connecting to the land: shanelle donaldson
An excerpt with unpublished images from a feature about The Female Farmer Project, originally published in Seattle Magazine by Cynthia Nims
Read MoreAn excerpt with unpublished images from a feature about The Female Farmer Project, originally published in Seattle Magazine by Cynthia Nims
Read MoreAn excerpt from our feature about female farmers in the Baja Arizona Region, originally published in Edible Baja Arizona
Read MoreArizona has the highest proportion of female farmers – but conditions in this dry desert landscape aren’t easy, and rural isolation has created a tapestry of challenges
Read MoreEveryone seems to understand that farmers are underpaid, but many people don't seem to understand the significance of that. We are tremendously underpaid for the amount of work we do, and for what we produce.
Read More“It is a great livelihood and career. But it makes you feel everything. In the last year I have been so happy, just to be so disappointed. I’ve worried how I will pay my bills. I have also been excited for growth, I have seen my new ideas come to life. I guess I am just proud to see my hard work and ideas turn into something.”
Read MoreI wish people understood that no flower, plant, vegetable, or human being is perfect. Everything in life is imperfectly perfect.
Read MoreSometimes they ask me, “Are we giving the garden a haircut today?” Or, my favorite, “Can we grow french fries?” And my answer is, always, “Actually, yes, we can grow french fries.
Read More"With great freedom comes great responsibility." -this lifestyle is phenomenal...but it is not quite as simple as a the beautiful pictures you see on social media. It is great to be my own boss - and work with my family every day but it is not all beautiful scenes. It is far more stressful and complex than that.
Read More"I feel incredibly lucky - privileged - to be able to farm. Like a number of new farmers, I come from a family that expected me to be a doctor, lawyer, academic, etc"
Read More"I have to be very patient and tolerant with all our clients that don’t understand that you can not force nature to give you strawberries in winter, or that are mad at us because the winter veggies popped into flowers with this hot spring."
Read More"Farming is far more nuanced than most people know or look into. We like soundbites and labels. Even the word “organic” can carry a thousand different stories with it. Our approach to food incredibly shallow. In large part, the reason I stuck to urban farming as a career path is because farming right in the public gaze was the best way to share a complete story."
Read MoreDuring my discretionary time, my work is concentrated on implementing the Farm Bill, answering the question: who will be farming next? And helping lift up and connect our women in agriculture.
Read MoreRona Uitentuis is a young woman who at only 31 is making a name for herself in the Netherlands as a dairy farmer, cheese maker and farm policy advocate.
Read MoreTwo women farmers are doing something remarkable in East Hampton - growing wheat.
Read MoreLike many other young and new farmers, land ownership is a financial barrier of entry that could potentially have Rand hanging up her tractor keys and changing careers.
Read More"It’s still a man’s world. I’ve been farming as a profession for 25 years, and it took a long time before men took me seriously."
Read More"The work and energy input required to grow food is chronically underestimated. Farming is and always will be hard and teaching the work ethic that is required to make a farm successful in not valued in our culture."
Read MoreJóhanna Bergmann Þorvaldsdóttir, a former nurse, has singlehandedly saved the Icelandic Goat Breed.
Read MoreIt’s a life that she approaches each day with as much careful thought, passion and energy as she did Capitol Hill days, but now her ideas and ideals will change the world from the ground up.
Read MoreLynn has created an artisan livelihood built on the seasons--one she calls worth working hard for.
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