Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - OT: Hipster Fad Alert: Farming

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/16/fashion/16farmer.html



THEIR Carhartts are no longer ironic. Now they have real dirt on them.

Until three years ago, Benjamin Shute was living in Williamsburg, where he kept Brooklyn Lager in his refrigerator and played darts in a league.

Raised on the Upper East Side by a father who is a foundation executive and a mother who writes about criminal justice, Mr. Shute graduated from Amherst and worked for an antihunger charity. But something nagged at him. To learn about food production, he had volunteered at a farm in Massachusetts. He liked the dirt, the work and the coaxing of land long fallow into producing eggplant and garlic.

Off topic much?

There's a shortage of both food and young farmers therefore more of the above can only be a good thing. Especially if they're beef, ostrich and chicken farmers.....damn, now I could kill for an ostrich steak.

Which leads me to - How does being young and bored ****less with the 9-5 grind of, at times, very grim city life and willing to do almost anthing to GTFO make you a hipster?

I've been living on a farm all my life. Thats makes it even more irritating

There is no shortage of vegetables or beef in the US. Actually we have so many god damned corn fed factory farmed cows that they are screwing up our land and economy. We have such an excess supply of vegetables that the cost of the vegetables is less than the production cost so we have to subsidize the farmers overproduction.

Farming is cool. I have a "mini farm" in my yard. I never thought that would score me hipster points.

farming has always been in

"hipster fad" or "emerging social movement" or both



now if he could only attach a plow to his pista concept...

Urban farming is old news son.

i saw this in the "style and fashion" section of nytimes.com.

that should tell you something.

It tells me you read the Style and Fashion section of the New York Times.

if cow**** on your carhatts makes you cool, then i am the coolest. i don't know if you can call yourself hardcore until you have been elbow deep in a cow doing a pregnancy test.

I'm taking a class over the summer that teaches you basically how to live off the land using sustainable practices in a hands on farmlike setting outside of Athens. It knocks out one of my requirements for school and you get to keep as much of what we produce as a class so I get free food.

I'm doing my graduate thesis on the farm press' representation of organic agriculture from 1985-2004, AND I can lay down some wicked skidz.

Out close to Marietta, Ohio, my family has a 300 acre farm that I go to with some regularity. I bring my 'cross bike to take out on the pretty awesome course that I've run through the fields, past the oil derrick, and through some streams. But that's only after I do the chores, of course.

meh, I grew up on a farm raising beef cattle and chickens.

Sombody needs to update that Hipster Bingo card again.

Let him have his farming--
I'd rather live in the city and work in
an office. I grew up working on
ranches in Northern California
and Nevada. Working cattle, putting
up hay. If some privileged ivy league
kid wants to try to get some cred
by farming let him get sunburned
and screw up his back--I'll look
out from my corner office. With
any luck there will be enough hipsters
to grow enough organic food for me
to scarf up. My hourly billing rate is more
than they see in a day.

I say more power to them. Even better if they enjoy it. I on the other hand hated being up at 4 and not having any days off.

Agreed. Farming is like messengering, maybe fun for a while when you're young and durable, but making a life out of it is a different matter.

I am not sure why this bothers people.

should i not plant my veggie garden this year now?

Is it too popular to grow my own fresh veggies!!@!(#&*$^*!&@



PS - Chicks dig guys(no pun intended) that are handy out side, such as gardening.



...

I am not sure why this bothers people.

It is just odd that it is newsworthy. Hippies have been abandoning
urban jobs to grow their own food and runs farms since the sixties.
The successful ones sell us vegetables the others fail. Indigenous
people have been growing their own food for millenia. When some
****** comes along and decides to slum it with dirt under his fingernails
it is somehow novel and exciting. "A hipster grew this heirloom
lettuce, therefore I'll pay $40 for a wedge of it with a drop of olive
oil at Chez Panisse!" The New York times finds it fascinating
when rich eastern kids abandon the trappings of their urban life
to do things other people do quietly all the time.

I am not sure why this bothers people.

"The Billyburg scene has changed, said Annaliese Griffin, who contributes to a blog called Grocery Guy. “Having a cool cheese in your fridge has taken the place of knowing what the cool band is, or even of playing in that band,” she said. “Our rock stars are ricotta makers.”"

