crop mob – Cricket Bread

5th annual crop mob at piedmont biofarm

November 24, 2012

by Trace crop mob

5th Annual Crop Mob at Piedmont Biofarm

Posted on November 24, 2012 by Trace

Octobers are coming and going, and I am starting to think that my brain really does seem to calculate time differently as I age (as some research suggests). Crop Mob is not that old, but as crop mob does not have its own mind or body there is no way that the phenomenon itself can have any interest in time or how fast or slowly it moves. That is all theoretical anyway. Folks keep coming together to do work. That is pretty much all we should be concerned about at this point.

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intro to documentary studies

November 8, 2011

by Trace crop mob films photo essays work young farmers

Intro to Documentary Studies

Posted on November 8, 2011 by Trace

For the last nine Saturdays I have attended my second class at the Center for Documentary Studies here in Durham. The class is one of only two required courses in the certificate program. It is titled, appropriately, Introductory Seminar in Documentary Studies.

(My first course was a weekend spent learning alternative print processes – cyanotype and van dyke – with Leah Sobsey.)

For the Intro class when had to do a short presentation, up to five minutes on a documentary idea. It could be any form, and I chose to make a short film. I filmed the Crop Mob in Carrboro, read the New Blood for the Old Body essay into a narration track, strummed on the banjo to make a 30 second loop and came out with this –

Crop Mob: An Introduction from Cricket Bread on Vimeo.

Crop Mob is primarily a group of young, landless, and wannabe farmers who come together to work and build an interconnected agrarian community. Crop Mob is also a group of experienced farmers and gardeners sharing knowledge with their peers and the next generation of agrarians. The Crop Mob is open to all regardless of experience, background or age as it is intended to be a community effort.

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One Response to Intro to Documentary Studies

Oliver Atom says:

November 10, 2011 at 3:30 pm

This is beautiful … we miss you! (all of you)

return of the mulchers

September 21, 2011

by Trace activism biographical crop mob photo essays

Return of the mulchers

Posted on September 21, 2011 by Trace

After taking two very hot months off, the Crop Mob has returned to work. While we were resting, watching the drought march on and otherwise getting irritated with the heat, several new crop mob groups began around the country – Denver, Findlay Ohio, Olympia, Austin.

Now, freshened from rest and with plenty of built up demand to participate, the plan is to complete four mobs in two months with two of the mobs organized as “mini-mobs” with several nearby locations getting mobbed simultaneously.

In August we returned to Spence’s Farm to do some of the tasks that we do best – pull weeds, make large piles of compost disappear and lay down mulch.

This past Sunday we split up to hit three location in Durham. The Interfaith Food Shuttle’s urban farm plus the home gardens of several long time mob participants.

Kristin and I attended the mob at Steph and Steven’s house, turning a lot full of English ivy and wire-grass into several nicely cleaned up and mulched garden areas.

I am excited to see many, many first time crop mob participants. Ever expanding and pushing the model forward, I am still in awe at how it all continues to come together and function so well.

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One Response to Return of the mulchers

Oliver Atom says:

September 24, 2011 at 10:23 am

Glad the mulching is back. As you know, I believe mulching is part of the ethos of Crop Mob

Here’s a link to the stuff on leftism I mentioned last night: http://less-art-more-meat.blogspot.com/2011/09/leftism-lenin-engels.html

the letting go crop mob in the wild

June 25, 2010

by Trace crop mob young farmers

The letting go – Crop Mob in the Wild

Posted on June 25, 2010 by Trace

The original message of crop mobs has changed as the idea became a “thing” on its own. The idea changes a bit in each new area, and, for better or worse, adds new pieces to the developing visage of a developing model. In Seattle, the focus is primarily on the creation of new community gardens. In Atlanta there is a cap on the number of folks who can participate. In Minneapolis there is a “no kids” policy.We set out with a few simple but necessary guidelines, and for the most part these ideas remain intact. As we work on some more specific guidelines for both attendees and the host farms, we must be conscious of more than just the ideals of the original nineteen farmers; we must be conscious of the needs of several thousand individuals.

To date there are active Crop Mob groups in 22 states in the US, 99% of which formed after the end of February of this year. At some point the originators of this new model of agrarian community building have to let go, get back to our work in the present – in our own community – and let evolution do its thing. And it is evolving; it is debatable how much leadership this idea needs on a national level. There is no doubt that a solid foundation and at least a minimum operational framework is needed. After that is established, all we can do is look on as the roof goes up and the furniture is moved in.

Crop Mob is a very sexy idea right now. As such it is subject to an intense scrutiny of its methods, its participants and its goals. “White, hipster slackers participate in a real life Farmville” might as well be the new media headlines. From what I have been reading lately, you would think that what started as a way to get young and landless farmers together has turned into just another urban fad for the fixed gear bike crowd. This is untrue and utterly ridiculous. Is there anything that a group of young people can do that can’t be turned into something that it is not?

Some recent comments on the online version of a story in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune (‘Crop Mobs’ thrive in farmville):

Hipster doofuses. Your parents play Farmville now, on to the next thing.

…there is more to experience than diggin’ in the dirt in a garden. I am just wondering why this hipster/feel-good activity is news.

Farmers do not get enough freebies from the government, they also get FREE Labor from the idiot taxpayers that subsidies them in the first place….WEIRD. People are stupid.

The best part is they do it once and they never come back. Instead, they run back to their homes in the city and wait for more government handouts. There is no such thing as hard work anymore.

Small farms are great, but do we really need a story about hipsters who have never done real work in their lives going on a feelgood, look-at-me fieldtrip? There are great stories of small produce farms (many of them owned Hmong, Mexican or Somali immigrants) who are providing much of our local produce…

Look at me! I’m “farming”. More hipster douchery.

…typical nonsense from the fringe that will disappear when the next fad is discovered.

WOW. I wish I had so much time on my hands that I was so bored I wanted to go work on a farm.

I honestly don’t know where the hate for this idea comes from. I wonder if the detractors tear apart every other volunteer activity that is discussed in the media? Are we really the only group that has to examine our privilege every time we set out to do a crop mob? Do we really have to take note of every participant’s motivation for showing up?

No, we don’t have to answer to anyone but the farmers we are working for and the community we have formed. The media eye will move on but we will not.

