Seminar Week 9

SOS: ComAlt

Seminar Pre-Writing Week 9

30 May 2017

Word Count: 471

Passages:

“Silko’s novel reminds us we should always ask questions of gardens: whose homeland is now someone else’s ‘garden’ or ‘plantation’? Who has been removed from the land? Whose labor is forced? Whose wages are stolen? Whose crops are valued? Whose crops are outlawed?” (Esquibel 2016: 4)

“ As the public face of the farm, he spends more of his time managing, marketing, and selling than he does planting, picking and packing. His worries are not so much about weeds and water as they are about making payroll and dealing with a mid-six-figure bank loan. Nonetheless, when I met him the day before that predawn haul into the city, I immediately understood how idealists who are not familiar with the vicissitudes of agriculture can succumb to romantic illusions.” (Estabrook 2012: 173)

“ People here act like it’s going to a lot of trouble just to give you a glass of water and whenever those vibrations hit me, I remember how Aunt Carrie with no electricity, no running water, no gas, no refrigerator, not even an ice box got us a beautiful supper with love.” (Smart-Grosvenor 2011: 147)

News Media Source:

“The broad outlines of this budget, with its 20 percent cut in the USDA’s discretionary spending, had been released two months ago. This week, it became clear exactly what the Trump administration wants to cut: agricultural research, food aid for the poor, and programs that benefit small rural communities.”

http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/05/23/529685787/congress-and-farmers-are-shocked-by-proposed-usda-cuts

Discussion:

There were many passages from this week’s Food First article, Decolonize Your Diet: Notes Towards Decolonization, that I found triggering or resonated with in some way. The passage above asks a series of questions to make one think critically about their relationship to the land beyond what is immediately in front of them. As someone who one day would like to own land, I think it is important to recognize the history of place. Who did the land originally ‘belong’ to? And what does that mean? The subject of land ownership is a complicated one, which I am still learning about and trying to understand. At the very least, how can I use my possible future land ownership as a way to give back? The passage is asking folks to have perspective and not take for granted what is. To be an active part of the food system, as a farmer etc. – it is my belief that there is a responsibility to know about the other facets of the system, good and bad. It all comes down to the importance of thinking critically.

The passage I chose from Tomatoland flows smoothly from this idea of being aware of the past and present components of the food system. It speaks of the romanticized notion of being a farmer and the intensely hard work that actually goes into it. On small farms in Washington that I’ve had some sort of relationship, it does seem that there is a balance that exists. Many of the idealistic aspects of farming are what make farming worth it – but the hard work cannot be ignored. As a teenager, before I had ever worked on a farm, I too was swept away by these ideals. Once I started getting farm jobs, I realized that, like Stark, many farm owners are in the office more than they are in the field. A farm is a business – and maybe a production farm isn’t for me.

Vertamae has a way of telling it how it is. She speaks of intention and providing love regardless of resources. Where are these habits and ways of life learned? Why is value divided the way it is? There need to be more Aunt Carries in the world.

The article I read from NPR on the proposed USDA budget cuts was not so surprising but still gave me that sinking-stomach feeling. The wrong things are being prioritized and areas that have already been suffering, such as food aid, support for rural communities and public education, are going to suffer even more.

One theme apparent to me in each of these passages is the idea of ones ideals versus the reality of a situation. Dreamy farm life, social desires, government promises… one can fantasize about the best-case scenario, but the truth must always be confronted eventually.