My part-time work at Heritage Hall Museum reminds me at every turn of the history of this rural community, and its agricultural roots. The larger Freeman community was established mostly by Germans from Russia, who arrived here in the 1870s, now 140 years ago. They were an agrarian people, with a long history of living on the land, coming here as faith communities of Lutheran, Reformed, Catholic and Mennonite faith.
It’s alarming for someone like me, who grew up in this community, to see the disappearance of landmarks familiar from my childhood—groves of trees, fence lines, farm places, schoolhouses, churches. This trend has accelerated in recent years as corn prices have risen due to the artificial ethanol bubble with its demand for corn. Perhaps it could be argued that the landscape looks more like it did when settlers first arrived here 140 years ago—flat open prairie with nothing obstructing the view.
Loretta Epp age 2 sitting on a horse Many regular readers of this column may know that my wife and companion for the past 43 years died in October. Loretta was a beautiful and gifted woman of course (I’m not prejudiced), but what strikes me as I reflect on her life is what a quintessentially rural person she was. Loretta was born in southwest Minnesota, the eldest daughter of a farm couple who courted and married during the height of World War II.
Rural sociologists define cultural capital in terms of the values and symbols reflected in the artifacts used by a particular community. (Cornelia Butler Flora & Jan L. Flora, Rural Communities: Legacy and Change, Boulder: Westview Press, 25.) Cultural capital is the legacy that enables individuals to “know who they are” and how to make their way in life. Families and the communities in which they live pass on to their children the tools they perceive to be needed for their children’s survival and well-being, whether in the form of land or education or other resources.
Historically, rural communities like ours here in Freeman have experienced a decided disadvantage within the dominant urban cultures where they have lived. While urban centers depend on rural communities for their food, fiber and the raw materials of urban life, their numbers, wealth and power far outstrip those of rural communities. Rural communities typically live under the shadow of the “metropolis,” which literally means “mothercity.” Decisions affecting life in rural communities are often made not by rural residents, but by government bureaucrats, corporate boards, and elite specialists centered in the city.
One of the beauties of farming as a way of life is the intimacy that it affords farmers with land and the natural community of life among which we humans live. Writing in the Iowa State University newsletter of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, Fred Kirschenmann writes, “Every farmer ultimately knows that good management requires intimacy. Like all living organisms, farms constantly change and therefore close involvement with the plants, animals and soils of the farm is essential to skillful farming.
A reader’s theatre production of the play Look Who’s Knockin’ by Doug Nopar will be presented at the Freeman Community Center on Tuesday, April 10 at 7:30pm. The play will be presented by Phyllis Schrag and Jim Graber in the roles of Nettie and Gerald, a retiring farm couple trying to decide the future of their farm. The play raises questions of land ethics and the moral dilemma posed by wanting to get top dollar for selling one’s land while desiring to help the next generation of farmers get started farming.
Rural Revival is hosting an informational program on “Establishing New Farms: Passing Land on to the Next Generation of Farmers,” at the Salem Mennonite (South) Church, 28103 443rd Avenue, Freeman, on Sunday evening, May 15, at 7:00 p.m. The program will feature a panel discussion of representatives from Dakota Rural Action, Brookings, S. D., and Center for Rural Affairs, Lyons, Neb. Each of these organizations facilitates the generational transfer of land from established to incoming farmers throughout the Midwest, with specific “farm beginning” programs.
It’s worth noting that on April 18th at noon, Dr. Mike Brown will be presenting an informative overview of modern aquaculture. The presentation will take place at the Freeman Community Library at 12pm and should run between 1 and 2 hours depending on question and answer sessions, etc. The public is welcome, but space is limited and thus limited publicity has been put forth. The presentation will cover a swath of issues, but will likely have some focus on how fish farming could possibly apply to rural Freeman, SD — not exactly the place you might think of when it comes to fish.
In March, Mark Bittman of the New York Times has an opinion piece, Sustainable Farming Can Feed the World? that I thought nicely captured a fairly pragmatic, yet in many ways revolutionary view of agriculture that more and more people are coming around to understand, acknowledge and support. It certainly helps the legitimacy of an organization like Rural Revival when official UN reports on agriculture acknowledge and advocate for the sustainable development of local food markets around the world.
Copyright (c) 2011 - 2021, Rural Revival; all rights reserved.
Template by Bootstrapious. Ported to Hugo by DevCows. Modified by Paul Ortman.
