Summary
This is probably one of those "you had to be there" moments. But O'[Leary]'s poetic passion for seed is a stunning contrast to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack's recent grim statement that the average age of an American farmer is 57 years old, and more sobering still, that young farmers are dramatically dropping off in numbers. O'Leary and the other young farmers and serious gardeners in this room suggest that small-scale agriculture, at least here, might not be tilting toward the grave just yet.
"You can watch whole processes of life and death," O'Leary says of the small-scale farming life she's lived for seven years. "It really grounds you in. It's a seasonal thing, so you move with the Earth rather than just locked away in a box. And it's been the most creative and mentally challenging thing I've tried to do, too. It's really difficult work, mentally.""This new crop of farmers sprouting up and doing it on small-scale, diversified farms, it's so much this radical new thing. It's just going back to what was already being done before. And so in that way I think it does tie well into the heirloom seed idea that new farmers are somewhat like heirloom seeds. We're just reconnecting to what was already happening before and diversifying and keeping alive all of these very different, place-based, localized agricultural economies. And that's really exciting work."See the full content of this document
Extract
Sewing the Seeds
On stage at the Basque Center in Boise, farmer Casey O'Leary cuts through the air with an imaginary blade as she sings out a self-penned, seed-centric poem.
"Slicing self-consciously, subconsciously stabbing the dense, orange sponge top of my Halloween prop, Fm pondering the wisdom in the combining o...See the full content of this document
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