ZEL TAYLOR
GEORGIA
Zel has been working on farms for 5 seasons. They are in the process of moving to Maryland to work on a vegetable farm for the upcoming season. They have farmed in California, North Carolina, Puerto Rico and Cuba.
Zel is one of the co-authors of Not Our Farm’s worker zine: Guide to Working on Farms
WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY DOING? (WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN WORKING, ETC)
Currently I am in north Georgia on 5 acres that aren’t mine, but I’ve been fortunate to find housing here after I left my last farming job. I’ve kind of been resting for the off-season and also healing from just the experience of my previous farm job. A lot of the things that I’ve been doing is foraging, a lot of being in nature, what I have access to right now. I’m in the process of moving to Maryland to work on a farm for this upcoming season. It’s a vegetable farm, some flowers, and they have laying hens. I think they hope to get other animals, too.
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN FARMING?
This is my 5th season farming in some type of capacity. I started in California in Mendocino County and moved to the Bay area. I farmed in Oakland, then I moved to North Carolina and farmed for a year there. I’ve also done some farming work in Puerto rico and Cuba.
WHAT INITIALLY BROUGHT YOU TO THE FIELDS?
After college I feel like I was really in a place where I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I felt like I was dealing with anxiety and depression and not feeling like the professional world was a fit. I was bartending and working in the service industry for ten years, living in Atlanta at the time. I remember going to a garden space that was in downtown Atlanta and it was a Black-owned space, and I remember going into the space and thinking, “Wow, I didn’t know okra looked like this when it grew.” I had no idea the way plants looked before they got on our plate.
The immense peace I felt in this place, it didn’t feel like I was in the city. It was a place outside of the city, but still in the city. I came back a few more times, and really wanted to do this more and jump into it and get my hands in my soil.
It was a catalyst event for me.
Immediately after, I signed up for an Americorps thing to do trail work for 3 months, and then realized that I really wanted to grow food. I got a job at an educational farm in California, packed up my car and drove to California.
That was the beginning of the journey.
WHY HAVE YOU CHOSEN TO FARM FOR SOMEONE ELSE (NOW OR IN THE PAST?)
I think I chose to farm for someone else because that is what I had access to. I was really in a place where I wanted to learn more. On both sides of my family, I’m from share croppers, but I’ve been 1-2 generations removed. I didn’t think I had much of a connection with land. I didn’t grow up with growing spaces or gardens, not doing much outdoor things. I didn’t have much skill at the time, so I thought I would go to California to work on these other folks’ farms and it’ll be a learning experience and it’s going to be great.
It was an experience where I learned things, but I also realized just how exploitative farm labor can be, and to be in a situation where you think, “all right I’m leaving” or “all right this is good, but this could be better.” I chose to work on other people’s farms because that is what I had access to and I’m continuing to do it right now because I can’t afford to purchase my own land at this time. It’s a choice and circumstances as well.
That is really what I’ve been thinking about, what direction do I want to move in with farming. Idealistically I envision being on land that I can steward and growing food to feed folks in the community.
I imagine it outside of capitalism and white supremacy that says we have to have ownership of land and spaces. That is something that I’ve been thinking and processing. Yes, do I want to put seeds in the ground that I can see fruit and come to be, I want that, but within capitalism, it makes everything unsustainable, you know?
I feel grateful to have work where I’m able to connect with the land, but I really feel like stewardship is the direction I want to go in. I understand the world we live in. Having a deed to land can offer some more stability.
WHAT ARE SOME ISSUES FOR FARMERS WORKING ON SOMEONE ELSE'S FARM - ISSUES THAT YOU'VE WITNESSED OR EXPERIENCED?
The first farm experience I had in California, I feel like folks weren’t clear about what they expected. Whenever I signed up for the farm, it was this 40 hour job and this is your weekly pay, this is your housing. I didn't know at the time that I needed to see what the housing looked like. Also when people write up contracts, they try to put the words to be very open, to work more hours than what they told you.
The landowners were not being clear.
Another one that I just finished experiencing is not having access to bathrooms and places to wash your hands. Not having access to a place you can get out of the rain or the snow or heat, some type of shelter.
Just the wages, one of the biggest issues. To me it doesn't make any sense. Everybody needs food to eat, there is no space for overtime, wages are so low.
I think that farm work is taxing on your body. I have never worked a farm job where I was able to have access to health insurance or any benefits at all.
There are so many issues in the area. I think for people who are in it and experiencing it, we need support around that. When I worked on a farm and didn’t have access to a bathroom or my boss was throwing things when he had attitudes, I didn’t know who to contact or what rights I had, it was just something I had to endure.
I feel a little nervous (about this new farm job) because of experiences I had in the past. I feel like so far the land owner has been very open and upfront and I’ve talked to the other employees about their experiences. I think I have had unfair experiences on farms, but also good experiences. Moving forward the boundaries I’m setting for myself is to be aware of the situation that I’m in and advocate for myself when I need to and to leave if I need to. I stayed at the last farm for a year because I had bills to pay and had just transitioned out of a period of living in hotels and my car.
It provided me stability so I stayed longer. Moving into this new farm, it’s just being up front, asking for what I need which I already have done.
If things get to a point that are beyond what I can handle, I can just leave. There are a lot of farms hiring.
