The Truth of Farming
The Truth of Farming
When you hear the word “farm”, your mind will often go to the idea of what you think a farm looks like from what you have seen on television or the media, of a man or woman in a pair of overalls and boots with a straw hat, with a straw string hanging from their mouths, and on that farm they are milking cows and chasing chickens, but that not the case. In the sense of how a farm is actually run, milking cows and chasing chickens does not even scratch the surface.
Over the years I have had the opportunity to watch my aunt and uncle, Warren and Keisha Cameron, start out as a homesteaders which is “a lifestyle of self-sufficiency. It is characterized by subsistence agriculture, home preservation of food, and may also involve the small-scale production of textiles, clothing, and craft work for household use or sale”(Homesteaders). This concept transitioned into farming over the years into what is now known as “High Hog Farm” located in Grayson Georgia.
High Hog farm was established in 2014 by my aunt and uncle, who once were regular everyday suburban individuals, who over time felt a disconnect from the land and the environment. Soon they found a foreclosed home with 7 acres of land, which would be their new home and project. Their family always call themselves “ accidental Farmers” in the sense that they started their farm with seven chickens with five of them being roosters that were gifted to them from a friend from a previous horseback riding lesson. Those seven chickens turned into goats, then sheeps, rabbits and a horse ect. What started off so small eventually over time turned into their whole livelihood.
In the beginning of their farming journey they started off as a home goods only household, according to my uncle Warren, in the sense of only growing food to feed the family, and foods that they actually liked to consume. Over time they seen farming as a learning experience and kind of learning as they go with the help of the internet and farm groups. The more they learned what they needed to improve on and how to make it better, it made them want to start giving to the community around them. At first it started out by when or if they had any extra vegetables or eggs left over in the aftermath they would give it away, and soon that's how it turned into them helping the community in any way that they could.
On all 7 acres of land, you can imagine that there is work to do when it comes to running a farm. There are things such as feeding the animals that live on the land which are the homes to sheeps, goats, chickens, rabbits and soon to ducks there are going to be in season. When you are a home to that many animals there can be some bumps in the roads. One of the main responsibilities of running their farm is keeping everything alive and being good stewards. The animals are seen as extra children that they have to feed, house and take care of on top of having three sons of their own. Since this is a family run farm, family of course plays a big role in responsibility, in the case of not letting the work of running a farm get in the way of the family.
I had the opportunity to sit down with my aunt and talk to her about what all her farm had to offer to the community. We know that she gives back to the community, but she also loves to share her information with others. One way she does that is by holding cooking classes at her home and at times even invites a chef to host the class, with most of the ingredients being used from her garden. In her garden she grows fruits and vegetables that include strawberries, onions, potatoes, tomatoes, carrots and peppers. When growing produce my aunt prefers to grow long season produce that can be grown annually when it comes to the seasons. She uses the process of silvopasture. She described it to me as “a method of grazing animals through trees". At times when I was able to make to some of her cooking classes, I was able to get one -on-one cooking advice. It was a way for her to teach other individuals including me on how to make healthy foods using vegetables and herbs from the ground. I will never forget the time she taught the class how to make vegan chili. I had always had chili with meat and making it with none, only vegetables, really changed my taste pallet. All the “yums” and chewing I heard while eating, I could not blame them. It was truly delicious. But that's only one amazing dish out of so many more recipes she has taught us or had everyone try out.
Since we're still on the food topic High Hog Farm also offers food canning classes. These classes are a “method of preserving food from spoilage by storing it in containers that are hermetically sealed and then sterilized by heat.” Canning is a way to store food like vegetables mainly in order for them to have a longer shelf life and in many cases the food is meant to last some years.
Over the years of farming the focus has changed. Farming used to be only focused on selling eggs, chickens and goat milk, but for the last few years that changed and their main focus now is strictly majoring in yarn fibers and dyes. Using the wool from the sheep and the fur off the French angora rabbits, that specializes in fur fibers, the use is to make yarn by spinning them. With that yarn that she makes she ends up dying the yarn with indigo and other homemade dyes into so many beautiful colors. Once everything is settled, she is able to sell the yarn she has spun and dyed to the community and she is able to use that yarn to make items as well like scarves, sweaters and blankets. At times she will host or attend yarn spinning classes just to either teach others how to or pick up on some more tips and tricks to improve.Farming is about trial and error and there is alway room for improvement.
High Hog Farm not only shines a light on farming in the community but also in the black community. According to the website “The Hill” “only 1.3 percent of American farmers — around 45,000 — are Black, which it says indicates a drop of 1 million farmers over the last 100 years”(Choi). There are not many black land owning farms and the numbers are constantly dropping year after year.So it's good to see a stable running farm that has accomplished so much over the years that is black owned. In the beginning of High Hogs farm journey, before High Hog was even the name, my aunt and uncle wanted to start improving their knowledge of farming and agriculture. They wanted to return to their ancestral roots and learn more about their history in agriculture and the land. My aunt considered them to be the “returning generation” of farming. Since they are black farmers I was told that on occasions if the season is right they try to grow food that is culturally relevant that is connected with black culture and ingredients that can be used in dishes like collard greens, and different pepper and herbs including turmeric, ginger and lemongrass.
Seeing how far High Hog Farm has come is truly amazing to me and something that I am so proud to have witnessed and helped in some way that I could, when it came to volunteering to be a helper on farm day a few years back and seeing all the young children be happy and filled with joy, learning about all the animals and being able to hold them. Also being able to watch them do fun activities like painting, arts and crafts and be able to use all that land to their advantage by running and playing around. To know seeing the kids able to let loose and be a kid was so lightning for me to see and to know its all because of High hog Farm makes it even better.
We all have the idea of what we think farming is and that it is all the same, but the idea of farming is so much more than that. Each farm is ran in a different way that is suited for the owners. “ We are not like other farmers” my aunt always says to me. Now, I have not been to other farms, but in the scene of actually seeing it in person, having hands-on experiences it really plays into words that everyone has their own way of farming. My aunt and uncle really opened my eyes into the world of farming and all the hard work and dedication it takes to run a farm. I watched them go from having a home filled with empty land in the back, with a horse and a few chickens running around to them having a fully functioning farm filled with different animals in addition to a beautiful garden on the side of their home.
Works Cited
Cameron, Keisha. Personal interview, 22 Mar. 2023.
Cameron, Warren. Personal interview, 22 Mar. 2023.
“Canning.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., www.britannica.com/topic/canning-food-processing.
Choi, Joseph. “Agriculture Secretary: Black Farmers Received 0.1 Percent of Trump
Administration Farm Relief.” The Hill, The Hill, 25 Mar. 2021, thehill.com/homenews/administration/544853-agriculture-secretary-just-01-percent-of-trump-administration-farm/.
“Homesteading.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 2 Feb. 2023, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homesteading.
I love how you started off your essay with what comes to mind when people think of a farm. Also, I think it's great how you get into depth and break down how there is more to a farm than to just having several animals all over a farm. Furthermore, I think that it was a good idea that you talked about what it was that you observed your aunt do on her farm. Lastly how you included what she would do with the animal's skin and what she would use it for,
ReplyDelete