It has been a year now since we went to Farm Aid 2018 in Hartford, Connecticut, and our feet are just now recovering.
For those of you who have wondered what it may have been like, we thought we would give you a snippet of the experience. Our interviews, recorded live and uncut (somewhat uncut - it went ALL DAY LONG). We are giving you the introduction of the founders and their hellos, the overview of the purpose of the event, the welcome by the Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Agriculture, and interviews with the farmers and activists who came. And lots and lots of music.
We had the chance to meet up there with John and Bonnie Hall (Maple View Farm, the Milking Devon people podcast), and we found them in a vast sea of people on the lawn area (yes, we will post pics of trying to find them with camera gear in hand). We took a quick break from the press pit interview mayhem, and sat at a table with them and a few other local farming friends. We ate hot dogs and listened to farm stories and the sounds of musicians giving their all for a cause they believe in. We added up the combined farming experience sitting at that little table, and the number was over 175 years, most all of it on family farms inherited from great-greats. One of those gentlemen, Joe Greenbacker, was featured on stage, to help tell his story of why this year was the year they had to sell the dairy farm. His family has been farming in that area since the 1720's.
Farm Aid 2018 was an inspirational, bittersweet, awesome, sad, and positive experience for us. What a rush.
**A note of caution: It was loud. REALLY loud - and we were away from the stage most of the time.
**Additional Caution: This episode includes multiple BLEEPs. It was, after all, co-founded by John Mellencamp. We tried to follow along as best we could.