Tag Archives: Farming

Organic Farming DOC Trip

General Information about Item:

  • Informant: Jordan K.
  • Location: Hanover, NH
  • Date Collected: 11-2-2021
  • Form of Folklore: Customary/Ritual
  • Language: English

Informant Data:

  • Jordan is a female, class of 2023 Dartmouth undergraduate. She was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio. She experienced his DOC trip back in 2019F when he was a freshman.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: First-year freshman trips are outdoor orientations programs led by returning students. They happen every fall – with exception to last year because of the pandemic. There are multiple outing options to choose from prior to arriving to campus.
  • Social Context: Coming into Dartmouth, students have little knowledge about the school and its surrounding nature. To expose it to them, returning students take the freshman on trips so that they can build relationships for their four years as undergrads.

Item:

  • Jordan received a survey asking for trip preferences before arriving to school. Unlike all other informants, Jordan said “I chose the ‘random’ option for my trip preference. This implied that they would choose the trip for me. I got the Organic Farming option… I wasn’t too happy at first, but I ended up enjoying it.” After doing some research on Farming DOC trip, I found that “Organic Farming Trips take place either at our very own Dartmouth Organic Farm or Luna Bleu Farm in Vermont. On the trip, you will learn the basics of organic farming while helping out with chores and various projects.” Attached below is a picture that Jordan sent to me; it is the sign outside of the organic farm where they spent most of their time.  

Associated file:

Transcript:

  • “I knew I wanted to go on a trip, but I didn’t have any preference – hence why I chose the random option. Just like many others on the trip, I had no experience about farming, but that’s what made the trip fun because we were all learning together… I now help my mother with her garden when I’m back home.”

Informant’s Comments:

  • J.K. said that she was concerned when she found out that she got the farming choice. But after reflecting upon it with me, she liked the overall experience.

Collector’s Comments:

  • Jordan was the only informant that I interviewed who went with the Organic farming option. This one sounded like more a learning experience than an outing.

Collector’s Name: Ben Keeter

If the Cows are Sitting

Title: If the Cows are Sitting

General Information

  • Sign superstition
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: John Kurtz Sr.
  • Date Collected: May 19, 2019

Informant Data

  • John Kurtz is a fifty-five-year-old former business owner and current consultant. He currently lives in Philadelphia, but he was born and raised on a dairy farm in Morgantown, Pennsylvania. His family owned the farm for multiple generations, but it is no longer operational. He worked on the farm, doing chores and helping out from a young age, where he learned about the traditions of farmers and their workers.

Contextual data

  • Social Context
    • John first encountered this bit of farming folklore when he helped the workers on the farm as a child. As a young child, he helped with the smaller animals, such as the chickens. As he grew older, he began to work on larger projects with the farm workers, mending fences, repairing the barn, and moving bales of hay.
    • The workers would often tell tales among themselves while they worked as a form of entertainment, but the most common pieces of folklore were superstitions that either informed about the future or brought good luck to the farm. It is from these workers that John first encountered the collected item of folklore. The workers would observe the behavior of the animals they tended to predict the weather; a habit John picked up on while working on the farm.
  • Cultural Context
    • The observation of animal behavior to gather information about impending weather is a common farming practice. This practice originated from early American farmers, as they had no reliable way to predict the weather, even though the weather played a significant role in their lives. In order to plan their days, farmers needed some way to predict the weather, and so the practice of observing animals came into being as they seemed to be more in touch with nature than the farmers.

Item

  • “If the cows are sitting down, then it means that it is going to rain, because they are trying to save a warm, dry patch in the field for after the rain.”

Transcript:

Jack: “Can you tell me a little about some superstitions that you had on the farm?”

John: “When I was younger, the workers would often point out when the whole herd of cows was sitting down, and they would say that it meant that it was going to rain.”

Jack: “Do you know why that meant it was going to rain?”

John: “Well… the first time that I heard it, I didn’t understand what it meant, so I asked my dad to explain it to me, and he said, ‘If the cows are sitting down, then it means that it is going to rain, because they are trying to save a warm, dry patch in the field for after the rain.’ I’m not sure that he actually believed it, but the workers took the cows’ behavior very seriously.”

Jack: “Ok thanks, were there any other superstitions on the farm.”

John: “Not that I can remember, but if I think of anymore, I will let you know.”

Jack: “Ok, thank you.”

