The New York Times continues its love affair with small farms and the slow food movement. Field Report: Plow Shares covers crop mobs, which are:
"a monthly word-of-mouth (and -Web) event in which landless farmers and the agricurious descend on a farm for an afternoon..."
The article covers a crop mob of 50 that recently descended on the Okfuskee Farm in North Carolina to help with a wide variety of chores. The lure is both farming and the opportunity to meet and commune with others who are agricurious. Key quote from the article:
"The more tedious the work we have, the better,” Jones said, smiling. “Because part of Crop Mob is about community and camaraderie, you find there’s nothing like picking rocks out of fields to bring people together."
Alert readers will remember I grew up in a small farm town in Kansas. Oddly enough, we never considered picking rocks out of fields entertaining.
It's a fun article that highlights a number of trends we are following -small farms, slow food, new localism and the growing interest in sustainable products.