Regarding the Elliot line; have you seen ‘A Hidden Life’ by Terrance Malick. It’s about Franz Jaggerstatter. An Austrian and catholic farmer who peacefully resists conscription by the nazis. It’s a stunning film and that quote from Middlemarch is the epigraph and inspiration for the title.
I should make a point of remembering the names of the farmers I support. Thank you for that reminder.
I used to live in California and remember driving by the industrial farms and seeing the migrant workers in hooded sweatshirts in the blazing hot sun harvesting cauliflower. Then that food got wrapped in plastic and trucked all around north america and ya know what? It doesn't taste that good. The stuff grown by a known local organic farmer is always tastier.
"The stuff grown by a known local organic farmer is always tastier." -hear, hear! This is so very true. A lot of this must be tied into the fact that these farmers are more likely to use heritage varieties - which are bred for taste not for conformity to industrial standards and transportation.
Thanks Dixie, it is a message close to my heart. We receive a veg-box once every two weeks from a local organic farm. It is a highlight of my week to stand and chat at the doorway to Sally the delivery driver (the mother of Sarah, the farmer).
Yesss! Loved this, so necessary. We saw bags of veg for pennies in our local supermarket this weekend, literally 15p for a bag of potatoes. Can’t imagine what that farmer is being paid. One of my goals is to seek out farm shops in my local area in 2024. Not sure there is any, especially not ones I can get to on my little bike, but I will try my best!
James Rebanks pointed out yesterday that when a supermarket cuts the price of fruit and vegetables from, say, 90p to 15p it is not the supermarket that takes the cut/not the supermarket who are reducing the price of food that they have already paid for from the farmer - instead they simply pay the farmer less and demand that they cover the cost of this special offer! It is utterly infuriating.
Thank you for writing this Hadden - I think about this a lot. Here in rural Devon it’s easy to know our local farmers - the landscape and local farm shops and high street is full of their produce.
But still the aisles of the local big supermarkets are full of shoppers - they’re convenient, often cheaper, full of choice. I understand the need for convenience - especially with a young baby now, and we do use supermarkets.
But we choose the greengrocer and butcher for our meat and veg and dairy - we know the farmers that supply them, and it gives cooking and eating a whole extra layer of joy and flavour.
Anyway, thanks - as the world speeds up it’s important to slow down, know the names of people and wildlife, and rebelliously hold on to joy and love of neighbour and place
In an old poem I used to sing decades ago, playing guitar in the evenings on holiday hikes, there is a verse:
“Nikt nie szuka inicjałów cieśli
gdy cieśle dom postawią”
which means:
“No one is looking for the initials of a carpenter
When the carpenters have finished building a house”
Even the household name of the Eiffel Tower points to the owner of a company rather than to the names of engineers who invented the structure, viable and capable to withstand wind loads at its height: Emile Nouguier and Maurice Koechlin.
A welding workshop and an installation team are the last people who can see my name in the drawings; a ready facility or appliance bears only a data plate with the name of the company. That is the way things go in industry.
But when I stopped at your essay and thought about food, I saw the problem in a different light. No other outcome of human effort bears so heavy load of personal toil, and so intimate relation to a consumer. If anything, then really food, deserves to be marked with a name of its maker.
It happens that a name of a family bakery is printed on bread wrapping. What if we started seeking products distinct by the name of a farmer, or at least the name of their farming family business, with a region of the country?
There is a risk that monopolies will use A.I. to churn out fake names, and print them on wrappings. O tempora, o mores! Anyway, granting the benefit of doubt, from now on, whenever in a grocery, I will choose foods which markings provide at least a hint of personal connection to the farmers who have produced them.
This is a wonderful comment, Jacek, and I heartily agree with your excellent point here: "No other outcome of human effort bears so heavy load of personal toil, and so intimate relation to a consumer. If anything, then really food, deserves to be marked with a name of its maker."
The bit here about the peopled landscape has hit home and lit a fire under me. There is much potential where I am. I only need to get myself and family in gear to be faithful stewards of this land. Thanks again for the beautiful words, Hadden.
Seeing the landscape as a peopled landscape makes every walk in nature interesting. When one stands on top of a hill and looks out, every hedgerow is a line in a history book, every farmhouse a repository of stories, and every field the arena of dramas of abundance and scarcity.
And let that fire underneath you burn - your faithful stewarding of your local area will be expressed indelibly in the form and beauty of your place for future generations to enjoy and build upon.
My family supplies beef to four families. I can tell you that as a farmer it is more rewarding when your eaters are not hidden either, and when they want all the fat and bones, and you can see their faces and know they aren’t wasteful. We are processing a longhorn today and it’s so cold, but I know the family it is going to, and that they need it.
There are a number of resources that encourage us to domestically reduce waste of produce. I’m thinking of the classic More with Less cookbook. It certainly covers more than smoothies, fridge surprise casseroles, and potage! Lifestyle adaptations are explored in the same publisher’s Living More with Less. (I’m not affiliated, just inspired.)
This is beautiful, Hadden. I've just written a little prayer for farmers myself. Thank you for the good company. With care, Adam
Regarding the Elliot line; have you seen ‘A Hidden Life’ by Terrance Malick. It’s about Franz Jaggerstatter. An Austrian and catholic farmer who peacefully resists conscription by the nazis. It’s a stunning film and that quote from Middlemarch is the epigraph and inspiration for the title.
