The Weekly Pick – Farm Hands

This beautiful Farm Hands: A Tribute to the Hands that Feed Us calendar comes from our friends in Columbia, Missouri – Melinda and Dan Hemmelgarn. We met them this summer when they invited us to their house while we were driving from Bonnaroo in Tennesssee to Boulder, Colorado. Melinda made us a delicious breakfast and we sat in their backyard, discussing sustainable food, agriculture and photography.

From Diane’s posting on the ST Chronicles about that day:

“Melinda and Dan are working on a book called Farm Hands – a collection of photos of farmers’ hands. It’s being done to help raise money for a permanent structure in which to house the local farmers market in Columbia. How brilliant is that? Farmers work with their hands, our food is produced with their hands, and the land we live on is cared for by their hands – oh, the stories I’m sure they can tell…. We’ll let you know when the project is done – the photos I was fortunate enough to see were simply beautiful.”

The calendar officially came out today! Congratulations to Melinda and Dan, what an inspiring project to help create a permanent pavilion for the Columbia Farmers’ Market. From Melinda, “It’s designed to provide shelter from the elements, offer a larger community gathering space, educational gardens, community kitchen, AND beef up real homeland security!” I wish them the best of luck!

A blurb from Melinda about the project:

“Over the past year, Dan and I met with 12 farmers; he captured images while I conducted interviews. We learned first-hand about the barriers to local sustainable agriculture — missing infrastructure, lack of health insurance, etc. We also witnessed the farmers’ deep connection to the earth.

I may be biased, but I think the images of the farmers’ hands — in sepia tone — are emotionally compelling and speak volumes. Each month also features a brief insight into the farmer’s philosophy about their work and our food system.

In the process of creating the calendar, we discovered that we don’t want to stop! We’d like to expand the project, and use these and more images and stories to encourage critical thinking about our food system, and support policies that promote global sustainable agriculture. Surely compelling images and words can move mountains! We welcome your comments, thoughts, and any ideas for funding sources.”