If by "bothers," you mean, "caused me to laugh so hard I almost snarfed my utterly uncool, sub-$8-a-pound coffee," you nailed it. But seriously, it bothers me because some people can find a way to make anything suck by making it snobby and exclusive rather than fun and inclusive. It's the same thing that anti-conversion snobbery does to biking and silly clothing and hairstyles do to hanging out.

The thing with making a living off of the land, is that you've got to either build-up a farming operation of thousands of acres, play the subsidy and land rental game, and pray that the staples market doesn't collapse on you, OR buy 150 acres, and get into some small niche market and affiliated with a CSA program, grow/produce something that doesn't require a lot of non-family (i.e. paid) labor, and pray that your organic produce doesn't get an aphid infestation. Oh, and this should go without saying, but write-off your weekends from February to November – those urbanites love their farmer's markets and pay handsomely for beets just hours out of the ground.

There's a reason why most farmers work off the farm in some capacity – growing **** quite often doesn't pay ****.

But seriously, it bothers me because some people can find a way to make anything suck by making it snobby and exclusive rather than fun and inclusive.

exactly. Look at what they hippies/gourmands did to Santa Fe and southwestern cuisine--

step 1) appropriate provincial foods and production

step 2) reduce the portions and garnish with crappy oddities

step 3) collect cash

Maybe I should start buying small parcels of land
so I can force hipsters into impoverished tenant
farming--hell I'll charge them for the privilege.

I guess you can find something to be upset about in anything if you want to, but if farming eclipses messengering in the esteem accorded to them I would consider it a positive development. There is always something to find silly in any trend, but if it gets more people doing something I approve of on balance I am all for it.

Ive been doing a lot of things that people found to be geeky for years, the funny thing is some of the things Ive been doing for years became very popular at one time or another then when every one thought that it was "so yesterday" it went out with last weeks garbage, and here I am still doing and enjoying it. :) In other words, Who gives a flying **** what the "cool kids" think is the "in thing"? Do what you like when ever you like and **** who ever does or doesnt like it. :)

It's not the farming part I have a problem with, it's the Williamsburg elitist foodie BS.

I guess you can find something to be upset about in anything if you want to, but if farming eclipses messengering in the esteem accorded to them I would consider it a positive development. There is always something to find silly in any trend, but if it gets more people doing something I approve of on balance I am all for it.

farmers may do more practically speaking but messengers will always have
bigger balls. any idiot can take daddy's trust fund money and use it
to buy out some poor farmer. not everyone can split lanes
and dodge cars successfully.

But I agree that if people grow quality food that real people can afford
this is a good thing. I am not trying to start the whole "sustainable food costs
more" I know it does and I pony up for organic produce myself. I just don't like
wanky kids that get cachet for stuff other people have been quietly doing better
for years. What I'd like to see is an equitable system where the people that come
here from Latin America and work their ass off on factory farms can eat organic produce not just
foodies that stop by at the Co-Op in between their corporate job and their appointment
with their shrink.

i help out at an organic farm here in dominica.. since i am not allowed to work while i am here i decided to volunteer at as many places as i can to take up some of my free time..

besides the farm i also volunteer at a horse ranch brushing/feeding/washing/exercising the cute horses.. i also pick up all the trash everywhere and make yummy vegan food for the super busy med students who dont have time to cook..

a bonus is i get paid in fresh veggies/fruit/herbs/spices for helping at the farm.. i got some wicked vegan yellow thai curry paste from helping on thursday.. all fresh, organic, hand picked, still warm from the sun ingredients..

oh yeah and another bonus is that now i have like 2 friends here :D.. i am lonely.. its sad when my only friends here are my parents age...

