I was recently interviewed by The Organic School Project. I answered some of the usual questions as well as some unusual ones. Thanks for the opportunity and I love what they do!
***
I follow Dissertation to Dirt and I really enjoy her blog. Neysa is on a quest to become a farmer (along with her husband). Her recent posts have made me think and I wanted to share them with you:
Dear Farmers: I think you deserve healthcare
She alerted her readers to an investigation into farmers living without healthcare. That’s just shameful.
***
When I was in Nashville for Blissdom, I had breakfast with a farmer. While the blogging conference was going on, there were two other conferences happening similtaneously in the same massive convention hall: a “combine” (as in farm equipment) conference and a Catholic conference. Hanging outside the conference made for some fantastic people watching: bloggers, nuns and priests, and farmers. There’s a joke in there somewhere…
I didn’t stay at the fancy hotel, but a cheaper one about a mile away (I don’t mind walking). Anyway one morning before the conference I was drinking my cranberry juice in the breakfast area looking at my phone and I glanced over to a very interesting looking man. Instead of having breakfast with my phone, I decided to greet this chap. We struck up a conversation.
Turns out, he’s a farmer. He told me some interesting stuff about growing organics and where he farms (out west). I told him I was a blogger…and left it at that. We exchanged cards. I told him I might be looking for a guest blog and he said his wife handles the email. So, when I get a chance I may email him.
Now that’s a guy I’d love to interview! I wonder if he has healthcare…
I am a newbie to your site and I thoroughly enjoy it. I work in a restaurant, try to feed my child better than I was raised, and am learning more and more every day. I am very fortunate: I live in San Luis Obispo County in California… you should come here and visit, sit in my bar and you will be surrounded by the farmers… they would have so much to say about the price of avocados, citrus, and healthcare…
Interesting thing is a boy that I dated in high school is now a farmer. He and his family live on a little farm in BC, growing all their own food, making all their own cheese/yogurt etc.
It's not something I ever expected from him.
And Alisa, my uncle used to be an almond farmer. I think they had health care-in fact, I don't really know. But we used to love visiting from Canada.
It would be interesting to hear if there are folks making a living farming – how do I want to explain it? …small farms, natural farms, heirloom/non-hybrid crops, heritage livestock breeds, free range livestock…that kind of thing.
I guess that’s a pretty broad description, and even the concept of “making a living” is pretty flexible. Still, it would be interesting to know if it is something that is possible.
And it’s true, farmers don’t have paid health care, or vacation, or sick leave either.
I LOVE Dissertation to Dirt! Maggie, they're an example of people making a living at farming. I highly recommend their blog. Mrs. Q provided a link above in the 2nd paragraph of her post.
Thanks Kim. My understanding when I skimmed the blog mentioned was that they are attempting "make a go" of farming. I mean no disrespect to Neysa and her husband and I'm not questioning their success.
As I said, there are many definitions of "success" and "making a living". I guess I'm simply honestly wondering if it is possible to support a person/couple/family in that kind of business.
Maggie, that's exactly the question I have right now! It's an incredibly important question, too, because if we all want to eat better, we're going to need people growing the food. Hopefully, my husband and I can figure out how to make a real living at it, and be an example to other young folks who want to make it work.