Intersections of history and gardening in the era of COVID-19
Ernest Keith is in his 80s, but he still tends a big garden every year and gives the produce to his neighbors. In the film Sharecrop he said “I always was a person who loved to give…there’s a joy in giving.” Photo by Claudia Stack do not use without permission
Being sequestered at home during the COVID-19 pandemic has many people thinking about self-sufficiency. In my article “Grow Some Food: It will make you feel better”, I presented a few easy ways you can nourish your body and calm your mind by producing some of your own food.
When I think about producing food, it brings to mind the stories I heard while doing oral history interviews for my documentaries about historic African American schools and rural life. Hearing these stories made me realize that some of the approaches used in today’s self-sufficiency movement are really techniques that small farmers used since time immemorial.
A handbook issued in North Carolina during WWII to encourage families to garden photo by Claudia Stack do not use without permission
Flip through any magazine about sustainable agriculture or self-sufficiency, and you’ll find techniques that echo the wisdom of prior generations. From composting to co-grazing, these approaches are really about relationships, whether with the land, livestock or neighbors. As a teacher and filmmaker, I have a deep interest in these echoes of the rural past. On our modest (14 acre) farm in North Carolina we garden, keep chickens, and have small herd of beef cattle.
My interest in historic African American schools built during the segregation era inspired me to learn more about what life was like in the communities that built those schools, as well as the broader socioeconomic context. That research led in turn to my film Sharecrop . The Sharecrop film highlights oral history from ten people who sharecropped between 1930 and 1960. In the process of making the film, I saw my interest in current sustainable agriculture converge with recollections of these former sharecroppers, most of whom raised almost all of their own food. Here are some of the intersections:
Photo credit: NC Archives
Birds follow grazing animals
Like most people, I learned as a grade school student how soil forms (organic matter in the form of decaying plants, animals and manure mixes with weathered rock). However, I was still amazed to witness this phenomenon: Put cattle on your pasture and the birds will come. Birds really do follow grazing animals, playing a critical role in creating fertile soil by scratching apart manure and eating parasites. On our farm pretty white Cattle Egrets appeared as if by magic within a few weeks of when we brought cattle to the farm. Just as the former sharecroppers I interviewed used to do, we let our chickens out to range during the day as they also love to scratch behind the cattle.
Every living thing on the farm has to earn its keep
Sharecroppers didn’t have the luxury of keeping pets; every animal on the farm had to do something to earn its keep. It’s hard to believe, but even a barn cat lazing in the sun does an important job. He prowls for rodents that would spoil feed and ruin produce in the garden if their populations are allowed to grow unchecked. Dogs alert us to visitors and scare away foxes. The chickens convert pasture and discarded vegetables into nutritious eggs. As for the humans who reside on the farm? We are decision-makers who benefit from what is produced, but also servants kept humble by the rhythms of caring for livestock in all kinds of weather, day in and day out.
Photo by Claudia Stack do not use without permission
Necessity really is the mother of invention
While all of the former sharecroppers I interviewed gardened while growing up, their families saved costly synthetic fertilizers and pesticides for the “cash crops” (cotton or tobacco). They found other ways to add nutrients to their garden soil and keep pest damage down. One man, now age 86, recalled that in the autumn his father would put a deep bed of straw in the stable and have the mules and cows take shelter there all winter. By spring the straw would be rotten and full of manure. Following the time-honored practice of using compost they shoveled this mix onto their garden patch before planting. Another man who is in his 70s says his family would hand pick all of the bugs and hornworms off of their tomato plants rather than use pesticides. These practices are certainly in accord with the priorities of people who run small sustainable farms today.
Backyard harvest. Photo by Claudia Stack do not use without permission
Eating local can mean eating from your backyard
Environmentally conscious consumers often consider the concept of “food miles” (the impact of how many miles our food is shipped) when making food choices. Sharecroppers and today’s gardeners and farmers know that eating local can mean gathering food just steps from the house. A half hour spent harvesting on a day in June might yield blueberries, tomatoes and fresh eggs.
Heirloom vegetable varieties offer unique benefits
That certain plant varieties are uniquely suited to certain areas or uses is an idea as old as agriculture itself, but in recent decades there has been a steep decline in the number of vegetable varieties commonly available. Precise numbers are hard to come by, but a 1983 study by the Rural Advancement Foundation International documented that 93% of the plant varieties commercially available in 1903 are now extinct. Sharecroppers knew the value of saving seeds from their best plants and using vegetable varieties well suited for their area, and today there is a resurgence of interest in heirloom vegetables.
Dr. Richard T. Newkirk explains to film narrator Trinity Washington in Sharecrop that during his youth neighbors helped each other to harvest tobacco, their main cash crop, while also raising food for home use
Neighbors help each other
Being a real neighbor means more than just living nearby. Real neighbors band together to accomplish things that a single family cannot. They also share surpluses and help each other in a crisis. Small farmers, whether sharecroppers or landowners, used to help each other at harvest season and during house raisings. It was also common for neighbors to share their surpluses, something I now also do because I was inspired by my older friends. Neighbors visit each other and help in times of natural disaster, illness, and when there is death in a family.
Even though 80% of the U.S. population now resides in urban areas, neighborly traditions are still embraced by many North Carolina residents. When we care for each other we are being true to the most important values of our ancestors, regardless of where we live.