Hard Numbers & Farming Siblings
Alix Blair, Co-Director of Farmer Veteran, wanted to know just how many farms had gone under in the South in recent years. Working with the USDA Farmland Census, which listed farms by state, she extrapolated the numbers by hand and came out with a pretty sobering number for the broader region ; close to 50,000 Southern farms have disappeared in just a five year window (from 2007 to 2012).
Alix Blair, Co-Director of Farmer Veteran, wanted to know just how many farms had gone under in the South in recent years. Working with the USDA Farmland Census, which listed farms by state, she extrapolated the numbers by hand and came out with a pretty sobering number for the broader region ; close to 50,000 Southern farms have disappeared in just a five year window (from 2007 to 2012).
Listen to Blair's recent podcast exploring this issue through the story of two brothers who started farming for two very different reasons following their time in the military. The piece was produced for an episode of GRAVY, a remarkable compendium of original stories commissioned by the Southern Foodways Alliance. Their gorgeous printed quarterly by the same name is reason enough to join the member-supported non-profit, which has also helped underwrite and promote several Vittles projects.
Pretty Bird, Pretty Bird, Where’s She Goes No One Knows
If backing our KickStarter project on the internets just ain’t yer style, get out of the house and come on down to KINGS Barcade for a night of Chicken Shit Bingo and cold, cold beer this Monday, July 16th. We’ll have right pretty birds, plenty of prizes and some long, but often, odds. You’ll get to shout about seeing some tail feathers shake and support The Farmer Veteran Project .
As a point of clarification, Chicken Shit Bingo works more like a game of roulette. Players cheer on a beautiful hen until she stops on a numbered square and makes someone a lucky winner with a shake of her tail feathers. Squares will cost anywhere from $2 - $5 cash per game. The center square just happens to be a Duke Blue Devil (thanks to the beer ponging frat brothers across the street) and it costs four times as much to play there. But you’ll also win four times as much, so bet on Duke if you dare. Winners are given prizes and the option to donate half of their take to Vittles, which receives fiscal sponsorship from The Southern Documentary Fund, a registered 501 (c)(3). Mr. Blake Hartman will be providing some banjo music in between games.
Chicken Shit Bingo | July 16th | KINGS Barcade, Raleigh, N.C. | 7:30-10 PM
Free Admission (bingo squares are cash-only) | Facebook Event Page | Map
Jessica and Alex Sutton, June 22, 2012, Seven Lakes, NC
It was a busy week(end) in Farmer Veteran land. On Friday, Alix and I headed out to Mt. Airy, NC to meet with, interview and film a new friend of the project, Anna Mann. Anna is a veteran of Bosnia and Iraq and is now farming poultry, fruit and nut trees and honey in an idyllic setting in the foothills of the NC mountains.
Then on Saturday, we headed out to the farm of the newly married Suttons, for a full day of wedding celebration. The day started with a farm tour, then a lunch with family and ended with a party that lasted late into the evening. It was full weekend and we look forward to adding some of the new footage to the film. Until then carry on!
-jeremy