For those who didn’t know, for the last year I’ve been working on a book of interviews with activist farmers all over the country (see the list below for a sense of the diverse and amazing places and people we visited). And today we turned in the manuscript to our publisher, Chronicle books. So its not quite finished, but the whole first phase is complete. One year ago when my co-author Amy Franceschini were brainstorming about how to do this, why to do this and what we wanted to focus on it was very hard to imagine the 60,000 word manuscript of twenty interviews and hundreds of photos (by our amazing collaborator and photographer Anne Hamersky) that we turned in today.
So thanks to everyone for support and for dealing with my absence from many other important collaborations and for listening to me talk through this whole process. I think in a year or so when it comes out, its really going to be a very special and unique document. Let’s hope others think that too so they can learn about these 20 amazing farmers and groups.
The juicy details:
Farm Together Now (Working Title)
By Amy Franceschini and Daniel Tucker, Photography by Anne Hamersky
To be published by Chronicle Books in late 2010.
We want to change the way the food system works! Agricultlore meets with people
across the country who are challenging the conventions of industrialized farming and exclusive green economies.
This part-travelogue, part-oral history, part-creative exploration of food politics will introduce readers to twenty groups working in agriculture and sustainable food production in the U.S. Throughout 2009 the authors visited twenty farms from coast to coast, talking to farmers about their engagement in sustainable food production, public policy and community organizing efforts. Interviews and photo essays with each farm/garden/project will illustrate the inspiring histories, unique characters and everyday struggles of life on these farms. The colorfully illustrated book will be introduced with a historical account of farming, an introduction by a guest author, and will be accompanied by a supplementary website. It is through sharing diverse voices from the contemporary farm that this book will inspire and cultivate a new wave of agrarians. Half of the author’s profits will be put into a fund to encourage like-minded documentary projects.
farmtogethernow.org
The Farms:
City Slickers (Oakland, CA); Freewheeling Farms (Santa Cruz, CA); South Central Farmers Feeding Families (LA, CA); Tryon Farm (Portland, OR); Native Seeds (Patagonia, AZ); Acequia Institute (San Luis, CO); Georgia Citizens Coalition on Hunger (Atlanta, GA); Mountain Garden (Burnsville, NC); Jim Knopik (Fullerton, NE); Sandhill Farm (Northeast, MO); AquaRanch (Flanagan, IL); Angelic Organics Learning Center (Caledonia, Rockford and Chicago, IL); Joel Greeno (Kendall, WI); Hidden Haven/On The Fly Farms, Foxglove and God’s Gang (Union Pier, MI and Chicago, IL); Participation Park (Baltimore, MD); Anarchy Apiaries (Hudson Valley, NY); Wild Hive Farms (Clinton Corners, NY); Nuestras Raices (Holyoke, MA); and Diggers’ Mirth Collective Farm (Burlington, VT).
Daniel Tucker 