In mobs we trust…

About Trace

Trace lives in Durham, NC with his partner Kristin. They were joined by baby Tennessee Lynn in April 2012.
Trace is not a talker. Trace also thinks it is a little weird to talk about himself in the third person.

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10 Responses to The letting go – Crop Mob in the Wild

Frustrated Farmer Rick says:

June 25, 2010 at 11:42 pm

It is kind of funny how this has mutated and changed. I have been reading here for a while and also have been watching things blossom up here in Minnesota. I can tell you that what you guys do and what has started up here has been different. But that is evolution for ya. New ideas beget newer ideas and they all adapt to their environments.

Don’t sweat the monkeys in the comment section of our local paper. Honestly I have no idea where they come from but most of us are not like that. Seriously reading the comments section costs you IQ points.

Also remember,
“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”
Mahatma Gandhi
Lawson LeGore says:

June 26, 2010 at 4:40 am

Trace,
Don’t let the detractors get you down. They’ll always be there, and you know it. That’s life. What’s much more important is how many silent people you are inspiring and helping. People almost always seem to criticize louder than they praise. We started a similar group/project in Japan last year based on the principles of WWOOF. Cricket Bread has been there as an inspiration, even across the pacific.
Thanks and keep up the good work!
Trace says:

June 26, 2010 at 11:02 am

Rick and Lawson –

It goes beyond the local paper, but I understand your point of ignoring the comments. I do think that the media has really helped give this idea a kickstart. Something that may have taken quite a few years to spread has blossomed in just a few months. We may get to a certain maturity in just a short amount of time, building a strong network with hundreds of thousands of hours of work behind it.

I do admit to being pretty sensitive on the subject of Crop Mob simply because I feel that it is a huge part of my present life. There is a bit of selfishness, but at the same time – as the title of this post indicates – at some point we have to let go of it, mainly because this is what we wanted all along…
Ali says:

June 28, 2010 at 1:46 pm

Oh jeez. If only they knew you.

I certainly see you as a hard working guy who has held many respected jobs & am grateful for your motivation & determination to put your ideas into action.

Only acts of douchebaggery I see are of the ignorant comments. Wonder if they have ever gotten their hands dirty. Doesn’t matter. All that matters is there are wonderful people in the world who see the value in coming together to help where & when they can. Who see the connections with our food sources are vital & that they go beyond paying a cashier.

Thank you for all you (& the others) are doing.

Better to be hated for your honesty than loved for lies.
je slvr says:

June 30, 2010 at 10:15 pm

Meh, they’re just responding to an aesthetic sort of amplified by those kinds of articles. What we’re all trying to do in small farming really is put some fuckin value into labor again. If we can do that then we’ll till up the whole motherfucker.
Anthony says:

July 2, 2010 at 12:09 pm

I offer a critique, as an old and dear friend. Many, many times now, both of us have learned the lesson the hard way, that the media is a fucking disaster, and that if they convey context, it is purely by accident. I understand perfectly the desire to share crop mob with the world, but have secretly thought for a while now that being involved with the “media” was a tremendous mistake. Admittedly, I probably would have done the same thing. The allure of sticking it to the bastards in there own fish wrapper is enticing as hell, but the results are predictable, and the effect on you and the things you hold dear is not worth it.
Trace, you and K are literally expert in the alternative media scene. You have been doing this shit since it involved scamming free photocopies from work, scissors, and fucking Brother word processors. Do it your way, keep it real as real, and for god sake FUCK THE MEDIA. They sure will fuck you. Snarky jackass bastards.
Trace says:

July 5, 2010 at 9:33 am

Anthony – I may have not expressed this very well but I don’t think it is the media, but rather it is the people reading or watching that media who are turning out to be the touchholes in this scenario. The stories about Crop Mob thus far have been 90% accurate, which I think we can attribute to the requirement that they actually participate in the process and not just phone it in.
Kimberly says:

July 14, 2010 at 5:12 pm

Hey Trace,

I have to say I get where you’re coming from. And I’m not surprised at all that there are some growing pains related to Crop Mob becoming a national movement over which there’s little control. I guess you just have to hope that each group will to the best it can for its community. I can see how the media outlets can warp this a bit, but ultimately if it’s really helping local farmers – even if the hipster douchebag moniker gets thrown around – it’s probably worth it.

I know that the group in Atlanta is really focused on the farmers and are doing our best to create a resource for them as well as help people newer to agriculture learn the ropes a bit. And the caps are set by the farmers; we’d love to have one with as many people as would come and are hoping to do so soon, but a few farmers have been less than thrilled at the idea of 75+ folks wandering around their property (and bathrooms).

I’m sure there’s a unique quality to the NC Crop Mob that nothing will equal, but I still thank you for putting the wheels in motion, even if sometimes you wonder at where the various carts are headed.

All the best,
Kimberly
je slvr says:

July 18, 2010 at 10:00 pm

the success of local food depends on people who read these media outlets hearing about it. For every whiner that reads these stories and comments about it based on aesthetics they don’t like, there are 10 regular people from middle america who have never been exposed to this idea and probably think it’s cool. If you want to poop out a zine about crop mob then isn’t that cute. if you want to nudge things an inch in the right direction .then you try to talk to as many people as possible. Good thing this idea was picked up by the media, good for you. As a farmer it gets much more pleasant every year when a middle class person like me shows up at my stand because they heard michael pollan on npr or saw Food Inc. Thank god for popularity of good ideas.
Marlow says:

August 1, 2010 at 8:20 pm

I could totally hear Anthony’s voice as I was reading his comment!! Now, said in my very best Jessica voice “Oy vey!” Those comments are just….perplexing. And since those comments were so ill-informed, I don’t feel bad saying…those comments were left by buttholes.

crop mob on wunc pbs

May 4, 2010

by Trace crop mob

Crop Mob on UNC-TV – PBS

February’s Crop Mob event at Edible Earthscapes was recently featured on UNC-TV’s North Carolina Now. I think this is one of the best presentations on the crop mob that exists – there are some great voices represented in the video and the visuals of a mob in action are great. Check out the video on the UNC-TV site.

