Common people ought to farm

No doubt, I love Gerard Winstanley’s belief that the people ought to dig. But really, it’s hard when foraging, guerilla gardening, and community gardening on small city plots to get more than a few snacks, perhaps a few meals for the whole year. To get food, you really ought to farm.
I belong to a CSA (I’d be really surprised if there is someone reading this that doesn’t belong to a CSA, let alone know what it is. But, just in case it stands for Community Supported Agriculture. It is a group of people who commit to support a farm by purchasing a share of the farm. In return for this share, the shareholder receives a portion of the produce of the farm as well as shares in the risks of the season. It gives a farmer the kind of support and security he or she deserves). However, I don’t pay for my share with money (almost all the shareholders in my CSA do pay); instead I pay with my labor. I work the land next to the farmers while learning how to farm sustainably. By holding a workshare I get to participate in nourishing the land directly and in return I get lots of fucking delicious food (and I get to spend time with some awesome farmers. I swear farmers are some of the coolest people I’ve ever met). I get to participate in the soil cycles, nourish an environment that nurtures all kinds of cool creatures, and feed people. I’m in a relationship where I don’t just take from the land in order to make the best damn salsa in the world (umm, ever hear of heirloom fresh picked tomatoes!). I have the beautiful opportunity to give back.
I see this workshare not only as a way to get some delicious food, but also as a learning experience. At some point I imagine settling down on some land and making a go of it. I have dreams of farming up a few acres as a skilled and awesome lady farmer covered in dirt and being followed by some zesty chickens. I’d like to raise and make really, really good food. I’d still like to continue to forage and guerilla garden, because those are really awesome and revolutionary ways to envision land. I don’t imagine ever mowing the fucking lawn.
For the last two years I have been trying my hand at various skills I’d like to learn in order to feed myself. And feed myself pretty damn well. And maybe even have an excess so I can feed other people too. Really, I don’t see the whole arrangement that I talked about in the section about lawns really working out too well. It’s not sustainable (environmentally or economically) and it’s pretty damn lonely. It’s much more viable to work in an organized way within a community, each person bringing skills and assets and sharing the benefits as a single unit (now do I sound like a commie, or what?) It is ideal when this group can not just live off the land, but live with the land. But this doesn’t just happen. Those joining the community have to have some sort of uniting intention, purpose, and commitments to how they will work as a group. So this is where the food stuff comes in. I gotta get me some skills. The rest of this booklet is about some of the skills I’ve been working on to bring to a community of people who will at some point really want to eat some good food after building an awesome yurt or something.