Mano Farm notebooks, part II: on invasive ideas, machines, hands, and sustainability

The Mano Farm notebooks are an ongoing series of entries documenting my stewardship of Mano Farm — a one acre plot land in Ojai, California — with two friends: David Klein and Justin Huhn. The previous entry was published on this blog last October.

Calendula flowers in bloom; January 2010.

“One withstands the invasion of armies; one does not withstand the invasion of ideas.”

—Victor Hugo, The History of a Crime

A year ago I was in a completely opposite place than where I am presently: Manhattan, enrolled in my second semester of graduate school. I spent most of my days and nights studying in an apartment in the Morningside Heights neighborhood; I subletted a room from a Columbia law student who went abroad for the semester. One of those winter nights I received a phone call from my friend Justin Huhn in Ojai, who was ebullient about a recent conversation with our mutual friend David. They discussed collaborating on a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) project using exclusively hand cultivation techniques — no machines involved, only bodies and hand tools such as spades, scythes, and pitchforks. However, due to my lack of presence in Ojai  — and my commitment to an additional year of studies — I didn’t expect to contribute to the project, other than as a distant writer. As I went on with my studies, David and Justin’s conversation faded away. They faced a crucial block as well: their lack of land. This pretty much relegated the idea to just that: an idea.

passages about love, borders & self exploration

A still from the closing scenes of Jim Jarmusch's film "Permanent Vacation"

last winter and spring when i lived in manhattan, i read lots of books for school and watched films as a kind of decompression. during this time i compiled a lot of passages i liked; perhaps little snippets i would  integrate into future writings. looking back at them, i see the resonant themes as love, borders, and self-exploration via individual perception…

From Hard Times by Studs Terkel:

My world is been closed. So my observation — even if I was capable — there was a fence around (162). —Noni Saarinen, a Finnish émigré who worked as a maid for 32 years.

It’s very important you learn people as people are. Anybody can go around and write a book about a person, but that book doesn’t always tell you that person really. At that particular moment when you are talkin’ to that person, maybe that’s how the person were. Tomorrow they can be different people. It’s very important to see people as people and not try to see them through a book. Experience and age give you this. There’s an awful lot of people that has outstanding educations, but when it comes down to common sense, especially about people, they really don’t know…” (44-45) —Emma Tiller, a woman who lived in West Texas as a cook during the time that the interview was recorded.

spinning around a theme

sorry i’ve been so aloof with writing here for oh, say, the past half year. however, i seem to have settled upon a theme as of late — the politics of food.  food is the common denominator in most of what i’m involved with these days, not to mention the fact that it’s a necessity for my life to continue.  my writing has fallen behind because i’ve had to immerse myself in an unfamilar body of skills and literature. however, i suppose this is precisely what i want from this life: to be that generalist, starting anew and learning afresh; the dillettante who works horizontally across philosophies, practices, and mediums — even as those specialists are who frequently inspire me the most.

i plan to be sharing more polished writing here in the future, but in the meantime i wanted to share the first two issues of Mano Farm’s CSA newsletter, available in pdf format. i’m going to get together a separate web site for this project; we’re up and running, and it would be nice to have this on our own space, not just my personal blog.anyway, here are the issues:

Mano Farm Newsletter, Issue #1: January 4th, 2010

Mano Farm Newsletter, Issue #1.5: January 11th, 2010

mano farm CSA program

so we’re starting a Community Supported Agriculture program in ojai. what follows is the writeup. we want to get about 4 folks right now, so if you’re around the ojai and want to join, please email me at jadecricket@gmail.com.

Mano Farm CSA program.

Following our first season of stewardship at Mano Farm, we are pleased to announce our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. The CSA essentially operates through members buying a share in our farm in return for a weekly supply of food. We presently offer either monthly or seasonal half or full shares of vegetables, delivered to your house with a biweekly farm newsletter. As our cultivation of the land intensifies, we plan to provide members with medicinal herbs and luscious fruits. The cost of each share goes to cover farm expenses such as seed, water, and irrigation, as well as support the livelihood of the farmers.