It took me a really long time to leave my last farm. Around the time of the Black uprising, I saw so many Black Queer people saying, No, we aren’t going to take this. The energy inspired me. So I told my boss, “We’re not doing this anymore.”
My boss had such a hissy fit, and I was done that day. I felt really empowered and took situation into my own hands.
It feels good to walk away from a bad situation.
CAN YOU TELL ME THE QUALITIES OF A DREAM FARM NOT LEADING TO OWNERSHIP - THAT YOU WOULD WANT TO WORK ON?
I think about some things that I really enjoy from other farming experiences…
Logistically we need a bathroom. That just needs to be a thing.
Other things to keep me on farms, to work with a person who owns the farm who actually does work, who is not just farming for the profit. At one point I had to realize that my boss was motivated by profit, he didn’t see the world the way I saw it.
I want to work for someone who enjoys growing food, who takes care of their employees, through not just compensation, but shelter.
I have roughly set the boundary that I don’t want to work for any more white cis men farming. That is not the direction I want to go in.
I would like to work in a space where there are people of color, queer people of color. Folks are farming because they enjoy working with the land and the vision is beyond the capitalist mindset. We are growing and operating so we can get paid, but we are also feeding the community and taking care of the people around us.
I’m inspired by the freedom farms and other cooperative farming operations. Folks doing what they need to do to put food on the table, but also taking care of their community.
A cooperative, community centered situation. When you’re putting blood, sweat and tears into soil, everyone deserves to have access to the benefits of their labor.
“It took me a really long time to leave my last farm. Around the time of the Black uprising, I saw so many Black Queer people saying, No, we aren’t going to take this. The energy inspired me. So I told my boss, “We’re not doing this anymore.” My boss had such a hissy fit, and I was done that day. I felt really empowered and took situation into my own hands.
It feels good to walk away from a bad situation.”
WHAT KEEPS YOU COMING BACK?
Coming outside and seeing the seeds that I placed in the soil sprouting. Feeling connected to my ancestors, knowing that they were enslaved, they were farmers. In the motions that I do in harvesting a carrot or transplanting something, I feel that ancestral muscle memory. I feel fed. I feel present. I feel in my body. It requires you to be present and in your body. It has been a healing experience. Today I was just walking around, it really is beautiful to go outside and see seasons changing and things moving around you. I enjoy the physical labor. I enjoy working hard, and eating good, and resting and doing it again. I think it’s something that feeds me.
WHAT IS YOUR TAKE ON THE DIFFERENCE (IF ANY) BETWEEN A FARMER AND A "FARM WORKER"/"FARM EMPLOYEE" BESIDES PROPRIETORSHIP?
It depends who I’m talking to. Something that I started doing recently is saying, “yes, I’m a farmer.” I used to call myself a farm worker because I don’t have a piece of land that I’m farming on. People would remind me that I'm a farmer because it’s the work I do.
I’ve called myself a farmer to people who have knowledge of the farming industry. To people who don’t, I call myself a farm worker. I don’t think it’s less. It just more explains what I’m doing.
DO YOU CALL YOURSELF A FARMER? WHY OR WHY NOT.
I use both and all: farmer, farm worker, land worker.
WHAT KIND OF SUPPORT WOULD BE HELPFUL FOR PEOPLE WORKING ON FARMS NOT THEIR OWN?
I think big picture there needs to be more protection or overall rights for people who are farm workers or farming. It’s very unfortunate that once I was experiencing a bad situation on a farm, I didn’t know who to talk to about it or who to contact. The focus on sustainable ag also includes the sustainability of the people actually doing the work.
As far as wages, folks need to get paid more, have access to benefits.
I think smaller term, season to season, I really enjoy working at farms that provide lunch and water for their workers and care for the health of their workers. That is something small that people who have access to land can do, have a place to relax out of snow or rain, having proper gear. When I started doing production farming full time, I didn’t have access to the fancy overalls and coveralls. I couldn’t afford them. I fundraised for them.
Support for their workers to protect themselves from the elements.
ANYTHING ELSE YOU'D LIKE TO SHARE ABOUT YOURSELF & YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH FARMING? WHAT KEEPS YOU UP AT NIGHT?
This is something that I really love and enjoy doing, and I definitely feel like my ancestors are smiling down on me when I’m working or foraging things in the woods.
It’s been a liberating and healing experience for me.
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....)
One of the farms that I was working at in California, we had a really good lunch experience. It was a farm that was pretty much all queer or folks of color. We didn’t have a set lunch time, but around the time we were getting hungry, we would start looking at each other and go over to the lunch table. People just brought random leftovers and we just shared it. Like, this pizza is from last night, I made it with stuff from the farm…folks would bring a salad.
We would just talk and just laugh. There never was a set time of let’s get back to work, we kind of just knew. We had our lunch, had our lunch settle, smoked a j before getting back to work, used the bathroom.
At the last farm, we were told we could take lunch, but no one ever took lunch. The times that I did take lunch, my boss would be breathing down my back. Lunch was not encouraged. It was not until my last couple months there that I would take a break. My boss can side-eye me if he wants, I'm going to take my 25 minutes at the most maybe.
That is also a boundary that I'm setting with future jobs.
I love a big nice group lunch where we can share food or have lunch to yourself, whatever you need.
