Strawberry Fields Forever
For these last two weeks, our group has been rising absurdly early in order to get out to the farms we are working at by eight o´clock. Divided into three groups of five, we rotate farms every day, so that we all get to experience different farms and work with different farmers every day. This past Tuesday was my favorite day so far. My group hiked deep into the forest and, after being handed machetes, was instructed to clear all the brush and small trees in order to make room for more big trees to grow. I had never used a machete before, and the feeling of hacking my way through the jungle thicket was pretty thrilling, I'm not gonna lie.
Most days, though, we spend hunched over strawberry plants, pulling off dry leaves and rotten berries. This is grueling and monotonous work, especially as the oppressively hot sun rises higher and higher in the sky. The farmers we work with will zoom through rows, leaving us in the dust as we all squint our eyes trying to differentiate the dry leaves from the leafs with budding flowers. Every once in a while one of us will accidentally pull out a whole plant, and take a minute to consider whether we are doing more good or harm by being there.
Often while I´m standing over these plants doing this hard work, I think about what my sisters are doing at that very moment back in the USA. Almost guaranteed they are both sitting at desks typing on their computers at their 21st century business jobs. Thinking of this stark contrast makes me laugh. But the more I think about it, I start to get angry. Some things go unsaid in our culture, and one of those things is that being a business person is much more respectable than being a farmer, especially one lacking the higher education that a proper intellectual has. Yet, it was easy for me get through high school with a good GPA, and doing this laborious work for food, a basic necessity that is essential to our survival, seems infinitely harder.
Why is it that those that do the dirtiest and most important work receive the least recognition? I'm not ready to draw any conclusions yet, but it's definitely something I'm trying to spend some time pondering while I'm working on these farms. I urge anyone reading this post to spend some time thinking about how much or little you know about where your food is produced, and who is producing it. The next time you eat, look at every element of your meal and try to guess all of the steps that each of them underwent before they landed on your plate!
Most days, though, we spend hunched over strawberry plants, pulling off dry leaves and rotten berries. This is grueling and monotonous work, especially as the oppressively hot sun rises higher and higher in the sky. The farmers we work with will zoom through rows, leaving us in the dust as we all squint our eyes trying to differentiate the dry leaves from the leafs with budding flowers. Every once in a while one of us will accidentally pull out a whole plant, and take a minute to consider whether we are doing more good or harm by being there.
Often while I´m standing over these plants doing this hard work, I think about what my sisters are doing at that very moment back in the USA. Almost guaranteed they are both sitting at desks typing on their computers at their 21st century business jobs. Thinking of this stark contrast makes me laugh. But the more I think about it, I start to get angry. Some things go unsaid in our culture, and one of those things is that being a business person is much more respectable than being a farmer, especially one lacking the higher education that a proper intellectual has. Yet, it was easy for me get through high school with a good GPA, and doing this laborious work for food, a basic necessity that is essential to our survival, seems infinitely harder.
Why is it that those that do the dirtiest and most important work receive the least recognition? I'm not ready to draw any conclusions yet, but it's definitely something I'm trying to spend some time pondering while I'm working on these farms. I urge anyone reading this post to spend some time thinking about how much or little you know about where your food is produced, and who is producing it. The next time you eat, look at every element of your meal and try to guess all of the steps that each of them underwent before they landed on your plate!
Hola! This is so much fun to read, Zach! Keep blogging! I'm enjoying keeping up with your travels.
ReplyDeleteSuper inspiring and thoughtful post, Zach! Thank you for sharing these insights and I'm so glad you are gaining these perspectives from the TBB program.
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