Trip stirs worries that generations may lose sight of farming

I send you this letter from my sojourn to the rolling wooded hills of western Pennsylvania. What a beautiful time of year to travel west on Route 2 to Vermont and along secondary state highways through New York and Pennsylvania. We drove along, not in a hurry, but not dawdling, either.

We passed through some gorgeous country on our way to the Keystone State. Through the beautiful White, Green, Adirondack and Allegheny mountains. Through areas steeped in the rich history of our nation. Through impossibly rugged mountains one wouldn’t want to brave in winter and past perfect lakeside marshes that must be exquisite at any time of year.

Along our drive, I believe we saw some of the most beautiful land this country has to offer. We drove through miles and miles of open farmland, passed thousands of grazing cows, acres and acres of corn stubble and fields cropped with winter cover. We drove on and on, soaking in beauty that increased at every bend in the road.

The most breathtaking vistas along the way shared one common element: family farms. The natural beauty of the landscape – of the mountains, the sky, the tidy mounded treetops spread across the land – was wonderful, yet somehow seeing neat farms tucked in along the way is what made the landscape perfectly beautiful. The farms provided a testimony not only to humankind’s ability to manipulate the harshest elements nature has to offer but, more importantly, to our ability to practice stewardship.

As gardeners, we provide for others an important connection to farming. Less than 2 percent of our population produces food and fiber on a commercial (farming) level. More than 98 percent of our population consumes what the 2 percent produces. This lopsided statistic is testimony to the importance of gardening: Even if we are not commercial producers, we benefit from a firsthand knowledge of how to raise our own food. Gardening connects us directly to what we eat, to the difficulties nature imposes upon us and, ultimately, to a better understanding of nature and our place in it.

This said, I saw some rather disturbing things along the way, too, things that naturally happen as the use of land moves from production to consumption. We saw concrete results of what happens when farmland faces development pressure from encroaching urban sprawl.

We passed farms converted to country clubs and golf courses. These places were tidy and at least bore some remnants of the family farm that made the place distinguishable as former farmland. Rolling fields converted to finely clipped greens, farm ponds converted to water embellishments, farmhouses converted to swanky clubhouses.

Worse, though, we viewed dozens of places with names such as “Oak Ridge Gardens” and “Highland Farms.” These places were neither gardens nor farms. They were housing developments.

As one wise woman I know says sadly, “Houses are the final crop.”

People need places to live, and I won’t comment more about the consumption of farmland for housing. I do want to share with you, however, a horrifying thought that occurred to me as I drove passed one of these “gardens.”

I thought, “Do my children know what a cooper is?” Certainly not, because we have no need in our modern lives for barrel making or repair. My children do know what a gardener and a farmer are, however. But generations down the road, will children know? We’ll always have a need for food, but will it be grown on our own soil?

Generations ahead, will children look at a real garden and say, “Is THAT what a garden is? I thought it was one of those places where houses grew.”

This may seem absurd to us, but I’m sure a cooper would feel differently.

What’s the solution to this foreseeable dilemma? I’m not sure I know. I am certain, however, that replacing the video game joystick with a trowel or hoe may go a long way in teaching our children self-discovery and self-reliance. Too, gardening inherently teaches an important connection to the past, a sense of optimism and hope for the future.

Diana George Chapin is the NEWS garden columnist. Send horticulture questions to Gardening Questions, 512 North Ridge Road, Montville 04941, or e-mail them to dianagc@midcoast.com. Selected questions will be answered in future columns. Include name, address and telephone number.