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crop mob what happens when you get what you work for

March 11, 2010

by Trace crop mob

Crop Mob: What happens when you get what you work for

I got lucky. Two Octobers ago I sat at my desk at ECO, barely one month into the new job, still adjusting to a living situation that had me alone most of the time. One of the Piedmont Biofarm folks – Jack – came into the office and asked if I wanted to help pick some sweet potatoes after work. A group of folks was on their way over to help out with the harvest.

I didn’t realize it at the time, but Crop Mob was about to move a big piece of dirt.

That dirt was me.

One of the reasons Kristin and I moved out of the city was because we felt that we had exhausted what we could do in Wilmington. The city was and probably still is unreceptive to the kinds of things we were tying to do. Most of what we started got some traction early on, but once we set them out on their own, folks quickly lost interest and things folded. We became babysitters when what we wanted to be were peers – peers empowering other people to step up and get things done.

Worst of all was becoming a disappointed babysitter, cleaning up the messes of people who knew better but continued to act as if anarchism meant you never had to be responsible.

So yeah, Crop Mob came and got me and shook the Wilmington right out of me. I simply had to tag along, give it all that I knew how to do and watch as other strong people filled in the holes, making the project a fluid and replicable and respectable entity.

And with the strong people comes the strong growth and with that comes the growing pains and the discussions about how best to proceed with this entity that we have created. For better or worse, all the media attention will fade. When that happens, some of the sexy will wash off and we will be left with a few fronts to engage.

1 – The original work area of the original Crop Mob group. Do we split into individual county groups or do we continue to function as we have as a three county group? My take has always been that we stay together as a three county group. The camaraderie of engaging with my peers from Hillsborough, Chapel Hill and Pittsboro is enough to make me hold out and not want to dissolve into smaller groupings. Crop Mob events are some of the only times I get to interact with this larger agrarian culture, and I feel like the benefit to the group of this mixing outweighs the slight possibility of the group becoming watered down with long distance commuters.

2 – The rapidly expanding Crop Mob universe. We are looking at facilitating the creation of at least 20 new Crop Mob groups in the US. As these groups get established, more will follow from their examples. How do we best maintain the core principles of the idea and replicate it without micromanaging every aspect of each groups’ formation? Again, for better or worse, we have to let the idea evolve on its own and accept that sometimes it won’t work out in the ways we might want or expect. We have to trust that we, by our own boots-in-the-dirt examples, have created an idea that needs minimal governance and minimal tweaking in order to accomplish work and build a community.

One Response to Crop Mob: What happens when you get what you work for

Haruka says:

March 12, 2010 at 11:54 pm

Trace,
Thanks for sharing your beautiful photos and your thoughts. I too ponder about the 2 you pointed out along with how we can get more farms/farmers involved. looking forward to sharing ideas on Sunday.

crop mob a lesson in theory

February 8, 2010

by Trace crop mob young farmers

Crop Mob: A lesson in theory

Posted on February 8, 2010 by Trace

innovation n 1 : the introduction of something new 2 : a new method, idea or device

Crop Mob is simply an innovation in farm work and organizing. Taking the old idea of community labor, a small group of farm interns created a new model, a model of organizing that takes experienced and novice farmers (and other interested folks) and puts them in a shared space at a particular farm at a particular time. Within this space, the group tackles a set of tasks using the directions given by the host farm and the experience each person brings to the space. At the end of a few hours of work they share a meal. Along with the meal is the extended value of a shared experience, an experience unique for each farm and to each participant.

According to sociologists, there are five stages in the adoption or rejection of any innovation (called Diffusion of Innovation). The first step is the exposure of an individual to the idea without them having any prior information about the idea. This was basically the mindset of the originators of Crop Mob and anyone who comes upon it without ever hearing about it beforehand.

The next step is the individual actively seeking out information about the innovation or idea. This can be asking another participant, doing web searches, emailing. Through this information the individual proceeds to the next step, which is making a decision to accept or reject the idea.

This step is worth exploring, as I feel that misinformation about Crop Mob really affects this stage. With any innovation there is skepticism, there is doubt, there are wildly off-the-mark perceptions. One of the most frequent is that Crop Mob is a magical free labor pool that simply appears at your farm or garden and runs through the to-do list. The Crop Mob is sometimes also misconstrued as an idealistic gang of urban lefties, off to do their good deed in the country and shed some of that built up liberal guilt.

Yet another amazingly false idea is that Crop Mob is a group of inexperienced idiots who don’t know one end of a shovel from the other. They will wreck your years of careful farm planning and layout, damage all your equipment, let your chickens out to the swarming wolves and hawks, and destroy all your saved seed by mistaking it for lunch. I personally feel that this misconception is keeping the Crop Mob from interacting with some of the more established sustainable farms in our area. I know there are many of these farms that would like to share their experience with young and new farmers but are afraid that we just don’t have what it takes to restrain ourselves in their space.

The fourth stage of the process is execution or use of the idea. Folks show up and work with the mob for the day, using their experience to further evaluate the idea for themselves. If they don’t like it, they won’t come back and do it again. It is hard to evaluate how many people have chosen not to come back to Crop Mob. There is no way to really measure their reaction since we are not setup to do exit interviews with every participant. Reasons for not coming back are probably extremely variable – not feeling welcomed, the work was too hard or too easy, the weather was horrible, expectations were not met.

Again, many of these reasons should be explored. How can we as a group be more hospitable? I think an easy way would be to ask mobbers who have been to several mobs to look for new faces and make sure they are properly introduced and welcomed. This does not mean to inundate them with hugs and handshakes, but rather make sure they are oriented and introduced, make sure they are comfortable with the task they are taking up, and, if they are inexperienced, make sure they are partnered with an experienced group or individual. Through this single task, I think we can get more returning mobbers.

The final stage is a confirmation. The users of the Crop Mob idea return to use it again or set off to start their own mob in another part of the state, country or world. The idea becomes known for its viability and ease of use.

About Trace

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5 Responses to Crop Mob: A lesson in theory

S. Rhodes says:

February 12, 2010 at 8:49 pm

Y’all beautiful: your writing, ideas and photography. Thanks for keeping this site up, thanks for doing what you do, thanks for being inspiring. I’m working on a garden project up here in a college town in the mountains, writing a proposal to establish a garden at the library where I work, trying to get connected with the local sustainable folks up here. And I keep thinking of the phrase, “new blood in the old body,” while I’m doing it.

