Just over a century ago, almost all of our nation’s population was down on the farm. Today we have made a complete reversal of these statistics. We were once only 2 percent of the population in our cities. Now we are less than that 2 percent still on the farm. This fact seems to be proving the old adage that, “You can take the man out of the farm, but you can’t take the farm out of the man.”
Many in our urban society are still yearning for life back on the farm. There is an Internet game wherein people play farming and ranching. They have to buy seed to plant and animals to raise, etc., as they follow this reality game. They can, as in real life farming and ranching, have a crop failure and/or loss of livestock. I have not even looked at it, but it supposed to be a very realistic experience in rural life. It can also be a little expensive.
The urban desire to experience the farming or ranching life doesn’t end here. We still have those urban ranches, “Dude Ranches,” where one experiences ranch life in its many aspects. Then there are those bull riding machines that can be found in a number of businesses. Yet these are called dude ranches, not cowboy ranches, as they are only playing cowboy or cowgirl. They will ride a horse, but little else. They can rope a calf dummy and ride that mechanical bull, but they generally do not do real ranch jobs.
Now that concept is changing as to farming. Just two years ago this October was the birth of Crop Mobs. Crop Mobs started in North Carolina and in just two years has crossed our nation. They have grown from the original one to almost 40 Crop Mobs. A Crop Mob has been described as primarily a group of young landless, wannabee farmers who come together to build and empower rural community side by side. They are often apprentices or interns on small farms. Usually young people interested in farming, but landless. They are united to help farmers in whatever is needed, from planting to harvesting the crop. They have helped clear land to make new field and chopped weeds to protect the tender crop.
In these first 24 months since the original group was founded that group has assisted some 15 farms. During that same time period almost 39 other Crop Mobs were formed. They are founded from our East Coast all the way to our West Coast.
The farmer being assisted provides lunch for his free labor farm hands. Once such Crop Mob farm hand stated, “What could be better — there’s food and it’s outside.”
You can find out more about these Crop Mobs on the Internet. Go to www.cropmob.org. They are in Texas already, but not here in the San Antonio Archdiocese. This does seem to be building on our farmer helping farmer tradition. Like the old barn raising when all the neighboring farmers gather to raise or build one of their numbers a new barn.
I guess you might say charity begins on the farm.
Father Samuel Heitkamp is a retired priest and was director of the former rural life organization in the archdiocese.