can make one tired, grumpy, and a lot more apt to cut romantic notions of food production done to size.
I have to admit that I chuckled (not the thievery part) while reading the article above. I kept thinking that while I haven't seen any full blown brawls at any Farmer's Markets, this article could easily be talking about the gritty side of those events as well.
I also came across this blog posting as well by a farmer in Maine. It's title is "A Bold, Accurate, and Reasonable List". http://thegreenhorns.wordpress.com/2013/12/09/a-bold-accurate-and-reasonable-list/#more-22043 It starts out with a discussion that has been held many different times in our farm fields of Durango and Boulder County. It grabbed me right away.......
"Wendell Berry wrote in Conserving Communities of the need for farmers to stop looking for help where we continually fail to find it. Sadly, in my decade of food work in Maine I have found little direct financial support for farmers, and about zero discussion of improving wages and conditions for farm workers. We won’t get where we wish continuing the centuries old practice of devaluing farm work, pretending a generation of farmers and entrepreneurs can fix everything with low-interest loans. Or treating farm labor as an afterthought and separate from the “good food” movement."
The most poignant paragraph is not the popular opinion, but it's the truth (Holler Jah Tiller!!). No offense to anyone, but..... "A farmer once told me the idea of a “food system” was created by academics and non-profits for funding and job security. She said if farmers had what they needed to produce we would feed the State because that’s what we do."
The Wendell Berry poem that concludes the post is a must read as well.
Forward Ever~
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