My garden will rest for the winter. Fortifying itself for the spring planting season. I will begin gathering seeds and flats, soil and fertilizers so that the spring thaw will not be ahead of me. The garden will sleep amidst the clang of horseshoes and the crackle of a pine campfire. For there is nothing more peaceful than the crackle of pine, a sky full of stars, and the laughter of friends as a garden sleeps.

At first my leaving is full glory, full speed ahead. The promise of the unknown being so close that I can reach out and grasp it. But like the fog that rolls through these valleys on a cool morning, I am shrouded by the Mountains, embedded in them and protected by them. The emergence is a slow process, as you feel yourself adjust to a gentle roll rather than a constant battle of climb and descent. But it is within this battle between depth and clarity that I can sense that my essence, my breath, my security is slowly being left, like a trail that the Mountains know that I will return to follow, picking up the pieces, and restoring them to their rightful places.

Some things simply have to be experienced. No explanation will do them justice and no opinion could change their individual effect. Listen to the words that no one is saying, and learn from the depth of each worldly thing’s soul. Only then will you catch a glimpse of true understanding.

It is a time for changes. A time to find an existence in the grey area between chaos and peace, a balance of what can be and what will be and what could have been. It is time to plant myself so that I may blossom in time.

 The people in my area work to farm. Although a seemingly hypocritical statement, the rural area in which I live is speckled with still operating family farms that vary from back yard gardens to full-fledged cattle ranches, orchards and greenhouses. In 2000, Mineral County’s 327.7 square miles there are 1,061 operating farms on record (Citymelt). But most of the residents that participate in this agricultural way of life also maintain jobs outside of the farm and home, quite simply, working to earn wages so that they can manage and maintain their farms.

We have a spread of Farmers Markets and “pick-‘em-yourself orchards”, and access to locally grown food in the growing months is more cost efficient (not to mention tastier) than what we’ll find at the local Wal*Mart. The Mineral County Technical center offers courses in Greenhouse Technology and runs a student maintained greenhouse, open to the public. There are churches that have provided our elderly shut-ins with container plants and there are ‘Master Gardener’ programs in place for those that want to continue their learning of the natural world in a more structured manner.

It sure sounds like there is a lot going on. But in the world of social entrepreneurship, new ideas and innovations are always being brought to the table. The question has arisen of how to make these farming practices more than just a hobby for the residents of Mineral County. How can farmers make enough to live on from their farms, how can we get more community involvement so that those in low income situations have access to cheap and nutritious food? How do we get our children learning so when they grow up there are situation in place for them to take advantage of agriculturally? How can the system be changed so that people can farm for work, rather than working to farm?

I began by looking at other programs and organizations that focused on some of the above questions that have been proposed. One organization I found seems to be an all encompassing entity that attempts to tackle these proposals. The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC from here on) has is mission set in “joining together the voices of grassroots farm, food, conservation, and rural organizations from all regions of the country to advocate for federal policies and programs supporting the long-term economic, social, and environmental sustainability of agriculture, natural resources, and rural communities”. Now what intrigued me about this organization was that it was a bottom up and top down approach, focusing not only on the farmers and activities being done, but also on the policies affecting this way of life and the institutional and structural changes that need to be made.

The NSCA says that “Sustainability rests on the principle that we must meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” and their success stories present a wide range of sustainable practices including: working land conservation, building foundations for beginning farmers and ranchers and even on-farm research with emphasis on value-added agriculture.

Their leadership is broken down into four councils which oversee the specifics of organization, grassroots, policy and policy issues. These four divisions, I feel, allow the organization to devote the attention necessary to each endeavor and allows for multiple perspectives on how to handle situations. With a shared goal and specific orientations and guidelines within each, mission creep is less likely because each committee can redirect the others if something slides off track.

Another organization that piqued my interest was the American Community Gardening Association (ACGA), a non-profit organization that strives to build communities in the United States and Canada through enhancing community gardens and greening urban areas. This organization sees community gardens as a catalyst that brings communities together, stimulates social interaction, leads to community development and generally betters the lives of participants financially, emotionally and physically. They operate through a board of directors and hired staff, with more emphasis on a solid base of leaders than the NSCA’s council approach which seemed to spread the ‘power’ over a wider base. It also seems that the ACGA focuses more on the actual gardens themselves and on research being done around the effects of community and urban gardening than the NSCA, whose focus is more evenly distributed between actual farms and the policies that govern them.

