Deep Roots with 6K Soap
From high-rise balconies where pots of growing tomatoes overlook the city to country lanes with picturesque fences railing in family milk cows masticating agreeably on green grass, the farming bug spreads as thoroughly as a dandelion pappus in the spring breeze. In a modern age of endless entertainment, commercially available foods, modern health advances and every comfort imaginable, many folks are dreaming about life on the farm, and it’s not hard to figure out why.
In 1931, one in three Canadians lived, worked and ate on the family farm with a will to survive that surpassed the many obstacles in their path, overcoming brutal hardship, weather, accidents, health crises and lack of resources. They raised children, buried others, growing food, developing the land into something valuable and productive with a smile and a song. They built a legacy that their children’s children still enjoy today, a contract with the earth to feed those that worked, written in blood.
Three generations have come and gone, young people moved to town and now less than 1.3 percent of Canadians can still say they live and work on a farm. Food insecurity, environmentalism, health uncertainty and a life of crowded urban monotony has led to an elemental hunger for healthier lifestyles, sustainable agricultural practices, and freedom to live a rural life. And thus, the primeval need to farm is emerging in the hearts of farmers’ descendants, wherever they reside.
Rising costs make land purchases prohibitive, but whether you are a confirmed city dweller, a farming faithful, or a dreaming, scheming farm hopeful, someone in your family had their hands in the dirt to plant the seeds of the person you are today. If you’re not a full-time farmer (yet), grow a vegetable, keep a milk cow or goat, raise a little meat in the backyard, support a local farmer or decide to become an urban farmer. Pick up some local food at the farmer’s market or a roadside stand, learn a skill that will sustain you as you progress in your agricultural understanding.
Reach out to a mentor or befriend someone with a large garden needing help with its care. Ask if anyone needs support with milking a family cow or shoveling out stalls in exchange for some farm bounty. Remember your roots, teach your children about where food comes from and the work required to produce it. Be part of the sustainable farm movement in your community. Eat locally grown foods. Let the goodness of working on your farm grow into a smile and a song with a will to keep it alive and remember that where farms grow, you’ll always have healthy food!
