Aunt Francis's Garden. Yell County, Arkansas.
It’s gardening season here in Arkansas, and both my daily life and research seem to be circling things in bloom. The tomatoes are ripe; the pole beans are taller than me, and the peppers are plentiful. I love coming home from running errands to find squash, zucchini, snow and purple hull peas on my front porch left by anonymous kind friends who plant for a purposeful surplus. I enjoy the few calm moments I spend in my own garden picking herbs or engaging in that necessary yet futile feeling task of weeding. And then there are the flowers. The magical, beautiful flowers. But I’ll get to them in a minute.
Here are just a few ramblings and ruminations on fieldwork, garden work, grief work, and dreams for the garden I plan to someday create.
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Organic Gardening magazine has a regular facebook feed, and last week they posted this article from Rodale.com about women farmers. 
The article claims the growing trend of women in agriculture is a movement that could save the future of farming and tackle food insecurity issues throughout the world:
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Beginning with the first weekend in May cemeteries throughout the Yell County area will hold their yearly decoration day, a time for families to decorate and clean their relatives’ graves. Decoration days continue throughout the month.
I grew up watching my family participate in Decoration Days. When my father was young, decoration days served as a home coming of sorts. There was dinner on the ground, sometimes even a sermon, and a great deal of visiting. By the time I was a child dinner on the ground had largely disappeared in the Yell County area, but the visiting still went on, especially at the Harkey’s Valley cemetery in Yell County.
My mother was the tradition bearer (a phrase we folklorists use for someone who keeps a tradition or craft alive) of decoration days in our family. She purchased the flowers, knew which graves to decorate (some were unmarked), and kept up with which weekend we were supposed to decorate which cemetery. My mother passed away in 2008, and last year when decoration day came around I, along with the help of my father, found myself taking on the role of the tradition bearer, decorating the graves she tended to while also decorating her own. Although I had always been interested in the tradition, it took on a new meaning to me as I decorated my own mother’s grave. I also realized that not too many people in their thirties or younger are carrying on this tradition.
Therefore I decided to start documenting the tradition in our area. I’ll be doing the same thing this year, and I hope to interview more folks who participate in this tradition. I don’t have any specific plans for this research as of yet. My goal at the present time is just to document as much as I can.
Below are a few photos from last year.
If you or someone you know takes part in this tradition or has memories of taking part in this tradition I would love to hear from you! Email me at Meredithmartin_moats at yahoo dot com or leave a comment below.
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As you can see, something is wrong with the graphics on the site. Not sure what happened, but I hope to have them up and running again soon.
I also plan on giving the updated information on the McElroy House very soon, which I am happy to say was unanimously approved by the City Planning Commission. More details on that to come!!
I am a bit behind on just about everything because just two days after I presented before the City Planning Commission and the plans for the McElroy House were approved, my husband and I had twin boys!! They were born a tiny bit early, but are healthy and happy and are sitting in their bouncy seats on the kitchen table as I write this post.
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After much thought and time spent wondering where to go from here, I have decided to begin the process of creating a small oral history and folklife research center in my hometown. I have included my plans and ideas for the Center listed at the bottom of this post. I welcome any feedback! Continue reading →
In the next few weeks, people all around the Yell County, Arkansas area will be decorating family graves. For our family Saturday the 9th is Decoration Day at Brearley, Cottontown, and Chickelah Cemeteries. The following week is Decoration Day at Harkey’s Valley cemetery. Sandwiched in between all these Decoration Days is Mother’s Day, a time when many mothers wear corsages to honor their own mothers—a red one if your mother is still living, a white one if your mother has passed away.My family always kept these traditions alive, and I have always tried to be a somewhat active participant in the tradition bearing. But this year especially I find myself very interested in these traditions and what they mean to the community as a whole and to each individual who takes part. I am curious what others know about these holidays and how they are celebrated.
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Archie Green was a public folklorist unafraid to combine folklore and activism. He was instrumental in lobbying congress to pass the 1976 Folklife Preservation Act, which created the Folklife Center at the Library of Congress wherein countless stories and songs of America’s every day working people are preserved. But he did much more than simply document living traditions for the mere sake of preservation. He saw folklore as a living art, capable of articulating and addressing problems and solutions in our everyday lives. In documenting laborlore, (a term he coined for the stories and songs of working Americans), he actively fought alongside working people to improve working conditions.
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Myles Horton is one of my biggest heroes. The founder of the Highlander Folk School, now called the Highlander Research and Education Center, Myles Horton believed in people’s power to change their lives and communities for the better. A true activist and constant learner, Horton put this belief into action when he created Highlander in rural Tennessee. I can’t do justice to Highlander’s work in this short post, so if you are unfamiliar with their work I urge you to spend some time on their webpage and read about both their history and current work. Highlander was instrumental in the Civil Rights Movement, farm workers’ movements, and organizing for miners in Appalachia.
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Today I came across an organization called The Rural Assembly and I am so excited about their work and I think you will be too. The Rural Assembly is a part of the Center for Rural Strategies, an amazing organization whose fingers are all over most of the rural sustainable movements going on these days.
The Rural Assembly
According to their webpage, “The National Rural Assembly is a movement of people and organizations devoted to building a stronger, more vibrant rural America.” At the core of their work is the Rural Compact: “The National Rural Assembly encourages individuals and organizations to endorse the Rural Compact, a basic statement of principles for building a stronger rural America that improves opportunity for all of us.”
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Posted in Appalachia, Arkansas, Native American, People who work toward a more just world, african-american, economic justice, environment, k-12 education, oral history, people with visions and good ideas, public health, rural issues
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Although certainly not all folklorists would argue this is an issue that pertains to our work, I feel denying access to journalists and human rights workers is a human rights violation that pertains to the larger study of folklife on many levels. As folklorists we understand the inherent importance in the documentation of culture. All people, most certainly those experiencing war, have a right to have their voices heard and tell of their experiences *in their own words* to the larger world community. To not allow journalists to cover combat is foremost a human rights issue that is illegal. It also robs civilians of their right to tell their story and call for justice. It is essentially inhumane and unjust to deny journalistic entry. If you feel the same, please help spread the word and express your feelings about lack of journalistic presence in Gaza.
See original statement post on the Human Rights Watch webpage here.
Or visit Human Rights Watch.org
Israel: Allow Media and Rights Monitors Access to Gaza
(Jerusalem, January 5, 2009) – Israel should immediately allow journalists and human rights monitors access to Gaza, Human Rights Watch said today. Their presence can discourage abuse by warring parties and help save lives.
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