MAYAM GARRIS
ALBUQUERQUE, NM
Mayam has been farming off and on for about 12 years. Currently, they are enrolled in a county-run farmer training and incubation program.
WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY DOING? (WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN WORKING, ETC)
I’m currently based in Bernalillo county, working with the Grow the Growers program, which is a farm training program for up and coming farmers. The goal of the program is train folks in how to farm in the southwest with the goal to have their own farming operations in 4 to 5 years time.
I just started with Grow the Growers two weeks ago. Previously I was farming at Los Poblanos in the north valley of Albuquerque.
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN FARMING?
In general I have been farming off and on for about 12 years. I originally started with my grandmother on her homestead in North Carolina. I did that all throughout my teenage years. Basically I would go stay with my grandmother over the summer. That’s what I did. I eventually started traveling and working on other farms in my early 20s and I’ve farmed now consecutively for 5 years. I’ve farmed in North Carolina for 13 years, and after that I began journey farming in Utah, two years in Pennysylvania, one year in New Mexico and going on second year in New Mexico.
WHAT INITIALLY BROUGHT YOU TO THE FIELDS?
Initially my grandmother. I owe it all to her. It was a summer thing to do. Eventually I learned a lot of wisdom from her and the plants and that got me into the practice.
I was working at a community garden in Greensboro, North Carolina in 2016, growing food for community within the community for a while not knowing what to do. But working there brought me back into the practice of farming, I had started losing interest. Growing food with and for my neighbors and getting feedback, it rooted and grounded me in the practice of growing food.
WHY HAVE YOU CHOSEN TO FARM FOR SOMEONE ELSE (NOW OR IN THE PAST?)
Yeah I chose to farm for other folks and just all across the country because I wanted to take as much knowledge as I can from other folks and eventually apply it back to where I want to lay roots. It’s funny, I had no idea what the journey was going to entail. I thought it was going to be a knowledge gaining process, now it’s more learning how to grow food and learning more about myself too. My whole intent is to learn different methods of growing food, and I’m still learning. I’m never going to be completely done. It’s humbling process.
I want to learn and eventually teach others and share knowledge and return it back to folks interested in farming, as well.
I’ve learned a lot about myself in regards to my limitations for sure. Limitations in regards to isolation, how much resilience I have in that isolating part. Being in a lot of rural areas, just you know for people are reading this, as a Black Queer farmer, there’s not too many of us in rural areas. I learned a lot about how to hold myself, love myself in new ways and keep myself when I start to feel lonely and just feeling like I can’t do this anymore. It’s been an eye opening process. I’ve learned and gained a lot of strength and knowledge in that.
WHAT ARE SOME ISSUES FOR FARMERS WORKING ON SOMEONE ELSE'S FARM - ISSUES THAT YOU'VE WITNESSED OR EXPERIENCED?
Where can I begin.
The first thing that comes to mind, when I was farming in Utah on goat farm in 2017, it was essentially this big scam. The guy promised $1500 /month and I get there and he could only offer $500/month. I had just drove from North Carolina to Utah, spent all of our money and now we had to earn the money back to go back east. We had to work here, bear the burden of all the crap that is going to come. I worked with young goats, goats that were just born to two years old. I was the caretaker of these goats. I had no prior experience. A goat got sick, some dietary issue where it doesn’t know when to stop eating. The farm manager took its life instead of caring for the goat. I thought this could have been handled differently. I had been working with these goats, and he had a hands-off approach. I would have been more adamant in advocating for this goat’s life, really paying more attention to what’s going on with both plants and animals, being more mindful of what’s going on around.
I didn’t feel like I had much agency. I was thousands of miles away from home, on unknown land, in a really weird situation. For me at the time, I just needed to coast through so I can get out. In retrospect, I could have been advocating for myself and having agency.
Other issues…communication is always this thing in farming. We have so many different backgrounds and methods and tensions arise. We don’t communicate properly or in ways that can be effective. People come for each other as opposed to looking at the bigger issue. For me I feel like that is something I’ve had to work through, really talking about how we can resolve this on a bigger level. What are we tackling instead of coming after each other?
I’ve been swayed towards a low till/less impactful way of dealing with crops and working with soil. I’ve worked on a lot of farms that are all about ripping and disking, destroying microorganisms in the soil. It’s hard to work with a farm that is all about ripping and disking and tilling when you don’t want to take part in that. This is the farm owner, they have been doing this since I've been alive. They can always say you can just leave. That has been really hard, just trying to find compromise with that. Just saying that I’m the one who isn’t going to be the one who steps on the tiller when I can do that.