Collector Jack Kurtz (son of informant)

Building a Farm – Cardinal Directions

Title: Building a Farm – Cardinal Directions

General Information About Item:

  • Oral folklore: Magic superstition
  • Language: Chinese (Mandarin)
  • Country of Origin: China
  • Informant: Guiming Yang
  • Date Collected: May 21st, 2019

Informant Data:

  • Guiming Yang (杨贵名) is 76 years old and was born near the city of Jiyuan in Henan Province, China, where he has lived there throughout his life. For generations, many members of the Yang family were farmers in Jiyuan. Guiming is the paternal grandfather of the collector.

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context
    • The Yang family has been farming for many generations around the Jiyuan area. As he became the patriarch of the Yang family, Guiming was responsible for overseeing the family and their farming.
    • In supervising and planning the expansion of the farm and constructing new buildings, Guiming had to consider a variety of factors, such as location and orientation.
  • Cultural Context
    • Feng shui (风水) is a form of Chinese pseudoscience that allows individuals to harmonize with their environment. Many who adhere to this aspect of Chinese folk religion believe that, for example, by arranging their property and certain objects in their immediate surroundings in a certain way, they can harness the invisible forces that bind the universe together.
    • In a historical context, facing the north symbolizes uncertainty and danger. China was plagued by Mongol attacks in the 13th and 14th centuries, and these invaders came from the north.
    • On the other hand, the sun (which is obviously a critical element in farming) always rises in the east, making it preferable to orient buildings in that direction.

Item:

  • In the process of building a house or farm, it is important to consider which direction it is facing. The front of the building should optimally face the east, and not the north.

Associated Files: 

A Chinese Farmer

Collector’s Name: Richard Yang

Cattle Brands

Title: Cattle Brand

General Information about Item:

  • Material Lore: Cattle Brand
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: Tyler Bowen
  • Date Collected: May 20, 2019

Informant Data:

  • Tyler was born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska; he is currently a sophomore at Dartmouth College studying economics. His family has a rich history of farming and ranching; his dad’s parents live on a cattle ranch in southeastern Kansas and his mother’s parents operate their family farm in central South Dakota which has been in their family for over 100 years. He grew up visiting both farms often and knows quite a bit about farming and ranching practices.

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context
    • Tyler first encountered cattle brands at his grandparent’s ranch in Kansas as a child, where his grandparents have a unique brand registered to the Bowen Ranch. When he was 12, he helped his grandfather brand some of their new cattle.
    • Cattle are generally branded early in their lives or after being brought to a new ranch after being purchased at a livestock auction. Dark colored cattle are usually branded with a freeze iron, which is a metal iron dipped in liquid nitrogen. The iron is pressed against the cow’s hip and leaves a white mark which stays on the cow permanently. Light colored cattle are branded with a hot iron, leaving a dark brand on the cow’s skin permanently.
  • Cultural Context
    • Cattle branding dates back to the days of the Wild West, when cattle were turned loose on the plains to graze. Cattle belonging to different ranchers would intermix, and ranchers needed a way to tell their cattle apart during roundups. Brands are also used as a deterrent against cattle rustlers (thieves), as branded cattle can only be sold by the rancher who the brand is registered to.

Item

  • The first item is the brand belonging to the Bowen Ranch, seen here as a freeze brand on one of the ranch’s horses (horses can also be branded, though cattle are the primary recipients of such marks). The Bowen Ranch’s brand is derived from the first two letters in the Arabic word for “farm” (muzrah), written in Arabic as مزرعة. Tyler’s grandfather, Bill Bowen, chose the word muzrah as inspiration for his brand because him and his wife Cheryl began the ranch raising Arabian horses, one of which they still have today.
  • The second item is a blanket from the 100th anniversary of the town of Reliance, South Dakota which features all of the brands from farmers and ranchers used during the period of 1905-2005. Tyler’s great-great-grandfather Anton Straka’s brand is shown above the cow’s left horn on the blanket as , a stylized abbreviation of Anton’s name. The brand is no longer in use as Tyler’s family no longer runs their own cattle on the farm but instead rents it out to neighboring ranchers. This item represents the individual and communal aspects of cattle brands; each brand represents the identity and assets (cattle) of an individual rancher while the collection of brands symbolizes a community rooted in agriculture.

Associated Files: 

Collector’s name: Tyler Bowen (collector and informant)