Why organic farmer blogs rule

Organic growers use Web journals to document farm experiences is an article from Thisweek Online, a site unknown to me until today. I have said earlier that farmers are one group of folks who should be blogging.

There is a powerful connection between small-scale organic farmers, foodies, markets, and restaurants, in that they all share the same customer base. And that customer base is technically proficient. That customer base write blogs and they read blogs. That customer base would respond to the kind story-telling authentic narrative offered by farm blogs:

“At first I thought, ‘Why would anyone want to read about this? It’s so boring!’ ” Diffley said. “But we’re bringing the cornfield to them, with all our thoughts and feelings.”

Now, I haven’t done any hard research on this, but observation and instinct tell me that the general blogger demographics are a nearly perfect match for what these folks are selling. They can afford the slightly higher prices of organic produce and other ecologically sustainable goods.

The huge rise in organic and ecological goods, the explosion of the Food Network, and the birth of the Slow Food Movement are all subtle pointers to the reality that people’s attitudes about food is changing. People feel more real and connected to life when they know where their food comes from and they feel safe about feeding it to themselves and their families:

The process of farm blogging benefits the consumer as much as the grower, the women said.

People can buy a watermelon, then go home and read the story of the watermelon while sucking on the rind and spitting seeds.

“It gets connections going, and deepens the experience,” Diffley said. “There’s something elemental about reading about us in the fields, and people want that in their lives.”

According to O’Brien, the nation’s love-hate relationship with food is agitated by the lack of knowledge about farming.

“There is this huge disconnect between us and food, and the process of food,” said O’Brien. “I think this direct access is very valuable.”

The Garden of Eagan farmer’s blogs serve as an example to all small-scale organic farmers wondering how they could possibly make it farming and make a couple bucks. Check out this post from atinagoe’s journal:

It is 4:45 in the morning. I’m still in bed, WHOA!!! living the good life here, lap top on my lap. In the last 4.5 minutes I just connected with Barth Anderson, read part of his blog and learned that his book is available for sale TODAY, went online and bought it (in less time than it takes to go downstairs and put my shoes on). I felt so isolated on the farm before I had a computer and it was too difficult to stay current in any way.

What an intense, full of growth passage this has been. This makes this my 21st year of farming with Martin. It is Martin’s 33rd year. I was not able to imagine then that I would be here now. In the same vein I am not able to imagine now what I will learn and do and where I will be in another 10 or 21 years. But I do know it will be full and big and marvelous and rich and valuable.

When I think back over the years I feel absolutely staggered by all the memories. Big ones yeah, but also the little ones. Something as simple as remembering a conversation in a field with another person, the entire scene reappears. What was growing, on what land, the trees on the edge of the field. The soil conditions, wet, dry, the temperature and the humidity, the wind speed and direction. I didn’t know at the time that I was noticing and storing all those details and now I look back and they all fill the scene for a bigger than life memory.

Remember when, I was a ingénue! I don’t feel that way anymore, I am highly aware of my strength and ability and also all my potential still waiting to be developed . (Although in many areas I still am highly naive and hope I always will have a trace of it.)

I remember a conversation I over heard between two woman friends when I was in my early twenties. They were in their thirties. One of them said, “She is so idealistic”.

The other said, “We were too before life beat it out of us. I hope she can be as long as possible.”

I am so glad I overheard that conversation. It has helped me all these years to remember to focus on what is important, especially when I felt worn to the bone. To hold as guide lights my ideals and commitments. I don’t have to always reach my ideals. That isn’t possible and would drive one nuts and to great unhappiness. Ideals are directions. They are lights to hold actions in front of, illuminating them from behind.

Anyone read Dante’s inferno? Pergatory is described as a place where people walk around holding signs as if in a protest or march. But the signs say nothing. They are blank. Pergatory is for people who never stood for what they believed.

Give me heaven or hell but I WANNA BE ALIVE! (though a few weeks ago when I thought I would die of heat exhaustion I was thinking, if hell is even hotter than this I am going to start doing whatever it takes to get into heaven.)

Who wouldn’t want to buy food from this person? This food is not a soulless commodity. This is not some mechanically stupid “fuel the body” analogy of food. This is food-as-life. This is a deep connection. It’s the kind of connection people who pay premium prices for organic food want to feel. The blog is a narrative that puts them into the story.

If you’re a farmer and you’ve found your way to this post, I’d like you to consider the idea of setting up a farmblog. I can help you do that. That’s what I do for a living. Contact me if you want to discuss it.