Just in regard to gender and identity, it’s been interesting and difficult. This is the first farming space in a while that has been folks of color. I’ve been primarily on farms with white people, land with white people or owned by white people. It’s interesting navigating relationship dynamics, like, I want to come out but it’s hard to do that when A. I’m the only Black person around for miles, and B. I’m the only Black Queer person around. I’ve had to find balance and safety in that and still be my true authentic self. That has been a true challenge.
Every farm is different, every situation is different.
With Grow the Grower, I’m able to navigate that and be myself and get the work done.
At farms in the past, I had to go by my government name and was constantly misgendered. That’s been an issue. There are more Queer gender nonconforming farms popping up around the country. I hope that will keep happening for all the Queer and Trans babies out there who want to farm.
“As a Black Queer farmer, there’s not too many of us in rural areas. I learned a lot about how to hold myself, love myself in new ways and keep myself when I start to feel lonely and just feeling like I can’t do this anymore. It’s been an eye opening process. I’ve learned and gained a lot of strength and knowledge in that.”
WHAT KEEPS YOU COMING BACK?
What keep me coming back is that I love it. I do it because this is my passion. I couldn’t see myself doing anything else. I always want to honor my ancestors with this practice. That keeps me going, knowing my family has been doing this for generations. I want to continue that heritage of growing food to feed myself and others.
Ultimately I want to get the youth involved, a reciprocal process. I want to learn, teach and listen to the youth.
Farming is all intertwined for me, past present and future. I’m in the present moment honoring my ancestors, in the past, and looking toward the future working with the youth.
WHAT IS YOUR TAKE ON THE DIFFERENCE (IF ANY) BETWEEN A FARMER AND A "FARM WORKER"/"FARM EMPLOYEE" BESIDES PROPRIETORSHIP?
They are both intertwined . I think a lot of us can see a farmer as someone who sits back, does the planning and has a bunch of laborers do the work for them. That’s a misconstrued perception of what a farmer is. I feel like a farmer and farm worker are one in the same. If you are working with the land, tending the land , then you are doing both the work of the farmer and farm worker - planning and working with the land. I don’t really see a difference.
I do consider myself a farmer even though there is still a lot to learn. Farmers are constantly learning, and I take pride in that too, just because my family had been farmers for generations. That’s just something that we know to do either intuitively or through just passing on traditions.
WHAT KIND OF SUPPORT WOULD BE HELPFUL FOR PEOPLE WORKING ON FARMS NOT THEIR OWN?
There have been farm situations that have absolutely sucked for everyone. What kept us was having the ability to talk and just to vent. Just that release of whatever was going on through the day, whatever emotion, times to just sesh it out has been really helpful for myself and other folks. And then not only to talk, but finding pleasure on farms that are not your own is really healing.
In Utah, I was on that farm that was a hell hole of situation and we found comfort in playing dominoes with each other every night. It was so repetitive, but it kept us. We would talk about the day and have fun and release. Finding pleasure in a farm that is not your own, it’s a really great way to keep folks invested in the work.
ANYTHING ELSE YOU'D LIKE TO SHARE ABOUT YOURSELF & YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH FARMING? WHAT KEEPS YOU UP AT NIGHT?
I think it’s definitely important to keep our kids, our youth involved in this. Even if it’s not our farm, bring your cousin, your nephew out. Also not just to teach them, but to learn from them as well.
Kids are very curious. They can change your perspective and blow your mind. Being a teacher and being a student, constantly learning in this process. It’s humbling and it’s also exciting.
WHAT IS YOUR OPINION/TAKE ON THE FARMER LUNCH? (DO YOU TAKE LUNCH, DO YOU SKIP LUNCH, DO YOU ENJOY TAKING LUNCH WITH YOUR CREW - FOR COMMUNITY BUILDING, IS THERE PRESSURE TO BE SOCIAL....)
Farmer lunches have been so wild. So many different farms. Some of them are like ,“stick a knife in me” with dad jokes, farmer puns - too much.
Other ones that have been great . We can be ourselves and share food.
One farm that I worked at, we had a community kitchen so we shared meals with one another. It was great because we could not talk about work for a second and just bond over mundane things or things that peak our interest. So yeah, they are hit or miss, but I do love them even if I’m rolling my eyes the entire time. I enjoy being with people.
