Featured image: Lucuma Gallery Gourd Art

It’s September, harvest time in the United States.  I’ve been thinking of small family farms, big corporate farming, my farmer grandparents, growing your own food, and the man made crisis we are walking in to as crops rot in the fields. I saw this artist on Instagram and immediately felt a sense of kinship with him, Narsiso Martinez.

When Narsiso first came to the United States, he supported himself by working in the fields. All farmers who work the soil know the true sense of labor, but our migrant workers know this to the core.  They work hard, long hours, under the hot sun and somehow, they often do it with joy and good humor.  The United States Congress has been unable to come to agreements about how to create legal pathways for undocumented workers in the U.S.  We depend on this labor for our food and for many other sectors in our economy, too, like construction, hospitality, elder care, restaurants and so much more. At the core, racism keeps us from moving ahead to a fair program. Why not have a simple work visa like so many other countries have?

This video does a good job of showing how specialized farm labor is and covers a bit of the history we have had, especially with Mexico, that involves over a century of disputes:

Narsiso eventually became an artist, one who is shining the light on the life of field workers.  He uses produce cartons as his canvas, creating a powerful statement that ties his portraits with their physical labor.  Narsiso tells his story in this video:

Narsiso’s Facebook account has lots of links where you can find articles about him and learn more about his story.

Art and creative expression in general, has a tremendous impact on documenting our history and can often move people so profoundly that their understanding of the world shifts to a place of compassion and empathy.  Now, our current government persecutes these hardworking people, kidnapping them and sending them off to horrible detention centers.  The whole point is cruelty and they seem to thoroughly enjoy inflicting pain, causing trauma and separating families.  The consequences will be disastrous for all of us!  Farm workers, even legal ones, are terrified and are not showing up for work. Fields rot with unpicked produce, fruits and grains. We will all suffer from this. The silver lining is that some people are waking up to how important these people are in keeping the wheels moving in our social machines, but also how much they contribute in our culture and enjoyment of life.

I follow ShayFarmKid on Instagram, but he also has an account on YouTube.  He is an onion farmer and grew up with undocumented farm workers.  He has been advocating for them here in the United States, well worth following.  Here are a couple of his videos:

The Artizan Made connection

The world carries a sorrowful load these days. We have so many wars, injustices, genocides, natural disasters and the lack of willingness to deal with climate change and the destruction of our wild places.  I did not think that we would still be a witness to this in 2025. Working with artists and fair trade groups truly keeps me sane.  I am inspired by what I see our members do on a daily basis and they, along with the larger creative community, give me hope that we can still move the disaster dial back to a safer place.

five harvest inspirations

Click on the images to go to their websites.

“Dusty, when Winter comes, the land goes to sleep for its much needed rest. After the land has rested, Spring comes and gives us beautiful flowers and trees, and the land is prepared to grow delicious foods for us and all of the animals. When the fields are ready to harvest, we appreciate the resting of the land, because of all the good things its gives to us.”
― John Everett Bass

“Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells.”
― John Keats

“Autumn. It’s crispness, it’s anticipation, it’s melancholia, it’s cool breezes replacing summer’s heat. It’s long days in the field, a harvest festival when work’s done, a cheering crowd in a football stadium, chrysanthemums punctuating a somber landscape. It’s Halloween highjinx, pumpkins grinning toothy smiles, the crack of pecan pressed against pecan. It’s the first curls of woodsmoke, fresh blisters from pushing a rake. It’s crisp and fresh and mellow and snug, solemn and melancholy. And it’s very, very welcome.”
― Good Housekeeping Magazine

“I see a time when the farmer will not need to live in a lonely cabin on a lonely farm. I see the farmers coming together in groups. I see them with time to read, and time to visit with their fellows. I see them enjoying lectures in beautiful halls, erected in every village. I see them gather like the Saxons of old upon the green at evening to sing and dance. I see cities rising near them with schools, and churches, and concert halls, and theaters. I see a day when the farmer will no longer be a drudge and his wife a bond slave, but happy men and women who will go singing to their pleasant tasks upon their fruitful farms. When the boys and girls will not go west nor to the city; when life will be worth living. In that day the moon will be brighter and the stars more glad, and pleasure and poetry and love of life come back to the man who tills the soil.”
― Hamlin Garland

“for anything to be good, truly good, there must be love in it. I’m not even sure I know fully what that means, but the older I get, the more I believe it. There must be love for the gift itself, love for the subject being depicted or the story being told, and love for the audience. Whether the art is sculpture, farming, teaching, lawmaking, medicine, music, or raising a child, if love is not in it — at the very heart of it — it might be skillful, marketable, or popular but I doubt it is truly good. Nothing is what it’s supposed to be if love is not at the core.”
― Allen Levi

Many of my friends have their own veggie gardens and have been posting beautiful photos of their harvests.  It takes time and energy to have a good garden, but even if we can grow a couple of things for ourselves or to give away, we can make a dent in our independence from big agricultural companies. There are so many issues tied to our food security that we can’t address here right now, but all of us can do our best to support our local farmers, especially if they are growing organic foods.  May we all step forward with compassion and clarity.

“Cultivate your craft. Water it daily, pour some tender loving care into it, and watch it grow. Remember that a plant doesn’t sprout immediately. Be patient, and know that in life you will reap what you sow.”
― J.B. McGee