Monday, September 1, 2008

I am not simple are you?

In an excellent article by Juan Santos & Leslie Radford about the possibility that the commandeered and bulldozed South Central L.A. Urban community Farm might resprout the authors describe the growers there as " simple farmers and gardeners ...". Why do people persist in describing farmers as "simple" implying they are unsophisticated and perhaps stupid. 
What is "simple" about farming? To be successful one needs to be equal parts scientist, artist, magician, engineer, politician, marketing expert, business manager.
Those "simple" farmers organized a powerful fight to counter the shameful actions of the powers that be and they just might succeed in winning their "simple" farm back and simply start feeding their community fresh nutritious food again instead of beef from cows that are fed waste potato chips, cocao shells and M&M's.
Try it before you marginalize it!