Learning Connecticut Farmers’ Stories

Emily Brooks, founder of Edibles Advocate Alliance, will sign copies of her new book August 16 at 7 pm at the in . “Connecticut Farmer and Feast: Harvesting Local Bounty” tells the stories of close to 50 farmers in Connecticut.

Traveling around to meet with farmers,  Brooks was amazed by the diversity — they were young single women, octogenarians and everything in between, third or fourth generation farmers and people who started out in corporate America.  

“Food marketing is powerful, when we see a little red barn, a little silo, and a white picket fence on our food packaging, over time, people assume that’s what a farm looks like,” Brooks said. “Every farm in Connecticut is radically difference and every farmer in Connecticut is radically different.”

Putting faces to buying and eating local was one of the primary goals for Brooks, who saw that human connection as a missing piece of our current dialogue. In giving farmers a chance to tell their stories, Brooks hoped to be part of a growing awareness and to put a face to the farm.

“I was surprised by how eager they were to tell their stories — farmers keep to themselves, they’re very busy, but they opened up their farms to me, allowed me to take pictures, they wanted me to try their tomatoes, see this, see that,” Brooks said.

In addition to opening up their farms, Brooks asked each farmer about their life and how they came to be a farmer in the first place.

“That got a lot of blank stares — one of those things where you wonder if it’s a lie, maybe there is such thing as a stupid questions!"” Brooks said. “Some had an answer right away, others just stared, and some really struggled to answer….when I asked one farmer, she said “Because I like it.””

While “Connecticut Farmer and Feast" is a quick read filled with good stories and recipes, it's also a book that carries a powerful message about the direction that our food is headed.

“I want people to understand that consumers are king. These days, it’s easy to get frustrated and turn off the news thinking that we don’t have control. With consumer goods, we have 100% control. If you want local produce in grocery stores, open your mouth and say it,” Brooks said.

Brooks is optimistic about today's shift towards fresh foods and buying local, but she also knows there is a lot left to be done. She stresses that in order for progress to be made, consumers will need to find unity and begin to clarify their goals and priorities.

“One of my farmers, Lexi Gazy of Gazy Brothers Farm in Oxford told me, “If you keep eating, we’ll keep growing,”” Brooks said. “It’s up to us.”