These thoughts and insights are quite new to me. Thank you for expanding my awareness. I 've been a WOOFER in the past but was never mindful of this aspect of the farmer's experience of visitors.
Difficult for many to grapple with this kind of vacation as it is life experienced in the slow & thoughtful lane which can be discomforting if you like to be an edgy individual always looking for the next bright shiny thing to light up an emptied life.
I love your thoughts. I am a South African, and we stay on farms often, when we go away for weekends or longer. Here in South Africa, farm stays (unless they are luxury affairs) are usually more affordable than hotels or resorts, and - for me at least - much more enjoyable. The quiet, and the solitary location of most of these places is what makes them so special, and conversations with the farmers, as you say, is always wonderful.
Lovely descriptions of the landscape, people and farming lifestyle, Hadden. Great advocacy for farm stays too, definitely an effective way of supporting those very committed stewards of the land.
Such a beautiful read and so insightful. It has definitely made me consider things I never have before, which I think is a real testament to your writing
Thank you Em for those very kind words. I am very glad to hear this has helped you to consider new things. That is exactly the effect I wish my writing to have.
You write so well Hadden. But this post brings me face to face with a dissonance that can underlie a too uncritical romanticisation of farming. Who gets to have this sort of access to the land? By what means was this land 'acquired' and by what ongoing means was that enclosure enforced? These stories can be invisible to us in a time where capitalism has conditioned us to see only bureaucratic neutral transactions and lines on maps. But in a settler colony like South Africa, this meant decades of violence against the people whose connection with that land ran centuries (millennia?) deeper. I don't know anything about the Hart family specifically, or whether this is a history that has been openly acknowledged and reckoned with by them, as you don't mention this in your piece. But as someone who has such a deep fascination with farming, I am interested to know whether that question of who gets to be a farmer / who is able to have access to land and how, is one that troubles you too?
This is good and necessary feedback, Laura. Thank you. You are right, these are questions that need to be considered and wrestled with, and perhaps in the rush to get this published I didn't do the necessary homework on the history of Robert Hart (there original settler).
The question of who gets access to land is one that interests me deeply - but as of yet I feel unable/unqualified to offer much comment on as there is so much to learn and wrestle with - especially when it concerns cultures and places alien to my own. I see the question of land reform and access is coming to a head in SA at the moment and I am endeavouring to understand the issue as much as I can. A maxim by which I live by is "everything is more complex than it seems, and even more complex than that." Therefore, there are some topics I refrain from wadding in on or passing judgement on until I feel qualified (and even then with the necessary caveats).
However, I have managed to dig up some information about Robert Hart, and the history is a mixed bag for sure. There is some good in his history, but much I find troubling. I have amended the essay to add a foot note so people can read and form their own judgement on his history.
All I can say is from what I saw of the current family and farm with my own eyes, it looks as if they support their black/coloured farm hands well, provide them with good quality accommodation so that they don't have to stay in the townships, and are, from what I can see, well respected by their farm hands. Plus, they are endeavouring to farm in a highly ecological manner which gets a big thumbs up from me.
Really glad that you are open to a conversation on this Hadden and that you received my comments in the spirit in which they were intended. I think it's about so much more than a single family, or about relationships in the present. The fact that they are good employers to people who could be descendants of those who were violently dispossessed of access to the very same land (and de facto preventing from ever owning it or employing people to work on it themselves) is only a very small salve to a very deep wound, but I appreciate the need to feel better informed before speaking on such things.
Thanks Laura, the issue of who owns England is one close to my heart - as is the debate on enclosure, which although it gave us the treasured english hedgerow, is a very ugly history.
This was wonderful, Hadden. I honestly would never had thought to seek out a farm stay for such a purpose (beyond staying with my own brother and his wife on her family dairy farm), but this has me willing to try it out. A win-win situation for all!
These thoughts and insights are quite new to me. Thank you for expanding my awareness. I 've been a WOOFER in the past but was never mindful of this aspect of the farmer's experience of visitors.
