Portland Farming Life

March has been pretty much the total opposite of my time in Hawaii. I arrived into a cold and slightly damp Portland, immediately feeling right at home. I made my way to just over the river from the city (into Washington State), to the farm where i’d be spending the next month. For those who don’t know what ‘woofing’ is, it’s a work exchange program for organic farming, you can do it around the world and it’s a great way to travel cheaply, meet new people and learn about organic farming.

Dorothy and Rick run a small Blueberry farm just outside portland on the edge of a small city called Camas, although you’re only about 20 minutes from the city the view over the Columbia Gorge and Mount hood from behind the house makes you feel like you’re in the wilderness. 

 The view from behind the farm on a clear day: Mount Hood and the Columbia Gorge River

The farm’s not huge but there was plenty to do. Mostly tending to the blueberries which are definitely not in season right now but need a whole lot of prepping to get ready for the summer. We were doing a lot of weeding, clearing, finding old berries that had gone bad and more excitingly using a wood chipper to make pine straw, as well as putting compost on everything. The woodchipper was a bit temperamental when it was wet meaning that we’d often have to unblock it, i was too busy concentrating on not touching the blades that i didn’t realise i’d ended up with a bruise ring around my arm that looked somewhat like a huge love-bite.

Trips to the food coop

Once we’d spent time tending to the blueberries, which took about 2 weeks we moved on to other areas on the farm. This was mostly various trees including cherry trees and walnut trees, one day we rented a tractor/digger and i learnt how to drive and operate it. After we’d done lots of digging the tree guy came and that meant learning how to use a chainsaw, it was pretty addictive albeit very hard work. With my ever growing collection of plaid, tank tops and plaid i appear to be on the track to becoming some sort of a stereotype lesbian lumberjack!

 Staying with Dorothy and Rick was also really lovely, they’re both semi retired but Rick still works as a contractor. They both have kids from former marriages, one who was still at home and was one of the grumpier teenagers i’ve met but we gradually bonded over silly boys who pay too much money for designer clothing. Another son came to visit while I was there and taught me all about the world of video-gaming and comic-con! In a peak of Yael knowing everyone hilarity, Dorothy’s eldest actually lives in London and as soon as she mentioned that she’s queer and plays roller derby I found the 3 mutual friends we have...of course! Dorothy was slightly astounded, she thought London was a big city.

I really enjoyed the hours at the farm talking with Dorothy about politics, she’s recently been inspired by Bernie Sanders to get involved in politics, although she’s always been a big progressive. She’s busy educating herself on the power of big money in politics and we had a lot of chats about how the UK might not be a utopia despite the NHS. It was pretty cool that she was so keen to get into politics at this later stage in life and i definitely enjoyed her hope and optimism about things being able to change. Rick is also a bit of a folk singer so i got to enjoy many a night by the fire playing guitar with him and singing lots of old folk songs.

Aside from working on the farm (which i did for about 4 days of the week) On my days off I was able to explore the surrounding area. I went on 3 big trips out into the Columbia Gorge which is absolutely stunning, the first had too much rain so we mostly brewery hopped around the area enjoying the best of Oregon’s ale. I then was lucky enough to go on some amazing hikes, the local lake lacamas, Cape Horn and best of all Dog Mountain on a perfectly clear day. The dog mountain day was great as it was with Chris and Chris who i’d met while i was hiking in Hawaii (on Kauiu), i’d got chatting to them on a trail bottleneck and mentioned i was heading out to Portland area, they said they were from there and if i had a free day they’d love to take me out hiking. True to their word they picked me up and off we went to Dog mountain, Chris had hiked Mount St Helens, Mount Rainer and Mount Hood and he ran a nursery so was able to tell me EVERYTHING about the local flowers, geology and hiking trails of the gorge, it was amazing. They’d been travelling themselves  and had grown up kids said they relished the opportunity to show other travellers where they lived.

 View of the Gorge from Cape Horn

                     The top of Dog Mountain

 Multonomah Falls

I spent the rest of my days off going into Portland which is a really fun city, i’ve completely fallen in love with the atmosphere which is somewhat transient due to lots of young people moving there, but also highly open minded and political. I ended up at a lot of awesome events, including a feminist event in a tomboy styled clothing store, a couchsurfing event and a women’s soccer game with a ‘small’ attendance of 5000 (apparently they usually get 13000 people), so incredible.

