Over the past 4 years I have documented agriculture by photographing both the fruits and the labors of feeding humanity. The project, Where Your Food Comes From; Skagit Valley’s Legacy, is a portrait of food production on small, family farms in the early 21st century. While my project focuses on a small region, the Skagit River Valley, Washington, the tasks of farmers are universal, throughout the world. This powerful imagery, accompanied with farmer’s introspections, will introduce the lives of farmers as they face their endless cycle of tasks: planting and cultivating, irrigating, and harvesting, preparing crops for market, livestock care and management. Year after year. To feed people. Increasingly, consumers are interested in where their food comes from and who grows it. This is evident with the increased popularity of farmer’s markets and CSA’s* that provide fresh food, locally grown. Chances are most people do not know who washed and bunched up carrots for their grocery store, even if they live in a farming community. It’s important to document that food is grown and handled by people on a farm. The scope of this work will also draw in people who generally don’t consider where their food comes from or who grew it. I believe depicting a variety of aspects of small farming today will entice a broader audience to consider their food and its source. To that end, my photographs and interviews will assist community leaders, teachers, parents, and students to engage in the topic of food production. Historians will also be drawn to this book for its documentation of farming, in the early 21st century. *(CSA: community supported agriculture – is a subscription plan where farm products are provided, usually on a weekly basis. The farmer receives money in advance.)
-Craig J. Barber, Photographer
Harvesting cabbage: Bend over, cut, stand up, and toss. Bend over, cut, stand up, and toss. The heads will be trimmed, washed and sent to market. ©Craig Barber
Each day begins on this farm with basic stretching exercises followed with Ray (the owner) informing everyone what the day’s will be and news of what’s to come on the farm. Everyone hears the same news, eliminating gossip and rumors. Everyone feels they are part of the team. ©Craig Barber
When rhubarb is harvested, its leaves are trimmed off as they are inedible and toxic. They are good for composting, though. Little goes to waste. ©Craig Barber
Once the cut rhubarb is transported to the packing barn, it is washed, inspected, and carefully boxed up to be shipped to local and national markets straight away. ©Craig Barber
Asparagus is a Spring crop that needs daily harvesting. The workers cut one spear at a time, handling each with care: asparagus is an incredibly fragile plant. Harvesting takes place for April to June, seven days each week. The spears grow rapidly, demanding daily attention. ©Craig Barber
At the end of each day of harvest, the asparagus crew washes out their plastic buckets. Keeping everything clean is imperative. ©Craig Barber
Leeks are an important crop on this farm. The season lasts about ten months, from July to April, providing steady but back-breaking work for the farmhands. This crew is twelve strong: one driver, one foreman, five workers feeding starts into the planter, five workers assuring a start is properly place every six inches. This farm plants about sixty acres each year. Harvesting occurs from July 1 to April 30. ©Craig Barber
With an interest in their health, these young farmers wear respirators to avoid inhaling tine particulates of dust while planting potato seeds. Ninety-five percent of red potatoes are grown in Washington come from Skagit Valley. ©Craig Barber
Feeding, watering, pruning, and harvesting hot-house tomatoes require a lot of attention. Every ounce of work is paid off in each organic tomato that comes out of this greenhouse. ©Craig Barber
These does are milked once a day. ©Craig Barber
A ritual in Summer for many teenage boys—stacking hay bales in the loft. Hot, sweaty, dusty, heavy, satisfying work! ©Craig Barber
Sheep need their hooves trimmed on a regular basis. It prevents disease and improves the welfare of the animals. Overgrown hooves make walking painful and susceptible to arthritis and joint and tendon problems. ©Craig Barber
This dairy farm uses its manure to fertilize its hayfield and sells its surplus to other famers nearby. Once again, little goes to waste. ©Craig Barber
The Pacific Northwest and Skagit Valley are on the flyway for vast array of birds, including snow geese. Starting in Mid-October, some 100,000 snow geese call the Valley home. The return to their Arctic nesting grounds by late March. ©Craig Barber
When workers toil on eight-to-ten-hour shifts during Winter, when the days are short, some harvesting will be done under spotlights. It is cold, hard work on muddy fields with uneven footing and a sense of isolation. ©Craig Barber
Bio
Craig J. Barber is a photographer who travels and works using antiquarian processes and focuses on the cultural landscape. For over 30 years he has focused his camera on Viet Nam, Havana, the Catskill Mountain region, and Skagit Valley, WA documenting cultures in rapid transition and fading from memory. His work has been exhibited throughout the United States, Europe and Latin America and is represented in several prominent museum and private collections including the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; the Brooklyn Art Museum; the George Eastman House, Rochester, NY; and Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires, Argentina, among others. He has received several grants including the Seattle Arts Commission, the Polaroid Corporation and the New York Foundation for the Arts. In 2006 Umbrage Editions published his book, ” Ghosts in the Landscape: Vietnam Revisited.”
