A Brief Farm Tour

An interview at my farm.

In December, I spoke beside Joel Salatin and others at a Liberty Food Fest conference in Bellows Falls, Vermont. This event was hosted by a young man named Graham Meriwether, through an organization called “Leave it Better.”

(A visit with the author at his small farm.) 

Graham is a filmmaker, and asked if he could visit me at our little farm and interview me while I fed the animals. I am always happy to discuss farming and share our animals to help encourage people to farm, so naturally, I agreed.

Graham was a very kind and patient interviewer, but he also asked a few unusual questions, such as “What do you think about while you are feeding the animals?” I have been reflecting recently on why exactly my wife and I persist in farming despite the adversity and paltry income. A young woman recently told me that people are being drawn to farming as a fad and that once they realize it involves hard work, they will quit. I smiled at the concept of farming as faddish and told her, “Well, for some of them, they will stick. They will get addicted to the hard work, adversity, and many other benefits.”

When Graham and I discussed many of the economic and cultural aspects of farming, I tried to convey some thoughts that are really more like feelings – some deeper nuances of agrarian life that I am not sure I can even fully understand about myself. They are almost intuitive, but it is tough to convey how watching things die makes watching things born more potent, and vice versa. It’s hard to explain why overcoming daunting obstacles or investing days in arduous labor for no measurable monetary pay can be some of the most addictive and rewarding of life’s experiences. 

But I tried to explain it to Graham in the lovely video he worked very hard to create here.

Please subscribe to Graham’s filmmaking effort, and get ready to join us for Liberty Food Fest 2024!