I vividly remember going to a family reunion lunch when I was in seventh grade and sitting down next to a cluster of women and men wearing traditionally Mennonite dress. My dad had explained that the Mennonite family present farmed an area of land that belonged to a member of our distant family– I think they tended several traditional crops and raised cows. I had always been interested in farms and farming, and had recently begun investigating possible apprenticeship opportunities; I sat by the Mennonite family with the hopes, I suppose, of overhearing or engaging in a discussion of their farming history. Instead, a vague relation turned to me and asked what I wanted to do with my life. I replied that I had been thinking a lot lately about farming, and that I thought that work would be rewarding. The cousin responded loudly, “why on EARTH would you want to be a farmer?” The Mennonite family was silent. I was mortified. The cousin reminded me that my great-grandfather had farmed so that his kids wouldn’t have to. I scrambled to defend myself, without much eloquence or success. Retrospectively, I guess I’ve been trying to form a convincing defense ever since– whether I end up working a sheep and wool farm or merely tending to my own basil, I know that growing or raising living things will play a part in my future.
Berry writes that the Amish “esteem farming as both a practical art and spiritual discipline.” I realize that what bothered me most viscerally about my cousin’s reaction at that lunch was not that she dismissed my interests as inadequate, or that she spoke in a way I thought was inconsiderate– it was that she did not esteem the work– practice, art, discipline —of farming that I felt (and still feel) deserves a kind of reverence and thanks. I believe so viscerally in the potential of farm work– participating in the exchange of nurturing for nourishment– to serve an artistic and spiritual function. In my internship this summer, I have the opportunity to speak with 9, 10, and 11-year olds about the importance of the work f0od-growers and -raisers do. Berry’s words will definitely guide my discussions; I guess I hope to help these kids come to the conclusion that farm work can be worthy of high esteem– awe– and to broaden my own understanding of that work.