Building and Conserving Communities By “Passing on the Gift”

“A community economy is not an economy in which well-placed persons can make a ‘killing’. It is an economy whose aim is generosity and a well-distributed and safeguarded abundance.” – Wendell Berry

Agribusiness continues to sweep across the country with its tenets of efficiency, specialization, technology and concentration. Many believe this dominance is at the expense of family farms and the values embedded in the rural community’s practice of agriculture. As a consequence rural communities are losing their ecological health, cohesiveness, and cooperative nature.

The “culture” in agriculture is difficult to define, as it requires an intentional consciousness of the intangible. What does it mean to have a sense of place and a relationship to the land? What value do we place on sharing stories, and passing on agricultural knowledge and skills from one generation to the next? What value do we place on knowing there is a community safety net as opposed to an institutional one? Who knows best what a community needs? What value is there in knowing deep down that you can count on your neighbour to help you out at a difficult time, or equally as important, when the hay needs to be brought in before the next rain? How do we make the invisible visible?

Community is about feeling part of something larger then yourself, the old adages that “one plus one makes three”, and that, “the more you give to the community the more you are likely to get back”, are truths with a long history.

During economically stressful times we often respond by withdrawing from community, although this is precisely the time when we need to reach out. Many of us have benefited from the generosity of family, friends and the larger group through service clubs, church and other active organizations.

Many of us also reach out to folks in the community with acts of generosity without really thinking of the overall benefit to the community. Let us be clear – the act of giving and receiving are precious to the full functioning of a healthy community. No community can consider itself successful without a measure of the informal, often-invisible benefit of sharing and caring for all within the community.

How then can we counter the industrial system of agribusiness with its economies of scale, absentee decision makers and continued erosion of fair value for food grown by farmers? How do we strengthen our relationships to the land, to food, and to each other?

Well, we at NFU Local 316 have reached out into a worldwide community of ordinary folks who have the capacity to share some of their earnings with our community, in the hopes of helping us, to build a just and sustainable local food system – to help us rebuild a system that adequately reimburses farmers for their knowledge, skill and labour. Heifer’s gift has given us the capacity to help ourselves strengthen relationships – a key to economic sustainability.

Heifer International, our funding partner, has developed a set of essential principles called the Cornerstones for Just and Sustainable Development, two of which are: (1) Passing on the Gift, and (2) Sharing and Caring. These two principles have been the backbone for literally hundreds of projects initiated around the globe. All organizations and farmer groups who receive funding from Heifer are screened, monitored and evaluated according to these principles (for more details on the other ten principles see link to the Heifer International website).

Since 1944 Heifer International has helped 7 million families improve their health, nutrition, education and income throughgifts, usually in the form of livestock appropriate to the region, and husbandry training. Since the beginning, Heifer project partners have been required to pass on their gift animals’ offspring to another farm family, or the equivalent in training and other resources.

My “Passing On The Gift” Story
In 2007, Heifer International provided Windkeeper Sanctuary, Wolfe Island, with funding to purchase a walking hoe, stirrup hoe, drip-line irrigation, and plastic covering for a 16′x 36′ hoop greenhouse. This gift was most welcome as we were in the first year of our Incubator Farm Program and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), Vegetables Unplugged. More than the funding was the gratitude we felt for Colleen Ross’ support and encouragement for what we were doing – starting something from scratch with little experience. She walked around the farm with us offering advice on crops, weed management, compost, and equipment. She stayed for a cup of tea, talked of her own farm operation and left us with the knowledge that we could call on her at anytime for advice.

My gift in return was to organize an event in the spring of 2007 known as a Seedy Saturday. Every mailbox on the island received an invitation to come out and share, swap and purchase garden seed, share seedlings and knowledge. I shared seed, tomato plants and tree seedlings with community members. Guest speakers presented talks on organic gardening, seed saving and Women and Seed Banks in India. Well over 100 people enjoyed the day including a lunch prepared by a St. Lawrence College student in the Culinary Arts Program. Amongst the exhibitors was the local historical society, the Unitarian Service Committee and the Society for Conservation Biology.

Cheers and best wishes to all involved in this exciting farm community project,

Katherine Rothermel, Wolfe Island