Thank you for being.
Pingback: How to Become Part of a Crop Mob | Appalachian Feet
Eliza says:

February 25, 2010 at 12:03 pm

I’m thrilled to find your blog, this is so inspiring! I’ve already contacted several local farmers to gauge interest in a Crop Mob for our area. I think we’ve got the support system in place and we just need to engage! I’ll be looking to this site for guidance as we get this idea planted and growing.
El says:

February 25, 2010 at 2:49 pm

Hey Trace, just wanted to say congratulations about the NYTimes piece today. For ONCE no snark, no put-downs, simply some nice reporting from that dreaded publication: they actually sounded envious of what you’re doing.

And it must be gratifying. And tiring too.

Still rooting for you out here in the Hinterlands.
jim ball says:

March 6, 2010 at 7:22 pm

Trace,
Love your blog. I used your definition of Crop Mob over at my site utopian economics under Lingua Utopia. Abundance to you all your comrades.
-Jim

crop mob at spences farm

November 24, 2009

by Trace crop mob

Crop Mob at Spence’s Farm

Last Sunday at Spence’s Farm, we easily surpassed 2250 hours of cumulative Crop Mob labor. We pulled Bermuda grass, pruned thorn-less blackberries, mulched new beds and cleaned out some spreading mint. This latest mob was easily one of the biggest. There were plenty of new faces in addition to the growing base of regulars. I took a different route this time and tried to take photos for most of the day (instead of working)…

One Response to Crop Mob at Spence’s Farm

Ruffin says:

November 24, 2009 at 9:13 pm

Are mobs announced ahead of time online?

standing in the shadows of heroes

September 30, 2009

by Trace biographical crop mob

Standing in the shadows of heroes

Posted on September 30, 2009 by Trace

One of the great things about the crop mob is the ability to go and do a few hours of work on an experienced farm. It doesn’t happen all the time, and it isn’t something that is in the whole design of the mob, but when it happens it is humbling for everyone involved.

The experienced farmer is humbled by the presence of what constitutes a large sampling of the next generation of practitioners of sustainable agriculture, showing up on their farm, to work along side them and step through the same rows.

The mobbers are humbled by the ease with which they have access to lessons learned and practical advice, not only on that day but from that day forward until – if it is even possible – the relationship is exhausted.

But then maybe humbled isn’t the right word. Awe? Wonder?

Which leads to an opening of the debate on who is standing in who’s shadow…

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lending hands on the lands

September 17, 2009

by Trace activism crop mob

Lending hands on the lands

Posted on September 17, 2009 by Trace

A new crop mob started up last weekend, this one focusing on the eastern Triangle area. This crop mob organizes under the name Guerrilla Growfair –

Guerrilla Growfair is a group of agrarian rebels, many with substantial farming experience, that get together to swiftly combat a big project. The group uses unconventional tactics in the form of ambushes and raids to attack its enemies who are less mobile, but larger in force. Enemies include, but are not limited to; wiregrass, Johnson grass, crab grass, infertile soil, and impervious surfaces.

The type of work done could range from installing a garden at someone’s house to cultivating a field for a farmer that is behind on planting this season. The goal of the project is not to offer free labor, but to unite the community for the simple cause of feeding everyone. There is a lack of cheap nutritious foods in certain areas of Raleigh and these areas are known as food deserts. In a food desert the only type of food you’ll find is fast and greasy. Our goal is simple… to erect an oasis in every desert.

The Guerrilla Growfair tagline? Lending hands on the lands.

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rolling away from the tree

September 3, 2009

by Trace biographical crop mob

Rolling away from the tree

Posted on September 3, 2009 by Trace

I fell close to the tree, a chip off the old granite pile. I fell close to the tree, but everything I want is downhill from it.

I’m not a fan of the metaphorical old orchard. I have been rolling away from it for a long time now, even rolling through some more recent orchards at the expense of all the good times under the canopies. At some point I will end up in an entirely different orchard under entirely different species of trees – maybe under hickories and I am an apple or maybe under pears and I am a paw paw. Or maybe there are no trees at all, anywhere, and I am rolling around among thyme blossoms in full sight of the various stars of a southeastern summer.

All orchards have a lot of contrast, like grass growing between the yellow lines of a rural road. Similarly, our agrarian places at night have no comparison to our agrarian places during the day. At night, moist tree frogs attach themselves to any available surface, calling into the dark and into the ear membranes of potential mates, barely puncturing the drone of the various crickets scattered through the grasses. It isn’t quiet, but it is still. This is a contrast to the blur of a peaking sun, the quick clanking movements of hand tools among unloved rocks. Sweat seeps off what looks and feels like a crying body; full and uninterrupted shade is a distant wish.

We move through it all, knowing that any craving for a cold-front is counterproductive to the goals of growing plants for consumption. So we sweat and we grit teeth and we get headaches and we keep moving. If we stop we realize how hot we are, how soaked our clothes have become, how miserable we must look. Compare this to how we look in the blackness and dampness of rural summer; the clay stained knees and greasy hair hide among the sleeping cardinals in the privet clumps.

But what do we really care anyway? If you are self conscious about being dirty and looking dirty, don’t work with the soil. Just remember: Dirt Don’t Hurt.

What would we do otherwise? We can’t go back to any previous life. To what? To old cities or hometowns, old beer haunts and pool tables, grave markers and faded Christmas trees? Nah, there is nothing romantic among the ruins and elders.

I have to think about my elders, how I can’t offer them the respect they think they deserve just because they are “elder”. I used to have a bookcase full of political books with a “Respect Certain Elders” sticker on it. In this young agrarian movement we are all elders, and we should fully appreciate when others begin to roll away from us and into their own orchards.

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3 Responses to Rolling away from the tree

john gray says:

September 14, 2009 at 5:17 pm

That was really beautiful. Made me wanna grow things in dirt.
Margaret says:

October 14, 2009 at 1:04 pm

Trace—I just recently stumbled upon your blog, and wanted to thank you for the beautiful words and pictures, in addition to a fount of useful information. As I believe that a movement of young, enterprising farmers can change the way we view farming and our food, I was wondering if you believe your ‘crop mob’, cooperative farming can be implemented in an urban space. I’m under the impression that farming, to your philosophies, involves a return to nature—do you think that we can effectively create ‘urban farms’, as opposed to ‘community gardens’?
Trace says:

October 23, 2009 at 11:05 am

Margaret –

I think the idea of crop mob can certainly apply to urban spaces and I think more urban areas can benefit from adding agriculture to the mix. There are tons of models out there of integrating agriculture into the city.

and the rocks and weeds eat each other

July 22, 2009

by Trace biographical crop mob photo essays

And the rocks and weeds eat each other

Posted on July 22, 2009 by Trace

I picked rocks from a bunch of Western New York fields when I was a kid. My step-father would drop me and my brother off at some hedgerow and tell us to walk the perimeter of the field and pick up as much as we could.

