Fasenfest and Berry

FASENFEST:

I am not at all surprised that Harriet Fasenfest lives in Portland, Oregon. From what she reveals about herself and her beliefs in the reading, she definitely fits the Portland stereotype. That being environmentally conscious, with a desire for self-sustainability (in a personal and local context) and distaste for consumer culture.

Like the reading by Greer from last class, Fasenfest focuses on her introduction into the subculture she is discussing. She goes back and reviews the events in her life that have brought her to this change in lifestyle. By explaining how she got here, she makes herself more relatable to her readers. These readers are obviously interested in her lifestyle, but most likely beginners. This book seems to be a how-to guide to the householding lifestyle that she leads. She makes a few historical time references, the shop she owned in the 1980’s and how by the turn of the century consumer culture had been taken to a whole new level which she was not comfortable with.

BERRY:

Wikipedia lists Wendell Berry’s occupation(s) as farmer, writer, and academic. He is 77 years old and was born in Kentucky. Most people born on a farm tend to farm for life, but he took a different path earning a bachelor’s and master’s in English from the University of Kentucky, completing a creative writing program at Stanford University, teaching at New York University before finally returning to his alma mater to teach creative writing.

Berry takes a much more economic approach to agriculture, and writes about the industry and market as a whole instead of his personal experiences with it. The audience for this piece is not primarily for farmers, but for people in agribusiness. He is writing to explain to them that they think they know how to regulate this industry, but in reality are making some grave mistakes. As with the Fasenfest reading, the rise of consumer culture and big business is a pivotal historical event affecting the farming industry.

CRAFT?

I can definitely see farming as a craft. It takes a certain set of skills, patience and passion. From this comes something tangible, food. Fasenfest’s backyard garden could definitely be seen as craftivism as well. Like many craftivists, one of the major reasons Fasenfest gardens is to detach herself from consumer culture. She is crafting in a nostalgic way, going back to a time when a family grew all the food they needed to survive. Only after feeding themselves would the sell their surplus. Although the act of backyard subsistence farming alone can be seen as activism, she takes it further by publishing a book instructing other interested gardeners to do the same as well as teaching classes at a householding education center called Preserve in Portland.