The Five Farms by Camille Lacapa

Every time you slice a tomato or pop corn in the microwave, your life becomes linked to farming people who may live thousands of miles away.  Most people know little about where their food comes from and even less about the lives of the people --- farming families – who plant it, water it, pull it out of the ground or herd it, and deliver it to market.

A new public radio series called FIVE FARMS makes the connection for listeners between the food on their tables and the families who work to produce it.

The only voices to be heard in FIVE FARMS will be those of members of each farm family.  Through their own unfiltered, direct experience of daily life on a working farm, listeners will learn the details of farming life and get to know each member of the family: their personal struggles, triumphs, hopes, dreams, and challenges.

Native Public Media collaborated with series producer Wesley Horner and the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University (CDS) to produce the features about the lives and work of farming families.  The field production – location recording of farm families’ stories – followed a yearlong, full cycle of the seasons.

Camille Lacapa, Network Services Manager for Native Public Media, is the field producer for a farm on the Hopi Reservation in Arizona where the Pecusa family continues the centuries old tradition of ulawu or dry farming.

Beginning in May 2008, I have made monthly visits to the village of Bacavi to document the farming methods used by seventy-three year old Davis Pecusa and his thirty-three year old son, David. Although the family consists of seven members, David and his youngest son are the only ones that continue to farm the land that has been in their family for four generations. Their fields are located thirteen miles southwest of their home near a place called No Trail Mesa.

Getting to and from the family fields is easy if you have the right vehicle. The road is unpaved, some parts are quite bumpy, and it takes 20-25 minutes to get there. On my second visit to the Pecusa farm in early June, I saw a snake that stretched the width of the road. I was in awe of the magnitude of the snake and thought how lucky I was not to be walking at that moment.

Working on “The Farm” has been quite the adventure.  I have enjoyed documenting the planting process and watching the fields come to life with corn, beans, and pumpkin. I now understand what David meant when he said eating corn is like “tasting the memories of summer.”

Despite their busy schedules, the Pecusa family has allowed me to be a part of their life from sun up to sundown.  They have shared so many stories about what farming means to them, the many challenges they face today, and what they are thinking as they prepare and harvest the fields.

The life of a farmer does not end after the harvest. There is the planning for the next season. Like most farmers, the Pecusa family will prepare their seed banks and store them in small jars labeled purple beans, pumpkin, blue corn, or melon. Some of the seeds have special meaning for them, as they were harvested by the father’s father years ago.

Hopefully listeners will have a better understanding of Hopi farming and a deeper appreciation of farming in general as they sit down and enjoy their evening meal.

I have taken a few photos to share of my experience. They will give you an idea of the exciting stories that you can hear this Spring.

FIVE FARMS will be distributed by Public Radio International in April 2009 and featured on native stations throughout Indian Country.  To read more about the FIVE FARMS and to hear the audio programs, click here.

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it (Hopi-Tewa and Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe) joined the Native Public Media staff in November 2008 to serve as Network Services Manager.  She is the former Station and Audience Relations Manager for Native Voice One. She has worked in public radio for twenty-one years, and served as Station Manager of WOJB-FM in Reserve, Wisconsin from 1991-2005. She has produced national radio programs for the American Indian Radio on Satellite (AIROS), the National Museum of the American Indian, and the Koahnic Broadcast Corporation. Her radio experience also includes serving on the National Federation of Community Broadcasters board from 1993 to 1997.