Children can be a good indicator of where we stand on issues and living patterns that affect us here in the mountains and across the nation. It has been said that we as citizens are the products of what our society has produced. Children keep us up to date on where our culture is headed and what is important now to those who will direct the future. If these statements are true, what I learned last week is that American agriculture is in trouble.

The number of farms across the region and the nation continues to decline due to a variety of economic and social/political pressures. Consolidation and competition from large multi-national conglomerates limit marketing options for the small producer. Government subsidies and price guarantees, coupled with a huge rise in cheap imports of meat and produce aided by national policies like NAFTA, have kept wholesale prices artificially low, effectively squeezing farmers off the farm.

In this day of genetically engineered crops, irradiated produce and herbicide resistant soybeans, when food comes shrink-wrapped from the faraway warehouses of Ingles and Wal-Mart, it is little wonder that our young people have lost a connection to local produce from local farms supporting a local economy. Meeting the needs of our neighbors and ourselves using local resources and a local workforce seems lost. It is no wonder that without this connection my guests didn’t know a carrot from an onion or what a strawberry plant looked like.

I had the opportunity to meet with a dozen or so 7- and 8-year-olds last week who visited our farm in Jackson County to learn about seeds from a farmer — me. As we walked through the rows, I paused at various raised beds and asked, “Who knows what this is?”

The responses scared me.

I pointed to a bed of onions with their tall cylindrical leaves pointing skyward.

“Carrots ?” “Potatoes?”

When I explained that they were onions, I was corrected that onions are round and yellow. Next were the young beans with their classic two perfect leaves outreached in three neat rows. “Carrots?” “Radishes?” Beans don’t grow in cans and frozen boxes, I silently whispered.

These poor creatures, I thought. By the time I was their age, I had been in my grandfather’s garden hundreds of times, watching him plant, pulling weeds, hauling water, sometimes finding fascination, sometimes bees and wasps. It seems that for many people anymore, the closest they get to a farm and their food supply is the produce section of some superstore chain.

We continued through the rows and I explained that different plants produced seeds in different ways. We looked at several flowers, crushed garlic stems between our fingers and experienced their pungent “phew,” and chased daddy long-legs through the leaves.

I rounded them to the seed table where we looked at different seed types from grasses to gourds to bright red corn. They each dug in the dirt and planted a four-pack of different seeds to take home and watch grow on their own farm or patio. They left talking about the purple beans, a little dirty and bug-bitten, and hopefully a little more connected to where dinner was coming from.

One of the projects on our farm is educating people, especially children, about the importance of taking care of the land that in turn takes care of us. That is why we farm organically and take the time to show people that they are indeed connected to their food supply and can all play a role in determining its future. In this respect, one of the “crops” we hope to raise is consciousness.

We all have the opportunity to get involved in farming and food issues this weekend during the 6th Annual Family Farm Tour sponsored by the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association. On Saturday, June 23, and Sunday, June 24, from 1- 6 p.m., the public is invited to visit 17 different farms across the mountains from Burnsville to Franklin to see first-hand how crops are grown in our region and how they can be a part of the fun at a day on the farm. Tickets are available at each of the farms. Visit one or all 17 and start anywhere you like to see flowers, herbs, animals , and small farms in the mountains making a difference. See different approaches, compost tumblers, irrigation systems, and fields of the freshest produce available. Bring a cooler for storing fresh farm products available at some of the farms.
Look for the Red Tomato signs or visit our website at http://main.nc.us/cfsa_mountains, or pick up a Farm Tour map at health food stores, lawn and garden centers, and various locations throughout the mountains.

Our farm, named Pomme de Terre Farm, is on the tour this year, and we invite you out to get a taste of the joys and hardships involved with making local food production happen. Come see some of the plant trials and experimental systems we are incorporating into our farm management program.

Walk around the beds and see if you can tell a carrot from an onion. Do it for yourself. Do it for the land and the farmers. Do it for the children, and the future.

(John Beckman is a builder, organic farmer, and Operations Manager at Unahwi Ridge Community in Jackson County. Contact can be made at www.unahwiridge.com)

 

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The Smoky Mountain News