Because this reads like
an ad, I kept looking for the hook, the sales gimmick, but found none.
Yet still it reminds me of the old blurbs you used to see on the inside
flap of matchbooks: "Learn to play the piano in 10 easy lessons!" "Grow
mushrooms in your basement for fun and profit!" "Don't be a ninety pound
weakling!" "Learn to draw and make millions!" One wonders if the
good Doctor Mittleider would have agreed wholeheartedly to the marketing
of his books, had he known they would include catch-phrases like "mini
grow-boxes for maxi yield."
I am accustomed to a softer sell. In general
I've observed that most organic food growers live in a magic circle of
anti-commercialism, their toil in itself comprising a religion.
Tammy professes no special religious belief, is not a Mormon or a
Seventh Day Adventist, but acknowledges that as a child of flower
children she grew up under the cozy multi-colored umbrella of Organic.
Organic is about respect for the planet, a natural path to health, a
love of heritage, and sense of sharing well-being with our earth
neighbors.
So I am leery on her
behalf. Because Kennard's presentation is so slick I have to keep
looking and looking and looking for the angle.
But why shouldn't it be
true, all true, and why shouldn't I want it to be? What if there
was a simple, cheap way to save the planet by supplying us all with the
easy wherewithal to produce our own edibles? Tammy says that Kennard
emphasizes tomatoes because that's what most people want to grow.
Yet if spreading a happy message about the method is all that FFE is
about, why does Kennard feel a need to grab our attention by appealing
to the greed side, the profit angle, from the get-go?
How many tomatoes can one
family eat, can, sell or give away?
Answer: in my case, not
too many. The year my husband and I decided to go heavily into tomato
growing, using little more than stakes and cages and haphazard weeding,
we were bombarded with tomatoes, had far too many tomatoes to eat or can
or give away, and most fell neglected to the ground to be consumed by
birds, beetles, and slugs.
Jim Kennard and Tammy
Curry are in communication and she has volunteered for a place on his
marketing board to help "promote Food for Everyone and the Mittleider
Method." Again, I suspect a hook but none gleams bright enough for
documentation. Tammy believes she can improve his website
presentation. Tammy is loyal.
I want Tammy to be able
to grow 51,168 pounds of tomatoes in heavy clay soil in her backyard in
Surry County if that is her dream. I want all to be well, and very well.
I believe Tammy Curry has
her head on straight, and will not pursue an empty endeavor. She
can turn a negative situation around. If Mittleider grow-boxes are
The Way she will follow; if not, she will move on. She has much at
stake: the mortgage on the new farm, the money for gas to get Claire to
her chosen school, her seed capital, and start-ups for the "old
fashioned farm events and celebrations" she hopes to offer once the farm
is up and running. Tammy is a realist. She's also a
visionary. She wants a business that brings in money to support
her and Jay and Morgan and Claire, gives inner satisfaction, makes a
contribution to the life of the community, and will be sustainable for
yonks.
I am hoping to visit
Tammy next summer, perhaps at her new farm near Pinnacle, and with her,
complete a satisfying sequel. Will Claire win the 4-H prize and
get her picture in the paper again? Will the old dog get to run
free in the shadow of Pilot Mountain? Will there be celebrations
in the old farmhouse at the Autumnal Equinox? Will there be cider,
music, and plenty of tomatoes? Stay tuned.
