Voyeuristic Farming

When I was a kid, my dad always had a vegetable garden. He’d grow corn and tomatoes and cucumbers and a bunch of other stuff I can’t even remember. My mom used to “can” the vegetables. (I never understood why it was called “canning” because she always put the food in sterilized glass jars?) We had a “cold cellar” – a shelved space between the storm door and the inner door in our basement – where my mom would line up neat jars of beets and beans and her prize winning bread and butter pickles – just opposite my dad’s collection of wine.

But the guy across the street, Mr. Dean – he was a REAL farmer. Or at least I thought of him as such. He had multiple terraced levels in his garden and a power rototiller! Even though my dad’s rows were just as straight, somehow Mr. Dean’s garden was always more impressive to me. He used REAL cow manure. He had rhubarb and sprawling zucchini plants. I was much more willing to help him turn soil or pull weeds than to help my own dad. Somehow watching that garden grow across the street was much more fun!

I grew up in the Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts. This was the land of huge shade tobacco crops, cucumber and potato farms, and “Hadley Grass” – the world’s finest asparagus. We could buy fresh asparagus from any number of roadside stands and vendors. High school kids made summer money working the fields. But the most thrilling hunt was watching for the wild asparagus on the side of Spring Street – the road we travelled daily to school or town. We’d go by in my mom’s orange AMC Gremlin and slow down to try to spy the young shoots coming up through the weeds and grass. We’d finally spot some and then we’d pounce before anyone else could get them!

I’ve tried my hand at small gardens over the years and my wife does a fine job with our little vegetable plot – when the deer and rabbits don’t eat her plants. But somehow, other people’s gardens are still better. This year, we’ve bought a “Share” of the local CSA farm called Square 1. Like other CSAs, they’ve sold portions of their production for the year and will deliver a box of whatever is ready to pick each week.

Square 1’s deliveries won’t start until June but I’m already starting to get my money’s worth. Not only do they publish a newsletter with updates on the progress of their crops, but they have a Facebook page with pictures! I can see regular photographic documentation of my summer dinner plate taking form. Seedlings, tractors, irrigations systems… I’ve already begun to gain weight!

And the things is, though I’m a participant in a community sponsored farm right here in my home town, helping to support “healthy food, healthy land, and a healthy local community”, I don’t even have to get my hands dirty! I get to enjoy the planting season through pictures. I just sit back and watch and wait for my box of veggies to show up. And their tractor is way cooler than Mr. Dean’s rototiller! I love being a farmer.