This post is balm in such an unsettled world. I could hear these ramblings every day....and I wish these farmers well.
Thank you.
Difficult for many to grapple with this kind of vacation as it is life experienced in the slow & thoughtful lane which can be discomforting if you like to be an edgy individual always looking for the next bright shiny thing to light up an emptied life.
I love your thoughts. I am a South African, and we stay on farms often, when we go away for weekends or longer. Here in South Africa, farm stays (unless they are luxury affairs) are usually more affordable than hotels or resorts, and - for me at least - much more enjoyable. The quiet, and the solitary location of most of these places is what makes them so special, and conversations with the farmers, as you say, is always wonderful.
Lovely descriptions of the landscape, people and farming lifestyle, Hadden. Great advocacy for farm stays too, definitely an effective way of supporting those very committed stewards of the land.
I agree, staying on a farm is brilliant. I even got to milking cows!!! Fresh milk straight from the cows is delicious. Thank you Hadden
Love this, thanks for sharing!
Such a beautiful read and so insightful. It has definitely made me consider things I never have before, which I think is a real testament to your writing
Thank you Em for those very kind words. I am very glad to hear this has helped you to consider new things. That is exactly the effect I wish my writing to have.
You write so well Hadden. But this post brings me face to face with a dissonance that can underlie a too uncritical romanticisation of farming. Who gets to have this sort of access to the land? By what means was this land 'acquired' and by what ongoing means was that enclosure enforced? These stories can be invisible to us in a time where capitalism has conditioned us to see only bureaucratic neutral transactions and lines on maps. But in a settler colony like South Africa, this meant decades of violence against the people whose connection with that land ran centuries (millennia?) deeper. I don't know anything about the Hart family specifically, or whether this is a history that has been openly acknowledged and reckoned with by them, as you don't mention this in your piece. But as someone who has such a deep fascination with farming, I am interested to know whether that question of who gets to be a farmer / who is able to have access to land and how, is one that troubles you too?
This is good and necessary feedback, Laura. Thank you. You are right, these are questions that need to be considered and wrestled with, and perhaps in the rush to get this published I didn't do the necessary homework on the history of Robert Hart (there original settler).
The question of who gets access to land is one that interests me deeply - but as of yet I feel unable/unqualified to offer much comment on as there is so much to learn and wrestle with - especially when it concerns cultures and places alien to my own. I see the question of land reform and access is coming to a head in SA at the moment and I am endeavouring to understand the issue as much as I can. A maxim by which I live by is "everything is more complex than it seems, and even more complex than that." Therefore, there are some topics I refrain from wadding in on or passing judgement on until I feel qualified (and even then with the necessary caveats).
However, I have managed to dig up some information about Robert Hart, and the history is a mixed bag for sure. There is some good in his history, but much I find troubling. I have amended the essay to add a foot note so people can read and form their own judgement on his history.
All I can say is from what I saw of the current family and farm with my own eyes, it looks as if they support their black/coloured farm hands well, provide them with good quality accommodation so that they don't have to stay in the townships, and are, from what I can see, well respected by their farm hands. Plus, they are endeavouring to farm in a highly ecological manner which gets a big thumbs up from me.
Really glad that you are open to a conversation on this Hadden and that you received my comments in the spirit in which they were intended. I think it's about so much more than a single family, or about relationships in the present. The fact that they are good employers to people who could be descendants of those who were violently dispossessed of access to the very same land (and de facto preventing from ever owning it or employing people to work on it themselves) is only a very small salve to a very deep wound, but I appreciate the need to feel better informed before speaking on such things.
There's some great resources here for the UK context https://whoownsengland.org/tools-and-resources/
Thanks Laura, the issue of who owns England is one close to my heart - as is the debate on enclosure, which although it gave us the treasured english hedgerow, is a very ugly history.
This was wonderful, Hadden. I honestly would never had thought to seek out a farm stay for such a purpose (beyond staying with my own brother and his wife on her family dairy farm), but this has me willing to try it out. A win-win situation for all!