We’d have to throw the rocks into the tree line or into a tractor bucket, breathing the dust as it split with the crevices of the basalt and granite and diorite brought to the surface with the most recent bottom plowing.

The rocks arrived long before we were thought off, catching a ride on the gray belly of a two mile thick glacier. In the deposits that followed came everything from the boulders – now sitting in front yards painted with house numbers or enveloped by lichens – to the baby minerals of feldspar and hornblend and all those magnificent magnetic bits of iron.

Picking up rocks is as fun now as it was when I was eight years old, which is to say that it is no fun at all. It reminds me of work for no pay. It reminds me of long summer days away from friends. It reminds me of responsibility that I had no need or want of. It reminds me of time ill-spent laboring for someone I could care less about.

But that all changes with the crop mob…

Sometimes I know that rocks need to be picked and weeds need to be pulled. These tasks are best accomplished with more than one person, in a mass of asses and elbows, jabbering on and on about everything other than rocks and weeds and tasks that really have no end.

Weeds decay into their components of minerals and carbon and nitrogen within days. A person could watch the whole process if they had the patience and justification.

Rocks decay much more slowly and, without the aid of the outside crush of a human or machine doing some work, they will not likely decay within a person’s lifetime. You can watch if you want, but you might want to bring something to eat while you wait.

So picked and piled rocks will remain picked and piled rocks wherever we place them at least until some other monkey comes along and moves them again. Maybe they will be hidden under weeds as the years pass only to be rediscovered by a passing lawnmower or an unprotected toe.

Only when I was a teenager did I realize that there existed mechanical rock pickers that pulled behind tractors and did the work we did in seconds rather than hours. This made me realize that dropping off kids at the edge of a field was just a convenient way to get rid of those kids for the day. Tasks without end make good kid-sitters.

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One Response to And the rocks and weeds eat each other

Camille says:

July 22, 2009 at 7:31 pm

Ahhh, the many ways parents have of getting respite from their spawn. At least you lived in the country where the rocks you picked actually needed picked. I grew up in the city, so idealized the country life. I had no purpose and longed for real outdoor chores. I had three imaginary horses who needed fed and groomed every day. The grass is always greener on the other side.

My family lived on a little island in the Bronx, so my father used to say, “Why don’t you take a long walk off a short pier” when he wanted us out of his hair. Bob’s parents used to suggest he and his three brothers go play in traffic.

Looking back, we had it pretty good. No real responsibilities, nothing to do and all day to do it, running with the neighborhood kids, trying not to get pecked at by the swans in the cove at the end of the street.

crop mob guerrilla agrarians in the information age

May 26, 2009

by Trace activism biographical circle acres crop mob

Crop Mob – Guerrilla agrarians in the information age

I have been involved in the Crop Mob since the first time the group convened to do work last October. I missed the initial meeting of people who created the idea and named it, so I take no credit for its inception only its implementation. I push the idea whenever and wherever I can, attending every call of the Mob in the process.

I have been a strong proponent of the young agrarian movement, writing essays, giving interviews, taking photographs. The Crop Mob is the physical realization of all those words and images, the sinew, muscle and breath behind the imagination.

With the Crop Mob there exists the possibility of something beyond what we usually perceive of as farming.

The idea is bigger than barn-raisings, more technical than workshops, more thoughtful than textbooks. It is guerrilla agrarianism in the information age. Maybe that isn’t an apt description, but when I watch shovels hitting dirt on a foreign farm with a crew assembled using email, social networking and word of mouth, it surely feels like it.

The Crop Mob is unstoppable, yet flawed on some levels. Reciprocity from the farmers we have helped is greatly lacking. We are all busy, yes, but if we are to keep donating our labor, the labor pool must continue to snowball and include previous beneficiaries of that labor. On that end we can improve our pitch, farms can understand better what they are getting and everyone involved can get what they need out of the day.

We are not unskilled; we bring decades of combined experience in dozens of areas – bed building, fencing, transplanting, harvesting, permaculture, food/farm activism, media outreach – so we are capable of making substantial impacts in a handful of hours.

Where to from here? The next step may be to franchise the idea or mutate it or trim it down or use it differently. In the meantime we will continue to do what we have been doing – showing up and getting shit done.

10 Responses to Crop Mob – Guerrilla agrarians in the information age

tes thraves says:

May 28, 2009 at 9:46 am

Trace and mob,
LOVE your existence so so much. It is a brilliant thing on the face of the earth, beyond the Piedmont.

I appreciate hearing concerns and needs for its continued success; I’d also like to hear the factors you can name that have been vital in creating is as is. Seems this area is rich beyond measure in young activists with a tremendous range of skills who have this cooperative vision and spirit. We are very blessed.

I’m curious about your thought to franchise . . . I’m guessing I’m missing your meaning as to me to franchise is to sell rights to an idea? . . . (as in RRFM, no one is profiting on that concept, just spreading them like wildfire)? What are the insights you could offer to locales where perhaps that resource exists but is not so visible or cohesive? I.E. how can we create crop mobs in places where the environment is very different from the triangle? What are the key factors to replicating?? (group willing to get shit done obviously, but you id some others as you talk about reception from farmers?)

of course it would look different in each locale . . . and there are MANY places in the country where a Crop Mob just like this one would thrive immediately, like the RRFM has done from one end of the country to the other. Certainly, start with assets, right? Get as many Crop Mobs in as many places where they can successfully be started quickly. If I could bank roll sending crop mobbers to various parts of the country to help start-ups everywhere . . . hehe, love that image . . . but tis really just the idea that needs to be spread, yes? Trace particularly, thanks for putting it out there so brilliantly, compellingly, beautifully, again and again, as well as for diggin in the trenches, again and again! as ever, you are my favorite blogger.
tes
Trace says:

May 28, 2009 at 10:02 am

Tes,

My idea about franchising is to completely remove the idea of ownership. To spread the cop mob we have to let go of intellectual rights while still setting up the parameters in which the mob should function once exported. Just like Food Not Bombs serves rescued vegetarian meals no matter which one you attend, any where in the country, a Crop Mob would not show up to pick sugar beets for export or fumigate apple orchards or clean out an industrial chicken house. There have to be clean parameters to work within, and I personally don’t think the idea would very hard to replicate no matter where it happens. The ideology is simple; at the core is work and around that work is sustainability, humane treatment of animals, the betterment of the soil and the community. Might be a good workshop idea for conferences or tabling, anything to get the idea into folks’ heads.

