In the Field monthly farm feature
Western New York has a rich agricultural heritage in dairy, field crops, meat, maple, orchards, brewing, winemaking, and more. Families of farmers have tended the land surrounding Buffalo for generations, growing food and beverage staples to feed city dwellers and towns throughout the Great Lakes and along the Erie Canal. But as shoppers have grown accustomed to supermarkets full of foodstuffs without a season or a sense of place, consumers have lost touch with local food, how it’s grown, and the people who work sunup to sundown to produce it.
“In the Field” is a series that tells the story of a different Western New York farm or food producer in the pages of Buffalo Spree Magazine. Each month I visit a different farm and spend a few hours high-stepping over cabbage rows to speak with old-time farmers who don’t stop moving, don a full protective suit to go behind the scenes where cheese is made, and cross my fingers that the pig pasture mud doesn’t steal my rubber boot. From these long, honest conversations come genuine portraits of the faces behind our food system.
My work has appeared in Spree since 2004, covering food, farming, people, and health care.