This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 15th, 2008 at 11:20am and is filed under Parenting, Local, Organic foods, Ranching, Farming, Agriculture, Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
I was jazzed to see profiles and a photo spread of women farmers in last Sunday’s NY Times Sunday Magazine. According to the piece, even though the number of farms has decreased, there are 80 percent more women farmers today than there were 20 years ago in the United States. In the Northeast alone, women run some 20,000 farms.
And the point of the article (which, BTW, appears in “The Way We Eat” section)? That women “are forging new bonds between field and table, strengthening the connection between things we love to eat and the stewardship that makes them possible.”
How true. Down to Earth blog is part of this.
I must admit, though, that I experienced a moment of indignation when I saw that the piece focused exclusively on farms, and only those in the Northeast. What about the rest of the country? WHAT ABOUT RANCHERS? Sara soooo should have been included! Perhaps she can help fill in some of the holes in the article. Sara, has there been a surge in women ranchers “forging new bonds between [our great plains] and table”?
July 16th, 2008 at 5:04pm
Shucks, Suzanne, you make me blush. I guess we can’t really fault the Sunday NYT for focusing on the Northeast.
Some of the women I most admire in Texas are ranching on their own. Among the most notable are Minnie Lou Bradley, who started one of the first natural Angus beef brands in the country and was the first woman president of the American Angus Association, and Sal Forbes, one of the founders of the Red Angus Association of America.
It is interesting that of the women I know who are the primary drivers for their ranches, many are involved in taking their product all the way to the consumer. Betsy Ross has made grass-fed well-known in my part of the state, and Laura’s Lean is an almost unparalleled success story in beef sales.
I think it is not a surprise that these women-led enterprises are more receptive to, focused on and successful at, meeting the desires of customers. Even more worthy of applause is their ability to strike a balance between the cattle, the environment, the consumer and their families.
Thanks for a great post!
July 24th, 2008 at 1:53pm
Well, I’m pretty shallow. I just loved the pictures — and thought one of them should be of you!!
March 14th, 2009 at 9:21am
Just found your blog after reading the very NYT article you cited. I’m at a place in my life where I need to find myself and do the things that make me happy. Living off the land has always held a romantic allure to it. The reality is that it’s probably more difficult than raising children, working full time and taking care of a husband who’s a heart patient. But if it will get me out of an office and doing what I find fullfilling, I figure I should give it a go. Looking forward to reading your blog.
March 15th, 2009 at 7:48am
Thanks for finding us. Keep reading–we’re moving toward a more ranch-life and personal reflections blog, mixed in with some science and geekiness!