feminist farming, what does that mean?

(from the original email i sent out months ago, as izzi and i were looking for other folks to work with...) 

BARE BONES FARM POLITICS

we are organized around feminist anti-racist principles, where womyn, transgender, and genderqueer people create a supportive & encouraging core of leadership.  we approach this work with an understanding that our present day experiences have been built on the brutal history that is tied to this land and our ancestors.

through genocide and colonialism, slavery, forced migration, environmental racism, genetic engineering, and the encroachment of technology, we inherit the privileges, struggles, and sorrows of those who have lived and labored before us.  we work in solidarity with others today- to create community, share food, teach & learn skills, dismantle oppression, and live creatively and lovingly, as a resistance to all systems of domination. 

we are organized cooperatively and are committed to working through our struggles together, sharing ownership and empowering one another.  we generate income through selling our vegetables, but instead of capitalism, we structure our principles around cooperation. 

The goal of putting this out there now is to begin creating a working group of those of us who are passionate about food justice, while also recognizing that the creation of this group is belated. Here are some things pulled from the original email, with some questions about HOW to plug in, as farmers:::

kale in november... which we are eating now, as it overwintered.

ORGANIZED AROUND FEMINIST, ANTI-RACIST PRINCIPLES- how does this look on the ground? What ethics are woven through our whole process? Who can we look to in order to learn from? How can the “organization” reflect these major principles? As we are a work-in-progress, what are the goals we are always reaching for?

WOMYN, TRANSGENDER, & GENDERQUEER PEOPLE'S LEADERSHIP- what forms does this leadership take? How are cis-men (individuals who were assigned male-bodied at birth, and who identify as men) accountable, and what is their place in this project? What is our shared analysis around binary gender? What are our individual gifts and limitations?

HISTORY TIED TO THIS LAND & OUR ANCESTORS- who were the original inhabitants of the land that we are now farming on? What has the legacy of farming in the “state of wisconsin” given to people and taken away from people? How do we see ourselves fitting into this history?

GENOCIDE/COLONIALISM- how are we examining the present-day colonialism that continues to perpetuate? How do we see ourselves as “owners” of this project/this farm? how do we mourn the genocide that has happened on this land that we are poised to be stewards of?

SLAVERY- how do we mourn the legacy of slavery that continues to perpetuate in the lives and minds of all people who have inherited this history? How do we link the slavery that continues today- in florida, throughout the planet- to our own privileged consumerism? How can we bridge connections to land & farming for those who have significant historical trauma connected to this?

FORCED MIGRATION- how do we resist the xenophobic, racist discourse on immigration in the u.s.? How can we connect our privileged farming with the large-scale exploitation of farm laborers? How can we continue to build a small-scale farm system and dismantle the large monocropping factory farming (& subsidies) that force the migration of millions of people?

ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM- how can we support access to land and healthy food, especially for people of color in the city with limited opportunities for gardening, and/or limited transportation, time, or nearby grocery stores? Where are madison's food deserts and how can we be part of changing this? How can we help defend the sovereignty of tribal nations in protecting their food & water supplies from contamination, mining, and land speculation?

GENETIC ENGINEERING- how can we educate and inform ourselves and others about the overwhelming threat of biotechnology, and how it is poised to make clean, organic food a thing of the past? How can we resist this perpetuation of economic globalization & colonization? How do we respond to the growing health problems that result from genetic and other toxic food-engineering?

ENCROACHMENT OF TECHNOLOGY- how can we continue to perpetuate our bare bones, low-tech approach, as we build and grow? How can we involve & inform without exclusive reliance on technology? How can we utilize the bullhorn of technology to promote food justice?

WORK IN SOLIDARITY- what is your definition of solidarity and how does this look to all of us who share privileged identities? What does it mean to have “solidarity not charity”, especially when working with folks who are not farmers? How can we approach collectively working together from a place of trust, and a sense of doing something that we each could not accomplish on our own?

CREATE COMMUNITY- how do we work to make connections both within and outside of our comfort zones? How can we prioritize “showing up” for our community? How can we elevate the emotional, holistic needs of one another in order to create a community that can sustain itself beyond our inevitable internal struggles?

SHARE FOOD- how can we centralize our common wealth of food, and move from a place of abundance, not scarcity? How can we teach cooking skills, preservation, appreciation of food? How do we see the food we eat as part of our cultures? How can we encourage that connection, of sharing cultural exchanges while sharing food?

TEACH & LEARN SKILLS- how can we be patient and willing to share the knowledge and skills that we each possess? How can we be determined and committed to learn the skills and knowledge that we lack? How can we recognize that our learning/skill-sets are holistic, not simply those of farming & the growing of food? How can we honor and recognize “hidden” skills & knowledge, seeing them as crucial to this farm?

DISMANTLE OPPRESSION- how are we attentive to “safe space” that oppressed people need? How are we looking within- at our own senses of entitlement, privilege, ignorance, & self-righteousness- to be accountable for ourselves? How do we individually take responsibility for these attitudes & inherited mentalities, and not force other people to police our behaviors? How can we be patient and loving with one another as we are each learning?

LIVE CREATIVELY & LOVINGLY- how can we each see the farm as a playground for building our dreams upon? How can we be patient & tend to the basic needs of the early stages of the process without becoming jaded or bogged down by it? How can we incorporate creativity into our problem-solving and our frameworks? How can we maintain laughter and loving concern for one another?

SHARING OWNERSHIP/ORGANIZED COOPERATIVELY- how do we make room for everyone's voices, especially when there are so many of us? How can we strike a balance (or is it the tension that our connection rests upon?) between autonomy and cooperation? How can we support each other in taking the lead in certain areas, when it means that we then individually have to let go & trust? How can we step up and lead with confidence, especially for those of us who tend to accommodate? how can we step back and allow others room to have their voices heard and prioritized, especially for those of us who tend to take the lead?  How do we let go of aspects of our individual visions in order to craft a collective vision that we each feel a strong connection with?

EMPOWERING ONE ANOTHER- how do we foster respect between ourselves, so that this shared encouragement and trust can get bigger & bigger? How do we understand our own boundaries and needs, and speak to them with confidence? How can we work to respect each other's boundaries and help one another build analysis, intentionality, and a deeper connection with our selves?