Wednesday, October 14, 2009

How do you feel about your Farmer?


"Cultivators of the earth are the most valuable citizens. They are the most vigorous, the most independant, the most virtuous, and they are tied to their country and wedded to it’s liberty and interests by the most lasting bands

Thanks, Thomas Jefferson!

I would encourage everyone to meet the person who grows their food. They have a face and a name and get sick and have lost people they love and really care about what they are doing. No one in America farms because they are forced to; most of us are in love with growing things, tending them, and getting them distributed to people.


The Student Organic Farm's stand on MSU's campus runs Thursdays from 11-5, April - Oct.

Yes, I would consider myself a farmer even though I don't have my own land to grow on. I grow for MSU's Student Organic Farm and I want to grow for a living. Working on a farm that belongs to someone else is a great way to live a homesteading life in an urban environment. Check out your local farmers market for farms close to you and try the Local Harvest website. Many farms will let employees take home a share of what's known as "Farmer Food" - food that isn't visually perfect but perfectly good or the food that comes back from the market unsold. Find out if there is anyone commuting out there from your neighborhood, or if anyone would be willing to pick you up if you don't have a car.


Here's a picture of me working with other farmers to prep a plot for growing in Detroit.

Even if you can't grow in your own yard, on your own balcony, or in a community plot, there are ways to have access to healthy, local produce for relatively cheap!

- lauren -

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