2017-11-17
Hand or Machine?
After reading Deeply Rooted by Lisa Hamilton in class for the past few weeks, we have experienced a few different styles of farming and the struggles farmers go through to stay afloat in the world of essentially, “go big or go home.” After touching upon a new section of our book during this week’s reading we have been introduced to the Podolls located in LaMoure North Dakota. Currently left running the family farm are two brothers, Dan and David, and their wives. It’s clear that this family takes pride in their work, and goes about things a little differently than other folks in town. Referencing back to The Grapes of Wrath, where the man has no connection to the land, David Podoll brings up an extremely similar explanation pointing out the same truth. On page 235 it says, “When we went from the hoe to the diesel engine. Ever since then we’ve been on a power trip, and I think it’s been really bad for the land- it’s been bad for a lot of things.” What David means by this is the connection of the farmer and the land has been broken when you add mechanics between the farmer and the earth his equipment travels over. When things were done by hand, such care was given to the earth, however now thousands of pounds travel over the land, crushing it and tearing it up rather than softly turning it over. By David have a family garden and a business in the grain industry; he receives the best of both worlds. In his garden he works on his hands and knees tending to the soil and cautiously watching each crop. By doing so the families have a successful harvest and are able to provide for their family without going outside of the farm. In envy of many others they don’t sell what the garden grows but instead they give the extra away as a gift from the land. On the other hand the tractor is also a vital tool to their harvest of grain and without it they wouldn’t have an income. It is nice to see the values this family has and their understanding of what the earth truly needs. Unlike the farmer not connected to the land, this family has instilled values of what the land needs in order to benefit from it fully.
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I agree with what you're saying. Before taking this class, I never thought twice about making a "connection" to land, let alone appreciating when someone else does. It is refreshing to see someone practicing that in real life as there job and just in general.
ReplyDeleteI definitely think that the use of machines in farming has lead to disconnect between farmers and their land. Farmers are still more connected to their land then probably anyone else. However, their connection comes from the hard work and time spent working with their land. When they do hands on work it is much more meaningful. In this day and age meaningful is not what people want. They want results so they create things to do it for them which creates this disconnect because now it is the machine doing the work and you just controll the machine. I don't think it will ever go back to the same level of connection farmers had before the creation of machines.
ReplyDeleteEven if farmers that own a small farm wanted to do things more by hand, it would be nearly impossible because of the large farms with a lot of machinery that they have to compete with. I agree with you that having a family garden is a great way to stay connected with the land.
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