Trace
Ramsey Van Veen says:

May 28, 2009 at 1:30 pm

Trace,
What is up man, you dont know me but I have heard your name spoken a couple times. I just moved down from Iowa to attend the sus. ag. program at CCCC. I believe I live really close to you also, rufus brewer rd? I may be wrong. Any how, I just wanted to drop a wat up! I am VERY interested in starting to attend these crop mobs, how do I get in this uber cool crop mob ya got goin’ on here in the Pied?

Veen
Trace says:

May 28, 2009 at 1:35 pm

Hey Ramsey,

You do live close by. We refer to that road affectionately as “Rufus Beaver”. Don’t know why, just thought it was a better name. Even named one of our chickens Rufus Beaver. Take a left on Jessie Bridges then a right on AW Buckner. That’s us.

Anyway, if you go to cropmob.org you can sign up for the listserv and get the notices. Mobs are once a month…

Stop by when you get a chance. Nights and weekend afternoons are best.

Trace
chelsea says:

June 2, 2009 at 3:02 pm

these are beautiful pictures, trace! though i’m kind of happy i left before the cameras came out (camerafright)
stephen says:

June 2, 2009 at 11:04 pm

Trace- I found your blog about a month back, and I’m glad I did. You write some insightful and challenging stuff. I’ve been thinking about the concept of a crop mob since I read about it here. I love the phrase “guerrilla agrarians.” I think that most communities striving to support small, local farms would benefit greatly from a crop mob. I’ve been thinking of starting one here in Fort Collins, CO. I’ve looked through the cropmob.org website a number of times, but I think it’s more the type of thing that needs to be done, first hand, rather than to read about. Have any insights on starting it up?
www.farmfreshnc.com says:

June 3, 2009 at 1:42 pm

Hey Trace. I was planning to write a little ditty on the Crop Mob for my book, but would love to use your words instead, with just a few of my own to introduce the concept. Let me know if this is OK with you. I’d credit you and list your blog. Will get back to you with final details, but please email me directly if you’re up for this. Book’s not out until spring 2011, so we can only hope Crob Mob will still be around. Be around, Crop Mob! — Diane Daniel
Trace says:

June 4, 2009 at 9:44 am

Stephen:

Since I’m not familiar with the Fort Collins agricultural scene, I’ll have to make some guesses on where to start.

The apprentices and interns in this area tend to come out of the Sustainable Agriculture program of the community college in Pittsboro (NC). Many attend classes and work on area farms part time. Given that, I would start at the universities in Fort Collins. Seems like there is an organic curriculum? – http://organic.colostate.edu/ Also the specialty crops curriculum – http://www.specialtycrops.colostate.edu/

Flyers advertising an organizational meeting could go out to the instructors to announce to their classes. Also post in local shops, grocery stores, farmers markets, CSA boxes, etc.

You should approach any farmers you know in the area as well as the ones you don’t know. Once you have about 15 to 20 committed folks, you should be able to quickly do most projects within 5 to 7 hours.

To keep it all together, set up a basic email list and a basic wordpress blog to keep the community updated.

After that, pick the first farm, setup your time frame, decide on what should be accomplished, make a sign up sheet, delegate and make sure the projects are successful and completed to the host farm’s liking. Repeat in a month or so on a new farm being sure to get the previous farm residents to participate in the next one.

Please keep us updated on the progress and let me know if I can offer any more help.
stephen says:

June 5, 2009 at 8:43 am

Trace- thanks for the info. I’m involved in both the specialty crops and organic program at CSU. I’m working on the universities 8 acre organic farm this year. We have a 75 member CSA as well as many many variety trials and other research projects. I love it, but it can feel a bit insulated from the rest of the local food scene. Thanks for your advice and encouragement. I’ll keep you updated on how things move along. peace.
Seth says:

June 8, 2009 at 9:16 am

Stephen/Trace,
I lived in Ft Collins for a few years working for the state forest service and now live in the Charlotte NC area … I have no experience with Crop Mobs (just read about them here), but it is an intriguing idea. I’d guess that the students in the sustainable development program @ CSU (if they still have it) would be game for a Crop Mob trial. Several of our friends at the time had their own impromptu farms in the Wellington area, and while they are long since gone, they would have been up for the experiment. Any connections at the co-op in Old Town?

Anyway, good luck.
Seth –

work weekend and crop mob at circle acres

May 8, 2009

by Trace activism biographical circle acres crop mob

Work weekend and Crop Mob at Circle Acres

Posted on May 8, 2009 by Trace

Who: Crop Mob
What: a million things, eating good food, building community
Where: Circle Acres farm
160 A W Buckner Rd (1964 Jessie Bridges Rd) – Silk Hope, NC
Why: why not
When: 10am-3:30pm Sunday May 24th

We (Danielle, Gray, Kristin, Noel and Trace) at Circle Acres farm are planning a work weekend for May 22nd-24th. We are also calling out for a Crop Mob on Sunday the 24th from 10-3.

We have plenty of camping space available for both Friday and Saturday nights. Parking at the farm is interesting, so please fill vehicles to the max…

Here are some of the things we might get into –

– sheet mulching “lumps” for the pumpkin patch
– removal of privet and bio-char demonstration
– building sheet mulch beds
– prepping land for a living fence
– untangling and testing used drip tape
– plugging mushroom logs
– pulling new electrical wire in the house
– ripping out plumbing
– digging a gray water trench
– building a solar shower
– playing around with cob mixtures

For food, please bring snacks, drinks and whatever you think you might want to have on hand for the weekend. We will cook for the Saturday dinner and Sunday Crop Mob lunch; we’ll do our best to provide for other meals, but any help is appreciated.

