Susan Kallander: Artist: Blissfully unaware

Perhaps that's an unfair title. One's sphere of awareness usually revolves around work, play, family and not necessarily in that order. Unless you have a farm, know personally a farmer you may be unaware of the fine line a farmer walks regarding his very survival. You go to the store, you buy apples in a bag. You take them home and wash them and see that one has a spot on the skin. OMG. Unfit for human consumption?
Some people are like that. They want perfection and wholesomeness. If that's about what your expectations are you might consider rethinking the importance of this in the scheme of things. This Spring a local farmer had a problem with a particular crop that had a dent in each, lets say, cucumber. He had to throw the whole crop out because he knew it wouldn't be accepted by the public. That is incredibly sad. It was perfect fit for consumption. Expectations have been set high by the media and ordinary is nearly unacceptable. For perfection to happen the farmer would have to toss most of the apples out. The plight of the Massachusetts farmer this June and July is hanging on by the grace of God and wits. We have been in a drought for two months and the pastures and fields are dried up with no hope of a second cutting of hay never mind a third. Dairy and beef farmers are selling off their herds and closing up shop because they have had to spend the money that gets them through the winter, buying hay to feed the cattle this summer.

A parched field

Farm ponds are low and any irrigation done is on the money crops like corn and tomatoes. Some farmers who offered CSA have had to reduce the variety in the weekly box or even give up if they haven't a way to irrigate, The tree fruit crops were kaput from the late frost which occurred after the buds had formed. New England farmers don't have a cushion to get them through a weather calamity and the government or their insurance doesn't pay anything near what the crop was worth. It is hardly worth the effort to fill out the ridiculous number of pages to put in a claim. These farmers are not like the Midwest's huge expansive farms measured in square miles. On the farm where I live we got 1/4" of rain the other day. I was great but not enough. The potatoes and onions are small size. Maybe if we get more rain they will grow.
The best thing you can do to help farmers is to buy locally grown vegetables, meat, and dairy even if it is from a supermarket that buys local produce and they will proudly advertise that. So when you look for produce, don't be so picky if it is just a surface blemish. Could you pass that test?
One more thought. Scientists are thinking about combining human cells with animal cells for the purpose, they say, to cure diseases. Imagine the odd creatures they could come up with? If you are a person that doesn't like the idea of GMO vegetables, you can't very well like the human/animal combos. Same thing. Right. This playing around with human life experimentation has been done before during the Nazi Regime and also in America on poor people in the 1920s forward until about the 50s. We viewed that with revulsion. What has changed?
Here are some pictures