IP
Izzy Putnal
English Major
Hands in the Dirt: Connecting People and Food on Book & Plow Farm
Over the summer, Izzy worked on Book & Plow Farm in Amherst, MA. She worked with five other crew members to grow fruits, vegetables, and flowers for Amherst College and the larger Amherst community. Working on the farm, she seeded, planted, cared for, harvested, and delivered vegetables grown on the site. Since the farm has a commitment to long-term sustainability, the experience particularly focused on ethical interactions between people, land, and food. At Book & Plow, Izzy was able to take part in food production that centered around environmentally conscious methods of farming and collaborative labor. She met other farmers in the valley who shared their difficulties of making a living out of organic, small-scale food production in an age of factory farming and monoculture. After witnessing the food waste that occurred on the farm, she worked with the Survival Center in Amherst to develop a system of delivering extra or unsellable food to the Center.