A Farmer's Tale (Part 1)

Danielle (Mary's daughter): I remember the first time we stayed in the historic white farmhouse at Crane Dance.  My kids were little. Our upstairs room had multiple beds and was nicknamed the dormitory.  The lights were dim, but embroidered bright-red ladybugs on matching bedspreads and curtains added bursts of color and cuteness to the space.  A random old door leaned against one of the walls, and the whirring sound of the window air conditioner lulled us comfortably to sleep...but not before a discovery on the bedside table was made that would turn into an adored evening ritual for summers to come...

We delighted to find a heavy, hard-covered nursery-style storybook filled with chapters of farm tales.  Each tale centered around the farmer husband, farmer wife, and all the talking farm animals.  The stories contained mischief, lessons, songs, and despite whatever silly misperceptions the farmers or animals may have had (which of course led to utter chaos on the farm) happy endings were only ever a couple pages away.

We closed the book that first night, drifting into a contented sleep, possibly dreaming ourselves into the idyllic scenes, maybe even half-believing we would awaken to the same reality on this farm come morning (the wonder of dreams, right?)

But when the rooster and cats and barking dogs woke us early, the fictional images vanished quickly! 

Over the years, we've learned much about farming during our summers at Crane Dance, most notably that farm tales don't resolve in two pages!  Scenes here center around themes of hard physical work, resilience, consistency, adaptation, problem solving, and always elements of love, joy, compassion, and gratitude. Even though we attest that sometimes the animals look to be on the verge of speech, the main characters here at Crane Dance are definitely its farmers: Jill and Mary.

So, as the hearts and souls of the farmers are the true storytellers, I thought I would start with Jill and ask if she could offer some narrative of Crane Dance's story, in case you're interested in reading a farm tale for yourself ☺︎... 

                            AN INTERVIEW WITH JILL 
                                        (PART 1)

Dani:  Jill, I think we're all eager to hear from you, as the founder of Crane Dance Farm! 

As any farm is a reflection of the farmer's dreams, skills, and determination from the very beginning, I'm curious to know what personal factors set Crane Dance Farm in motion over 20 years ago?

Jill:  I had no intention of going into agriculture. I was pursuing a degree in writing, but during college I got a job in the agriculture department  greenhouse  at Western Michigan University my first year. It became obvious to me and everyone else that I loved it and had a knack for it. 

The head of the dept told me I should get a degree in agriculutre.  I said I was pursuing writing.  I'll never forget what he said: "Writers can't farm and farmers can't write." I learned what that meant later on during an internship at a dairy farm (where my love for cows began). The farmers and I were sitting together during lunch.  They were passing around the Michigan Farmer magazine that had come out and were murmuring "I don't know what this means..."

The disconnect the professor's statement had implied was that writers didn't write in a way farmers understood.  Most writers didn't have enough background in farming to be in touch with the farming experience to write in a way that made sense to the farmers. It was hard for farmers to respect that. 

This prof recognized that I loved working in the greenhouse and told me I should get a degree in ag so that I could write in a way that farmers could understand.

I ended up taking a class in agriculture and immediately made the connection that agriculture had a lot to do with plants, animals, and nature. A love of these things had been instilled by my mom early on in childhood, but I had no way of understanding they were the components of farming because I hadn't been exposed to this connection except to have a garden.

I loved it all and ended up getting a BS in Agriculture from WMU and a BA in Professional Writing from Albion College.

Dani:  So you were graduating with a degree in agriculture right in the middle of the 1980s farm crisis.  The revved up agricultural policies of "get big or get out" and "plant fence row to fence row" to "feed the world" had backfired. Farms everywhere were going belly-up.  It was a highly charged time and could be seen as a historical lesson for governmental policy on the importance of  balanced and sustainable agricultural  practices. What was your mindset around all of this as you were just starting out?

Jill: Well, for me, it was all going against plants, animals, and nature. For instance, industrial farming methods aimed at higher efficiency and maximizing outputs led to the development of chemically dependent GMO crops and also CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feed Operations) that grew animals as if commodities.

I had taken a class called Animal Husbandry, and it occurred to me that somewhere along the line, we lost track of animals as sentient, spiritual beings.  I couldn't deal with what I was learning.  It scared me.  I didn't want to eat that or have anything to do with that. 

But I knew I loved plants, animals, and nature.  And I had to eat.  So, I knew I had to farm.

      ...interview continued in PART 2! Stay tuned!