I’ll admit that I get nostalgic when I think about and visit my family’s farm. [I’m not old enough to remember how the sheep kept the hillsides manicured. I’m just barely old enough to remember exploring the hay loft in the red barn before time and storms brought it down.]
And I realize that fewer people are growing their own food…that family farms are endangered.
But God help us if the family farm becomes a complete novelty. There’s nothing novel about feeding a community or a country.
So I get a little irritated when I see headlines like “Family business turns back clock for visitors.” Those stories wreak of condescension.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for agritourism. Promoting family farm history is a great way to connect the public to their food supply…to raise awareness about the fragility of our environment and the need to preserve resources, including well-managed, sustainable farming operations.
But focusing on tired old stereotypes of rural farm life seems counterproductive and a bit disingenuous, especially when I know how much my family values high-speed DSL.
To me the story buried in the Louisville paper is about how the Bleemel family has managed to keep their 191-year-old Slow Poke farm afloat, while surrounding properties are being swallowed up by development.
They’ve turned to hospitality and farm tours to keep the community engaged and their land intact.
Virtual Farmgirl 