A Little Brief Background On The Family Farm By Sylvia Bojcvuk

As a person that has grown most of my own food, without chemicals or engine powered equipment, for the last 15 years and lesser so for many more years I can relate to some degree what it may have been like for a farmer in the 1800’s (I even live in a house built in 1850).

America — a land known for its ideals of freedom and new opportunities, a nation built under the idea that every man and women is created equal. However, the definition of what makes a person an American is entirely different from what it is that makes up America, itself. J.Hector St. John Crevecoeur, author of Letters from an American Farmer (1782), exposes what he believes makes an American. However, when compared to the standards of what makes an American in today’s world, it seems that becoming an American then was much simpler then, than it is today. The definition of an American is always evolving due to the influences of our changing nation. During a simpler time, Crevecoeur defined an American as someone of European

“Cutting Into the Meatpacking Line: Workers and Change in the Rural Midwest” book, by Deborah Fink, focuses mainly on showing what was happening in the meatpacking’s industry in the rural Midwest of Iowa. It shows that the key factors in the creation the history of the rural working class depended on the different experiences that gender, ethnic and racial minorities faced during the working years in the meatpacking. It shows the painful process of struggling for recognition of the employees ' rights that women, ethnic and racial minorities faced when they were entering into the meatpacking workforce. Fink wrote her book to inform the reader about what was happening in the meatpacking industry of Iowa the old days, and how women, ethnic and racial minorities faced a lot of segregation, discrimination, harassment, and unequal wages.

The grounding force for most individuals is family, whether it be birth or chosen. In the novel Indian Horse, written by Richard Wagamese, Saul Indian horse has those around him to help him regain himself. After losing his biological family to the residential school, Saul does his best to recreate a family, consisting of Ervin Sift and the whole Kelly family. Family is a vital part of human existence. For Saul, it helped him rediscover himself.

Farming the Home Place: A Japanese American community in California 1919-1982 by Valerie J. Matsumoto presents a close and in-depth study of social and culture history of Cortez, a small agricultural settlement located in San Joaquin valley in California. Divided into six chapter, the book is based primarily on the oral interviews responses from eighty three members of Issei, Nisei, and Sansei generations. However, many information are also obtained from the local newspapers, community records, and World War II concentration camp publications.

Soon after, Sylvia became incontinent, and Gertrude locked her in the basement. A “bathing” regime came into action; every other day, Sylvia was burned with scalding water. She was starved and often kept naked. Grosser indignities were to follow, with Gertrude continuing to authorize Sylvia’s torture carried out by the neighborhood children.

After gaining their citizenship, Jean Pierre and François applied for and received Certificates of Amnesty from the French government, allowing them to travel to France. In1878, Jean Pierre returned to France, some twenty-five years after leaving, visiting his parents, siblings, and family members. Oral family history indicates an older brother died during the Napoleonic Wars, but this is unconfirmed, and genealogy records indicate that Jean Pierre was the oldest son, born when his father was 26 and mother 25.

What does it mean to be an American? In today's day and age, the general perception of an American is to be free, free to practice any religion, free to speak your mind, free in general. However, America has only been able to be perceived as a promised land due to the obstacles and barriers that have been challenged by early Americans. From having to accept others religious beliefs to the abolishment of slavery. A good example is J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur’s Letters from an American Farmer (1782). Letters from an American Farmer is a collection of twelve letters written from the perspective of a fictional character. These letters do a magnificent job at emphasizing on how America is similar to the environment and the people who feed

Arguing that the majority of farmers during the Great Depression benefitted from the government policies produced through President Roosevelt’s New Deal is an inaccurate claim. While history textbooks highlight the improvement of finances for people in rural areas in the United States of America, the personal experiences of family farmers contradict those textbooks. Writers of textbooks about American history should consider looking further into the delicate topic of how the Great Depression effected common farm families. In the West, farmers endured the Dust Bowl. In the North, people in rural areas competed to make a profit. Although statistics show the most economic damage of the Great Depression beginning at the end of 1929, small farm families refer to the effects of the Depression dating back as early as 1925 since government policies mostly benefitted large farm industries as small farms were forced to foreclose.

By the time World War II ended, Sylvia was ten years old. Because of this she was unable to attend school until she was eleven. Itka and Hava were her best friends, but unfortunately both were killed by the Nazis. In 1959, she married a Holocaust survivor from Poland. Her husband’s name was David Rozine (United States

The Agrarian Standard, an essay written by Kentucky author Wendell Berry, was published in Citizenship Papers on January 1st, 2002. The book this essay was published in served as a response to 9/11 and a reflection of our country. Berry resides in Port Royal, Kentucky, where he lives with his wife Tanya. His family runs a non-profit organization focused towards practicing agrarianism: a social or political movement designed to bring about land reforms or to improve the economic status of the farmer (Merriam-Webster online dictionary.) Berry has been discussing his belief in agrarianism throughout his 45-year literary career, through poems (Sabbaths- 1979, IV), speeches (“It All Turns On Affection”), and essays such as this one.

Treat yourself to a selection of custom built Amish barns designed to your specifications and add additional features and functionality as you wish. You select the size, style, color, materials, roof, floorboards, and everything in between. J&N Structures manufacture the finest quality custom horse barns built by Amish master craftsmen and sold through a network of dealer distributors in the Eastern United States. We are currently in South Carolina, North Carolina, Virgina, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York and the remainder of all New England States.

Growing up on a small family wheat farm in southwestern Oklahoma, I have experienced the harsh conditions of farming firsthand. The job that used to employ the largest amount of people in the United States has lost the support and the respect of the American people. The Jeffersonian Ideal of a nation of farmers has been tossed aside to be replaced by a nation of white-collar workers. The family farm is under attack and it is not being protected. The family farm can help the United States economically by creating jobs in a time when many cannot afford the food in the stores. The family farm can help prevent the degradation of the environment by creating a mutually beneficial relationship between the people producing the food and nature. The family farm is the answer to many of the tough questions facing the United States today, but these small farms are going bankrupt all too often. The government’s policy on farming is the largest factor in what farms succeed, but simple economics, large corporations, and society as a whole influence the decline in family farms; small changes in these areas will help break up the huge corporate farms, keeping the small family farm afloat.

The definition of what America is, and furthermore what an American is, has been eternally elusive. However, it can be reasonably said that the vision of America rests upon freedom of expression, the right to property, and self-determination. These ideas are explored in one European’s examination of American agricultural society in the late 18th century. Letters from an American Farmer by J. Hector St. John de Crèvecœur illustrates the gilded nature of the early vision of America; one that appears to be simplistic and based in freedom, but lies on a foundation of oppression and greed.

I woke up before my alarm. A distant square of eerie half-twilight from the window held the familiar outline of the locust tree. In the dark, I fumbled to dress without waking my parents. I slipped outside.