Please RSVP as soon as you can and let us know what days you will be at the farm. Also let us know if you have any special needs, dietary or otherwise.

One last note – please leave your dogs at home.

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One Response to Work weekend and Crop Mob at Circle Acres

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new blood in the old body

February 5, 2009

by Trace biographical crop mob young farmers

New blood for the old body

Posted on February 5, 2009 by Trace

Many of us never meant to become farmers. We had our ambitions to enter the world as accountants or lawyers or teachers or some other clean, respectable professional. We never really thought about the origins of our food; we always knew that the supermarket shelves would fill themselves, food came in boxes or cans ready to serve and farmers were simply one dimensional photographs in the mix of a hot new marketing campaign.

Farming was at best some idyllic retirement scheme, never a seriously considered career possibility.

But then something happened. In the previously steady route of our lives, a shift occurred. The soil moved under us somehow, got stuck in the creases of our pants, in the ridges of our shoes, in the lines of our palms. Suddenly white picket fences, situation comedies and mutual fund returns didn’t seem so interesting anymore. The big ball game and the driving range became distractions from the reality of a new love affair. We got hooked on the possibilities of growing our own food and also providing that food to others.

The epiphany was likely different for many of us. Maybe a friend took us to a farmers market. Maybe someone had a plate of local hamburgers or collards at a picnic. Maybe the news of some global food disaster made us question the monocultures piled high on our plates. Maybe a real life farmer entered our life.

For a few of us, those with farming in our past – a childhood spent in the fields of the big farms or the family plots, throwing rocks into the hedgerows for little or no pay or watching over milking machines in the stench of industrial sized barns – there was no love, no kind of encouragement, no appreciation for our part in the dynamics of food production. We were simply limbs and calluses then, small gears in a giant cranking clock. We left the farm to pursue something else only to be pulled back hard when it became apparent that we could abandon everything that farming once meant to us. We could make it ours.

Still others came to farming from DIY and anti-authoritarian backgrounds, building urban community gardens or putting up food in anarchist collectives. Gardening always had a community aspect to it, but we wanted something more. We knew that we could do the work, that we had the right vision and skills. We just needed the access and the resources to get started.

Regardless of how we arrived at this point, here we are; we will call ourselves farmers from now on.

Our new loves – with their sharp hooves and unfamiliar odors, bright green leaves and bee covered flowers – give all the confidence to continue and pursue every goal we can imagine. Our new hates – hail, crop failures and rain on market days – fully test our tolerance and keep those same goals in the territory of attainability. Throughout all the highs and lows we can look at ourselves over and over again knowing that, if we stick to our ideals, we can do noble and appropriate work no matter what happens.

Local and sustainable farmers are our peers and our heroes, the most supportive, loving and steadfast community we could ever hope for.

We young and new farmers have the opportunity to change the features of the agricultural systems we have come to inherit. Through the way we speak, act and work we can change the old infrastructure, market by market and county by county. We have the time and ability to influence extension agents, educational systems and other institutions to make them function the way we need them to function in order to attain a sane and purposeful community based food system.

We are the new blood in the old body.

13 Responses to New blood for the old body

1. Brad Mills says:
  
  February 5, 2009 at 4:55 pm
  
  This is the best post I have read yet. I love following the blog and knowing how many people are quietly changing their lives for health, security and community.

1. Margaret says:
  
  February 5, 2009 at 6:14 pm
  
  Trace –
  
  You can speak for me anytime!
  
  Thanks for giving such eloquent voice to the soul of our movement.

1. Nicole says:
  
  February 5, 2009 at 8:42 pm
  
  Thank you for articulating what we can’t all find the words to say. And for doing what so many of us, so far, have only dreamed of doing.

1. Ali says:
  
  February 5, 2009 at 9:22 pm
  
  This is simply beautiful.
  
  & a big THANK YOU to the new bloods.

1. Samantha says:
  
  February 6, 2009 at 10:25 am
  
  Trace, your posts add significant value to our efforts as a mob. Thank you for documenting. It’s wonderful to read!

1. Camille says:
  
  February 7, 2009 at 11:16 am
  
  You’ve outdone yourself with this post!

1. Emma says:
  
  February 13, 2009 at 7:03 pm
  
  What a beautiful and inspiring discription of youth, farming, and so many things. I work on a couple farms in Northeast CT, and it’s great to find information on what other young farmer folk are up to. I’ll be following your escapades! Check out my blog if you feel like it http://yawantapeanut.blogspot.com/
  thanks
  Emma

1. Bernie Quigley says:
  
  March 7, 2009 at 9:17 am
  
  Great work. The in-town farmers markets in Greensboro and Winston-Salem speak to the heart of the region and combine all the traditions. My first stop whenever I visit.

1. Michael G. Cistulli says:
  
  March 12, 2009 at 11:18 pm
  
  Beautifully said!!!

1. Ian Oeschger says:
  
  March 13, 2009 at 1:10 pm
  
  Hi Trace – A friend of ours just forwarded some information about HR 875, the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009.
  
  You’ve probably seen the YouTube video that’s going around or the Sunlight doc.
  
  What do you know about this bill? Is it as bad as some people allege? It does seem sort of nefarious, and of course it’s being vigorously sponsored by Monsanto et al.
  
  Thanks

1. Pingback: Agrarian Road Trip: Part Two « HOT Urban Gardening Coalition

1. Pingback: Agrarian Road Trip: Part Two. « Waste-Not Wagon

1. Geri H. Brown says:
  
  August 10, 2010 at 3:58 pm
  
  I’m a library information assistant and I came upon your site while researching a customer’s question. I’ve enjoyed the posts I’ve read. In my experience, however, the small farm/buy local movement cuts across all generations. Here in Vancouver, WA (across the Columbia River from Portland, OR), grower-vendors at the farmers’ market range in age from 20-somethings to 85. Some older growers are carrying on a family tradition while others retired from city careers.
  
  That’s the great thing about the movement – it’s bringing generations together again.
  