The third and final organization I chose to explore was the Urban Gardening Project. The UGP takes its inspiration from the war-time victory gardens that helped out country rally together to support the troops in dire times of need. Now in post-war days, we live in a consumerist society and the UGP feels that there are important lessons to be learned from the past and that community gardening, no matter how small or how big, is a step in the right direction for generations to come. In researching the site, you find little information on the actually organization itself, but loads of videos and tips for how you can get started today on your urban garden, complete with instructional videos and gardening tips for the weary, even information on chicken coop building and beehive construction and maintenance.

This organization, in my opinion, has a much different and more user friendly approach than the other organizations I’ve looked at today. They are less concerned with policy and procedure and more interested in active participation and providing the curious urban garden ‘wanna-be’s’ the information and guides they will need to feel prepared and get started. This grassroots approach is one of the more comprehensive user guides that I’ve seen, coming from real participants and believers, with followers and site visitors from all over the world. Their blog and their very own bits of viral media seem to be a success, if only that they are raising awareness about the importance of sustainable agriculture and urban greening.

Three very distinct programs with three distinct approaches; one might ask how you could measure success in a certain field with so many different factors playing into any sort of measure. Success, if you ask me, is always flexible. Sometimes success in sustainable agriculture is as simple as burying your troubles in the dirt.

Citations

Citymelt.com. “Mineral County, Vest Virginia Complete Analysis”. http://www.citymelt.com/county/West-Virginia/Mineral+County-WV.html ( Accessed April 22, 2010).

National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition. http://sustainableagriculture.net/ (Accessed April 22, 2010).

American Community Gardening Association. http://www.communitygarden.org/ (Accessed April 23, 2010)

Urban garden Project. http://urbangardenproject.wordpress.com/ (Accessed April 23, 2010)

I love standing, at the end of the day, with my hands on my hips and a smile of satisfaction on my face, knowing full well, that  I have accomplished something. That I have earned what I will reap from the gardens that I sow.

April 1^st, 2010 piece

                I sat at my camp this fine spring evening while the cool air settled in and the dew began to fall. My small fire crackled and echoed off the bank and my puppy lay on a knoll just a bit away from me with a bone. As the light settled around me I reflected on the work of the evening — some garden work, some planting and the never ending game of pick-‘em-up-sticks that I play with the trees that surround the camp. It seems as though in that time and place cultural policy are further from me than the stars in the sky. But just as the ash from my fire flies up and away on the breeze, it and the weight of the ever present policy began to land on my thoughts and my little piece of ground.

                A quote from this weeks reading has remained prominent in my mind. Dyen says of the streets of Pittsburgh “In place of immersion in daily folklife, we now have heritage museums, restored buildings, and neighborhood historic districts that mark where daily folk culture used * to live” (p. 2, *emphasis added). This brings to the forefront, for me, the struggle of cultural sustainability and the possibilities of cultural tourism and preservations versus continuation and sustainability of folklife, folkways and folk traditions. The idea in our field is to take those things that seem to be the most basic, simple and vital to the way of life in a given area and to mold ways for them to last, like adding wood to the fire before it burns out.

The approach that Dyen speaks of resonates with my country base. The Routes to Roots project includes the actual people of the area and their many cultural and natural resources. It is a life that is being showcased, not items or staged productions of the way that things were or had been. The organization, as many do, struggles with authenticity in their presentation when complete authenticity is in some ways lacking. It is the willingness of the public participation and contributions that make the travel through the area ‘real’ and authentic. Another struggle in trying to present a cultural history from the perspective of ‘insiders’ to ‘outsiders’ is that tings are rarely how they were years ago. So to go down a street and try to verbally explain how it once was can be difficult, especially if the area has become a lesser and more unattractive version of it’s previous state. It can be embarrassing and uncomfortable for those in the story tellers seat, and can often leave people disillusioned and uninformed of the depth of meaning that the story was meant to project. It would be like describing the colors and scents of a rose to someone who could only see a wilted, dry flower.

Although the ground up approach has its hindrances, it is through the people of the land that the stories grow and blossom — for pieces in a museum or a restored building are only tangible things unless they have people to use them or a family to inhabit them. The real value, as I hope most will agree, is in the story, the action, the use, the walls and the memories.

