OLIVIA CAMFIELD
PORTLAND, OREGON
WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY DOING? (WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN WORKING, ETC)
I am currently working at Good Rain Farm. It’s the winter season so I’m doing a lot of seed saving and creating our new seed saving program to extend to our community members
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN FARMING?
I have been farming since March 2020.
WHAT INITIALLY BROUGHT YOU TO THE FIELDS?
I wanted to learn skills that could sustain me and my family and community. Creating food sovereignty for my people would be a major win and would open so many doors for great change in our world.
WHY HAVE YOU CHOSEN TO FARM FOR SOMEONE ELSE (NOW OR IN THE PAST?)
Farming for Good Rain is a dream because I am not business focused. I am laboring and that is what I provide. It’s where my strength is, but I could never imagine running a farm by myself. I choose to work for Michelle at Good Rain because I have the freedom to grow as a farmer without having the burden of starting a farm from scratch.
WHAT ARE SOME ISSUES FOR FARMERS WORKING ON SOMEONE ELSE'S FARM - ISSUES THAT YOU'VE WITNESSED OR EXPERIENCED?
I have witnessed differences in opinions that can lead to tension, but also outright racism from non-Indigenous people when we tell them, yes, we are growing this thing you call a weed and yes, it is food and no, your idea of what is and isn't food is not the end all be all.
CAN YOU TELL ME THE QUALITIES OF A DREAM FARM NOT LEADING TO OWNERSHIP - THAT YOU WOULD WANT TO WORK ON?
Indigenous foods of the area you are in are grown primarily before any other settler food. Indigenous people of the area are fed first always.
The ability to work alone.
“I come back (to farming) because I feel like I’m the closest I’ve ever been to creating food sovereignty for my people, yet we are so far still. I feel like I am closer to divesting fully from capitalism and really making food more accessible.”
WHAT KEEPS YOU COMING BACK?
I come back because I feel like I'm the closest I've ever been to creating food sovereignty for my people, yet we are so far still. I feel like I am closer to divesting fully from capitalism and really making food more accessible.
WHAT IS YOUR TAKE ON THE DIFFERENCE (IF ANY) BETWEEN A FARMER AND A "FARM WORKER"/"FARM EMPLOYEE" BESIDES PROPRIETORSHIP?
There shouldn't be a difference because if there is that power structure in place it feels like a capitalistic hierarchy, which I want nothing to do with.
DO YOU CALL YOURSELF A FARMER? WHY OR WHY NOT.
Yes I do because I am a labourer first and always. It is what I have to give and it is my greatest strength, but also what can be most exploited. I call myself a farmer because I have a relationship with the food from the time they are seeds until they are eaten. If you just want to be a part of the showy part of farming, then you aren't a farmer.
WHAT KIND OF SUPPORT WOULD BE HELPFUL FOR PEOPLE WORKING ON FARMS NOT THEIR OWN?
Freedom. Freedom to know their body and their mind and know what needs to get done and be able to do it without pushing to the limits. Getting to choose our community member, too. Being able to freely speak about racism and being able to say we aren't going to take this person's money and feed them because they are violent and we don't need to take crumbs from these people anymore.
ANYTHING ELSE YOU'D LIKE TO SHARE ABOUT YOURSELF & YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH FARMING? WHAT KEEPS YOU UP AT NIGHT?
I’m kept up at night because there is still so much work to do. I am able to live in the PNW and work here, yet all I want is to wake up back South with my family on a big piece of ancestral land away from everyone else and just go feed my horses and feed my community, but it's hard to give up what I have here because this is so hard to find where I’m from. I have this dream job and yet this key piece is missing.
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....)
Crew lunch is some of the most important time spent on the farm, hands down. If you can't break together and enjoy each other, you might have some wack crew members and need to change that up. I am a firm supporter of breaks and enjoying yourself all together.