A Hidden Life was what introduced me to Eliot's line! And for that I am very grateful.
It's so important to celebrate remnants of whatever aspects of goodness are being forgotten! I appreciate your message here.
I should make a point of remembering the names of the farmers I support. Thank you for that reminder.
I used to live in California and remember driving by the industrial farms and seeing the migrant workers in hooded sweatshirts in the blazing hot sun harvesting cauliflower. Then that food got wrapped in plastic and trucked all around north america and ya know what? It doesn't taste that good. The stuff grown by a known local organic farmer is always tastier.
"The stuff grown by a known local organic farmer is always tastier." -hear, hear! This is so very true. A lot of this must be tied into the fact that these farmers are more likely to use heritage varieties - which are bred for taste not for conformity to industrial standards and transportation.
This is deeply thoughtful and beautiful, Hadden. I'll be thinking on it for some time.
Thanks Dixie, it is a message close to my heart. We receive a veg-box once every two weeks from a local organic farm. It is a highlight of my week to stand and chat at the doorway to Sally the delivery driver (the mother of Sarah, the farmer).
How wonderful!
The neighborhood is curious about our backyard. We ripped up all the grass in exchange for raised beds and a greenhouse.
I’m learning as I go.
No one has really taken my offers of free produce yet, but, I get a fair amount of curiosity.
Yesss! Loved this, so necessary. We saw bags of veg for pennies in our local supermarket this weekend, literally 15p for a bag of potatoes. Can’t imagine what that farmer is being paid. One of my goals is to seek out farm shops in my local area in 2024. Not sure there is any, especially not ones I can get to on my little bike, but I will try my best!
Thanks Isabelle,
James Rebanks pointed out yesterday that when a supermarket cuts the price of fruit and vegetables from, say, 90p to 15p it is not the supermarket that takes the cut/not the supermarket who are reducing the price of food that they have already paid for from the farmer - instead they simply pay the farmer less and demand that they cover the cost of this special offer! It is utterly infuriating.
Thank you for writing this Hadden - I think about this a lot. Here in rural Devon it’s easy to know our local farmers - the landscape and local farm shops and high street is full of their produce.
But still the aisles of the local big supermarkets are full of shoppers - they’re convenient, often cheaper, full of choice. I understand the need for convenience - especially with a young baby now, and we do use supermarkets.
But we choose the greengrocer and butcher for our meat and veg and dairy - we know the farmers that supply them, and it gives cooking and eating a whole extra layer of joy and flavour.
Anyway, thanks - as the world speeds up it’s important to slow down, know the names of people and wildlife, and rebelliously hold on to joy and love of neighbour and place
In an old poem I used to sing decades ago, playing guitar in the evenings on holiday hikes, there is a verse:
“Nikt nie szuka inicjałów cieśli
gdy cieśle dom postawią”
which means:
“No one is looking for the initials of a carpenter
When the carpenters have finished building a house”
Even the household name of the Eiffel Tower points to the owner of a company rather than to the names of engineers who invented the structure, viable and capable to withstand wind loads at its height: Emile Nouguier and Maurice Koechlin.
A welding workshop and an installation team are the last people who can see my name in the drawings; a ready facility or appliance bears only a data plate with the name of the company. That is the way things go in industry.
But when I stopped at your essay and thought about food, I saw the problem in a different light. No other outcome of human effort bears so heavy load of personal toil, and so intimate relation to a consumer. If anything, then really food, deserves to be marked with a name of its maker.
It happens that a name of a family bakery is printed on bread wrapping. What if we started seeking products distinct by the name of a farmer, or at least the name of their farming family business, with a region of the country?
There is a risk that monopolies will use A.I. to churn out fake names, and print them on wrappings. O tempora, o mores! Anyway, granting the benefit of doubt, from now on, whenever in a grocery, I will choose foods which markings provide at least a hint of personal connection to the farmers who have produced them.
This is a wonderful comment, Jacek, and I heartily agree with your excellent point here: "No other outcome of human effort bears so heavy load of personal toil, and so intimate relation to a consumer. If anything, then really food, deserves to be marked with a name of its maker."
The bit here about the peopled landscape has hit home and lit a fire under me. There is much potential where I am. I only need to get myself and family in gear to be faithful stewards of this land. Thanks again for the beautiful words, Hadden.
Thanks Derek,
Seeing the landscape as a peopled landscape makes every walk in nature interesting. When one stands on top of a hill and looks out, every hedgerow is a line in a history book, every farmhouse a repository of stories, and every field the arena of dramas of abundance and scarcity.
And let that fire underneath you burn - your faithful stewarding of your local area will be expressed indelibly in the form and beauty of your place for future generations to enjoy and build upon.
My family supplies beef to four families. I can tell you that as a farmer it is more rewarding when your eaters are not hidden either, and when they want all the fat and bones, and you can see their faces and know they aren’t wasteful. We are processing a longhorn today and it’s so cold, but I know the family it is going to, and that they need it.
Thanks so much for this, Hadden. Beautifully said.
There are a number of resources that encourage us to domestically reduce waste of produce. I’m thinking of the classic More with Less cookbook. It certainly covers more than smoothies, fridge surprise casseroles, and potage! Lifestyle adaptations are explored in the same publisher’s Living More with Less. (I’m not affiliated, just inspired.)