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at the Bioneers Dinner for Farms Not Arms October 20
My name is Michael O'Gorman. I farm 1600 acres of organic vegetables for Jacobs Farm/Del Cabo in Baja California.
Walt Whitman said “Do not that that defies your soul, and your very life will become a great poem.”
He also said, “The poet must know that the fields are ploughed and manured. The ordinary man might not, but the poet must”.
For 37 years I have been farming to surround myself with beauty and life, with kind people doing necessary and graceful work. I have created a sanctuary for my soul.
I became a farmer in 1970 after five years of protesting the War in Vietnam as part of what was called the “Back to the Land Movement.” Inspired by the writings of Henry David Thoreau and people like Helen and Scott Nearing, our belief was that the ultimate protest against the war was to create a society from the ground up that was peaceful, cooperative, in tune with nature and free of the drive for consumption that derails our humanity.
Jim Cochran and Will Allen and Kate Duesterberg and other leaders of Farms Not Arms came out of that tradition and as the communes faded away we kept going forward, trying to sustain this dream in the world of commerce by creating farms that create beauty, sustain the land and provide just and dignified work for those that labor with us.
For us it has not been easy. It is not easy today. But we have survived and persevered and we feel that our farms and our experiences have valuable things to offer to a society that is not just back again at war, but that never really stopped being at war.
By supporting food sovereignty - the right for all nations to protect their farms and farmers from foreign interference and manipulation – by fighting hunger and working to preserve farmland and water around the world, we can eliminate many of the root causes of war.
By supporting sustainable and organic farming, regional and local agriculture, the ecological growing of bio-fuels - outside the hands of the corporations – coupled with dramatic reduction in fuel use – by changing how we farm and feed ourselves we can do more about global warming than any other industry or any other action.
And by opening our farms and our hearts to the young men and women returning from war we can help to make another back to the land movement, bringing not only much needed new blood to our farms but creating places of value and esteem for a generation of refugees from virtual reality and the cubicles of Dilbert.
Another quote I like is from Robert Browning – “A mans grasp should exceed his reach – or what’s a heaven for.”
When Matt Mccue, a young Iraq vet turned farmer, called me from where he is farming for the PeaceCorps in West Africa, he asked if we were a big group. “No,” I said, “we’re a handful. Do you mind being a part of a handful?”. He thought for just a minute and said, “No, I’ll be part of a handful”
I appeal to you to join this handful – whether you farm or garden or sell food or prepare food or just consume food – we are fighting to protect our souls and the soul of our great nation.
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