400 years later

Tuttles, the oldest farm in america is shutting the big barn doors and calling it quits. worst news ever! it’s been nearly 400 years from the beginning of it all in this country, an historical landmark, an emblem of our past, a lived long family tradition. and now after all of those years it’s going to be just those things-a place to visit and take a tour around, a place to see tinted photos of tractors and dirty hands, a fading reality young Tuttles will keep to themselves as they meet their peers in college.
in a time when family farmers are being raided by government agents all the while struggling to compete with corporate rule and public demand for cheap food it should come as no surprise. when i ask my boss for advise on what to do on my own farm, if it would be best to have a CSA or just do farmer’s markets his answer sums it up, “neither! there’s no money in farming”.
now he knows damn well that i’m not in it for the money and though his answer bursts my bubble a bit as i realize more and more how hard it truly is to be good, do good things, and expect to survive in a world full of rotten, i know that places like Tuttles-not even places but models like Tuttles are important reminders of where we came from and where we’re headed.
Tuttles closing down is a cultural metaphor that i don’t want to see or believe as i take the leap into this farming world, a dreamy place of past and necessity for the future. farming for me answered all of the questions i finally figured out how to ask and it holds big hope not only for me but for you as well, whether or not you realize. it brings up some bigger questions and large concerns. where are we headed in this era of “progress” and big business monopolization? what are the real values of life?
i know that i’ve always resisted progress in the technological form-where do all those cell phone parts come from? what does that reception do to your brain? where do all the old computers go when the new mac comes out? mining and landfills and satellites are not in my utopian vision but even more importantly, i know that i value family, community, friendship, love and good food. i mean, is there anything more important in life? don’t those just all go together so nicely?! don’t forget the real value of your life. it’s easy to forget when we have to check our email and text everyone about dinner. we’ll all soon forget about the Tuttles legacy but god damn if we keep letting big business and government control our health and happiness. “fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.”
read the sad story here