Maybe I should start buying small parcels of land
so I can force hipsters into impoverished tenant
farming--hell I'll charge them for the privilege.
A fine plan. :beer:


But I agree that if people grow quality food that real people can afford
this is a good thing. I am not trying to start the whole "sustainable food costs
more" I know it does and I pony up for organic produce myself. I just don't like
wanky kids that get cachet for stuff other people have been quietly doing better
for years. What I'd like to see is an equitable system where the people that come
here from Latin America and work their ass off on factory farms can eat organic produce not just
foodies that stop by at the Co-Op in between their corporate job and their appointment
with their shrink.
Absolutely. For that matter, small vegetable plots for personal/family consumption don't take all that much time or back-breaking labor for those who are so inclined. It kept my parents from losing their house when the auto industry tanked in the '80's and my brother and I ended up with an incredibly healthy childhood diet considering we were in SE Michigan. (very unhealthy diet even back then)

this is so ****ing stupid

I planted a garden last spring. I had a mighty fine harvest indeed. Well, only if you like to eat weeds.

:roflmao:

I planted a garden last spring. I had a mighty fine harvest indeed. Well, only if you like to eat weeds.

dandelion, bittercress mustard, garlic mustard, miners lettuce, chickweed, green onion, red clover, plantain, etc... i love eating weeds

Good point. BTW, anything a human can eat, a guinea pig can, too. They love that stuff.

I planted a garden last spring. I had a mighty fine harvest indeed. Well, only if you like to eat weeds.


Have you never heard of Euell Gibbons?

:roflmao:

East Hill

this is nothing new. it's called "wwoofing".

Maybe I should start buying small parcels of land
so I can force hipsters into impoverished tenant
farming--hell I'll charge them for the privilege.

great idea.
that might keep them from invading my beaches and driving around with surfboards on their cars, like they surf.

I'm taking a class over the summer that teaches you basically how to live off the land using sustainable practices in a hands on farmlike setting outside of Athens. It knocks out one of my requirements for school and you get to keep as much of what we produce as a class so I get free food.

Besides having to do the labour, free real food sounds wicked!

Let him have his farming--
I'd rather live in the city and work in
an office. I grew up working on
ranches in Northern California
and Nevada. Working cattle, putting
up hay. If some privileged ivy league
kid wants to try to get some cred
by farming let him get sunburned
and screw up his back--I'll look
out from my corner office. With
any luck there will be enough hipsters
to grow enough organic food for me
to scarf up. My hourly billing rate is more
than they see in a day.

Spoken like a true yuppie

Spoken like a true yuppie

No I think he is making a good point. I was listening to a good thing about John Adams the other day and he said this:


I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain.

Moving from trades to academia is the perceived progression. When things are good, society is working at its best there is more time for people to study, think and experiment. Unfortunately currently we are so far from that. We have people who are able to sit on their loins and contribute nothing at all while others have to work four times as hard.

^ Shudder.

Those who constantly assume (and proclaim) that other people are making changes in their lives just for "cred" must be living pretty f'ing meaningless lives themselves.

Then again, someone who says something as asinine as "My hourly billing rate is more
than they see in a day" probably has his/her limits of happines met by a handsome income and a loft apartment.

Just remember, happiness is a subjective fickle beast.

Only as fickle as the person trying to possess it. (But yea, humans are pretty fickle as a rule.)

I look forward to the day when I am financially capable of fulfilling my dream of living "off the grid" as much as I can. If people are finding sustainable living cool, thank the non-existant gods. The earth is beyond ****ed, and if young, rich people are beginning to think sustainable living is cool it can only be a good thing.

Only as fickle as the person trying to possess it. (But yea, humans are pretty fickle as a rule.)

Then call me as fickle as can be. Sometimes working a 9-5 feeling important, and living in a plush place aids in my happiness. Then sometimes living in a furniture-less in the middle of the city wild place with interesting people working when I feel like it doing odd jobs aids in my happiness. I don't think I will ever be content in any one situation as there are too many ways of life to experience to settle on just one in the short time I will be breathing.

I am thankful for being lucky enough to have the mental tools to know how to switch around and constantly adjust what living within my means implies. But none of that stuff really matters as it is the core of me that will always be me no matter what situation I am in.

http://www.bikeforums.net/report.php?p=6348103

bikeforum, not farmforum.

if you want to discuss random non bike stuff, look into forming a circle of friends.

(or post in foo)

sp00ki always makes my point before i do

Marry him and start an organic farm.