 Portland Thorns Pre-season

 Feminist event and campaign from a clothing shop

 Day exploring the Gorge and its micro-breweries

              The famous Vodoo Donuts

I also explored all the bookstores, my favourite being a philosophy bookstore called ‘mother foucault’, did a pretty extensive coffee tour and continued to drink as much oregon ale as possible, they really do know how to brew here. 

 Powells Bookstore

 'In other words' a community feminist bookstore

'Mother Foucault'

 

 

I also got to go to a Bernie Sanders rally which i’ve written some separate thoughts about here: http://yaelsamericantales.blogspot.com/2016/04/travels-during-us-presidential-election.html 

Travels during a US presidential Election season

I've been attempting to put into words what traveling in the US during this ridiculous primary season has been like. As well as my feelings about being a tepid/cynical Bernie Supporter.
I went to a Bernie Sanders rally in Portland the other week, yes it was the rally with THE BIRD!


The rally was huge (although interestingly not full), filled with pep and bigger cheers for marijuana legalisation then an end to mass incarceration.
I cannot describe how weird it was for a non event to be met with a standing ovation and then to get home and find said event all over the news around the world. (I'm talking about the bird not Bernie generally). I am genuinely still confused as to why this is a big deal but people are still trying to persuade me there is some deeper meaning to it. What a fucking spectacle?!
And that's what this whole primary season is, a spectacle! The endless news cycles, the reality television style conversation about lives and behaviour of the candidates as opposed to policy and. Actual people. And this is by no means limited to the right although they've reached a whole new level. 



Me at a HUGE Sanders rally, somewhat warm but not feeling the Bern
 
But going back to Bernie mania and my cynicism. All my experience of organising and politics tell me big rallies are feel good but achieve very little. But the energy and passion from sanders supporters is fascinating, almost cult like. People really believe this man can change a thoroughly broken political system. Everything in real progressive politics says you need movements that campaign for ideas not just people and although Bernie talks great ideas his supporters need to be campaigning for his ideas at all levels of government, through formal campaigns, community organising and direct action.
In his speech sanders mentioned the fast food workers who went on strike for a living wage, this is the kind of action needed for political change! Does electing an old white politician to the most elitist office in the US bring about this kind of radical change? History tells us no, LBJ didn't pass the civil rights at on his own, it was the tireless work of anti racist organisers that laid the groundwork that allowed him to do so. A Bernie supporter might say, well yes but having a liberal president makes this all easier. Yes it does, but without the groundswell then Bernie will be as stuck during his first 100 days as Obama was with healthcare. 


The big man himself

 In my mind Bernie should be telling his supporters to go out and organise, in their communities and around their ideas, using his platform to create progressive movements that, win or loose, outlast him.
Would Bernie supporters get on board with this? Maybe some, but overwhelmingly I think Bernie supporters are not as radical as they think. It's easy to support a guy for president who talks a lot about young people, the political class and free college tuition, but we have to remember that millenials are not a liberation group whose mere existence is an act of resistance, and that Bernie is part of a political class just a liberal one and for many college is a pipe dream let alone graduating a decent public high school. I can't help but think that many Bernie supporters are much more interested in cheering at the right moment and sharing a fb post than putting in the hard slog that many lgbtq, women, people of colour and low wage workers are already putting in to organise and change the system around them.


#MillenialsforBerningHilary

 
However I have also met some incredibly dedicated activists and organisers involved in supporting Bernie who don't deserve the label of clicktivist and to an extent they have made me truly excited about such a radical candidate standing for president.
I really really hope that the energy of this movement can be captured to focus less on one individual and more on the amazing ideas he espouses and the work that needs to be put in to make them a reality.

 
Guy who dressed up as Jeremy Corbyn for the Bernie Sanders rally, JK, he had no idea who Corbyn was.

Hawaii [watch this space for lost post]

I wrote an update of my time in Hawaii and due to some issues with wifi and memory sticks it's lost, while i find it enjoy an awesome photo of the Napali Coast on Kauiu