In another realm of cultural sustainability sprouts the multitude of museums and Historical Societeis that capture and preserve not only the tangible items of particular cultures, but are also embracing the preservation of intangible products as well. Oral histories, music and folktales present a whole world to their audience through the power of the spoken word and musical notes. There are also other forms of intangible culture ranging from hair-dos of the time to parades, décor and murals. These represent change and adaptability within cultures and are a vital part of ‘community’ in the fullest sense of the term.

Yerkovich says to us in Linking the Present with the Past through Intangible Heritage in History Museums  that “Our challenge, then, was and is, to present history both to audiences who understand our mission and to those who have not grown up knowing historical societies and museums; to relate to both urban and suburban groups; and to reflect the city and the state’s increasing ethnic and cultural diversity without loosing our appeal to our existing visitors” (p.4).  I feel that the tangible and intangible artifacts of a culture are vital to the ongoing learning and education that is becoming better articulated in our society. In some cases the traditions and customs being remembered are no longer practiced or seen within communities and the development of Historical Societies and museums that are area specific help lessen the extinction of some of our past. These exhibits and presentations can provide a setting for the production and presentation of the stories past.

Both of the examples stated above have their benefits, but in very different ways. One is a grassroots approach to explore and showcase life in action and one is an agency approach to preservation and presentation of life past that remains vital to the creation of life present. Although my nature pushes me to lean in the direction of the grassroots, seeing the work of the New Jersey Historical Society and that of our very own Lara Justice has made me realize and value the importance and vitality of the preserved items, tangible and otherwise.

I believe that each approach should be considered in each target area. As in all of our work, context is key. This is reflected also in how we choose to sustain and preserve while promoting our culture. These different approaches are also not set into stone. The unquestionable flexibility within both processes allows for an unlimited amount of variations, built and tailored to meet the needs and wants of every community. This adaptability reflects society in its own right and should always be considered when making plans to set preservation into action.

Adaptation is, what some may consider, a necessary evil in life. Everything changes, and we change right along with it. Some fires burn bright and some just burn out. I suppose that in my reflection on this matter, the valuable and overwhelming thought that I came away with was, no matter the state of the fire we should enjoy and embrace its warmth while we can, and remember the feel of the heat on our skin when we can’t.

                                                                  Mr. Simon, downstate Cabondale in response to a cost objection to the American Folklife Preservation Act. (in reference to the cost of highways and expressways versus the cost of the proposed folklife bill)

            It seems to me some days that everyone wants their fifteen minutes of fame. It seems that everyone wants to be remembered, whether by many or by few, for something. We hope to live on even after our passing in the memories of those that knew us. The overwhelming need to create memories and participate in life is existent; the only problem seems to be that more often than not there are few who want to foot the bill for our life’s production. For making an impact surely is a costly endeavor. There has been many a war waged, some in silence, some within the highest realms of authority, for the sake and preservation of the everyday life. There is something to be cherished in how people choose to carry out their lives and there is importance in every action. For taking no action is also choosing to act, and this motion can be monumental.

            In the passing of legislation to include an American Folklife Center in the Library of congress, a whole new playing field was arranged for key player to step foot on. As “A View From the Lobby” discusses, opinions can be hard to change and the view from that of an elite often sees the common life is lacking importance, when in reality it is the base and the strength that we, as a country, stand on and were built upon. Once the legislation gets passed the work begins to determine what exactly can be considered folklife, and how execution of preservation can be accomplished without stepping on the toes of the twin endorsements.

            There is also finding the public that is willing to see that what they are doing is worth sustaining an preserving, and in many cases the convincing of funders that what may seem like a common way of life (nothing special or out of the ordinary) is a necessary recipient of funding. There are several ways to preserve as the article “Preserving our Heritage” points out. But preservation isn’t cookie cutter in the very least. It can seldom be broken into requirements and formats. Each case is contextual, and it is this attention to detail that some seem to be ‘too busy’ for.

            In our chosen field, we may very often be the lobbyist, fighting for the rights of our beliefs in life, we may be those holding in our hands the stamp of approval or the stamp of dismissal, and more often than not we will be among those that we stand up for and represent. We are the voice and the hands and the body, but we must never take for granted the power that lies inside of us. Donohue says about preservation that ‘The world is constantly changing and being changed, and so to keep things from changing, preservationists change them!” I feel that this statement reflects a lot of what, in the means of funding and legislation, is being done presently. We, as those in the fight for cultural sustainability, must remember to let the people show us what it is that needs to be remembered, sustained, and ‘fixed’.