  Geri

stone house crop mob

November 26, 2008

by Trace activism biographical crop mob

Stone House Crop Mob

Posted on November 26, 2008 by Trace

I wonder how much the Crop Mob is about agriculture and how much is simply about enjoying the company of like minded people? We came from all over to dig beds and spread mulch for someone most of us had never met, yet we did it with skill, enthusiasm and the efficiency of seasoned laborers. This is only the second time the Crop Mob was used; for a third of this group of 24 this was their first experience with the group.

An outsider would question our motives as would some cynical old-timers or jaded sustainable agriculture veterans. I wouldn’t even bother with those folks. My main thought is not on convincing the skeptics that our agenda is one of filling a need, but rather my main thought is Where do we go from here?

Three months out of Wilmington and it is finally settling in that I am in a very different place. Things move quickly here and things get done by folks who say they will do them. I can feel some of my own cynicism fading away as I leave behind some of the vapidity of Wilmington, its slow moving, energy-sucking ambivalence flaking away like dead skin.

I am starting to warm up to the people that spin around in my daily interactions. I’m trying to build the sorts of friendships that emulate family. The Crop Mob is helping me with some of my apprehensions about new people and my own motives for entering a new world as an automatically standoffish person.

I have had a hard time, wondering how I would fit in when my experiences with building community in Wilmington often met with horrible failure. I came into a ready made yet evolving community, ready to take my place yet unsure of what that place would look like.

It seems that my role here could be one of role model or experienced advice giver, but mostly, in the first few months, my role has been that of a lost explorer. Things that I know how to do – cook, forage, dumpster dive – have been lost temporarily as I try to figure out the basics of living.

Cooking without anything resembling a kitchen has been frustrating; washing dishes without a good source of water makes cooking more of a chore than it needs to be. What that has to do with the Crop Mob is beyond me, but it does affect my interactions. It has also made my first impressions harder to shake. Adah (pictured above) has tooled on me about my peanut butter and white bread lunches, but for me that meal has been easy, quick and comfortable in this time of transition.

Now that some of those issues are worked out, I feel like I can join this community in a functional capacity, sharing what I know and accepting learning opportunities as they present themselves.

And yet I am still not a talker.

To bring it back to the Crop Mob, the rhythm of the work is often set with old camp songs. The one I have heard at both mobs is about sweet potatoes and biscuits –

Sweet potato biscuit that’s what I said
sweet potato biscuit dancing through my head
went to the cook’s table askin’ for some bread
found me a biscuit but the cooks was all dead

Sweet potato, sweet potato biscuit on the run
gotta find me a biscuit, gotta get me some of them
Sweet potato, sweet potato biscuit on the run
gotta find me a biscuit, gotta get me some

Standin’ on the lookout since the day before last
saw a line of biscuits stretchin’ into the past
Jesus on the hillside you know what he said
he said take this biscuit this sweet potato bread

Standing on the banks of the river wide
hop on a biscuit and catch yourself a ride
ride to the devils house all the way
share a biscuit with the devil on the judgment day

Sweet potato, sweet potato, sweet potato, biscuit
sweet potato, sweet potato, sweet potato, biscuit

sweet potato, sweet potato, sweet potato, biscuit
(whispered) sweet potato, sweet potato, sweet potato, (shouted) BISCUIT!!

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4 Responses to Stone House Crop Mob

mike says:

November 27, 2008 at 4:23 am

‘A VERY special place…’

Sad I missed this one.
shawna says:

November 30, 2008 at 8:53 am

Gorgeous pictures & concept! Looks like a great day/life.
T. Gray says:

November 30, 2008 at 8:19 pm

Believe it or not, you did plant seeds while in Wilmington. My sister shops at Tidal Creek occasionally, sent me the article about your move in the Wilmington paper, and I have lurked on your blog ever since. I’m an old fart dad/potter/community garden manager in Seagrove, about an hour+ west of you. We’re in the beginning stages of organizing, if you wanna call it that, a crop mob. See? Nothing is for naught. One more thing—community also means acknowledging/accepting/honoring those that disagree with us, don’t like us, or just don’t give a fig one way or the other. They too are part of the fabric that makes up a particular community in a particular place. I think I got that from Wendell Berry.
Trace says:

December 1, 2008 at 3:38 pm

I know that I planted plenty of seeds in Wilmington. The problem is, not many of them were “potted up”.

sweet potato crop mob

November 4, 2008

by Trace activism crop mob food sources

Sweet potato Crop Mob

Posted on November 4, 2008 by Trace

The number of landless and itinerant young farmers, working alone or with a few other people, is a pretty large demographic in my world. What is sometimes missing is not only land ownership but the sense of community that can come from an agrarian culture. None of these farmers wants to farm alone, removed from the company of like minded people.

Mike in sweet potatoes

The reality is that the work of farming requires a lot of time, and extra time is not always available to pursue the sort of friendships and bonding with other area young farmers that make the experience more fulfilling. Farming might not be as sexy as the New York Times sometimes makes it out to be, but can definitely be as fun as it looks. However, it can also get lonely and monotonous.

sweet potatoes

Fortunately there is enough social thread around here to keep everyone together, whether it is through interactions in sustainable ag classes, conferences, or the newest idea around here – crop mobs.

A crop mob isn’t necessarily a new idea. Migratory groups of farm laborers, starting with “hobos“, have been a part of the American landscape for quite some time. And if you attended high school in the United States you might remember reading The Grapes of Wrath, the Steinbeck novel about traveling farm workers. Yeah, poor traveling farmers have been on the road a century and half. That doesn’t seem to be ending even as the number of farms available to work on diminishes.

So what makes it different this time around? For one thing, the idea of economic hardship as the driving factor has been removed. Most everyone involved is likely enduring some sort of financial or structural ruin in their lives. I don’t have running water, but I own land and make a mortgage payment; another lives in a tent, but lives rent free and worries very little about buying food.

We all have our problems, but none of them are sufficient enough to demand that we wander around the country doing meaningless labor for horrible wages. We demand and get better treatment and farm in the places we want to farm, for the experience it provides.

We farm because we want to, not because we need to. At some time or another we were infected with a desire to give and take from the dirt, whether it is the red clay of Chatham County or limestone infested soils of Western New York.

What brought this group together was the need to establish a community of people going through the same sorts of movements, many of which keep folks separated during most days. Classes, part time jobs, internships, harvesting and living far apart from each other keeps us in our own little bubbles.