This blog post is from one of our field interns, Eliza Hamburger.
As an out-of-state UVM student from Washington D.C., I have been largely unfamiliar with the dairy industry in Vermont, and the migrant workers who keep it running, for most of my life. When I was accepted to be the field intern for the Huertas project this season, I was excited but very unsure of what to expect. Overall, working with Huertas has been an immense growing and learning experience for me. I have seen and started to understand a little bit more the complexities of the issues of migrant workers rights and food justice and access in rural areas, but I also know that we are only just scratching the surface, and there is so much more to see and to be done.
The first field visit for me was very difficult. We had been briefed on the procedures to go through and the situation many people were living in in our Huertas team orientation, but the day turned out to be a lot for me to take in. I felt very angry and upset seeing the living situations many people were in, and thinking about the physical as well as emotional isolation that people must feel being so far from home and unable to leave their farms surrounded by snowy fields. In turn, this made me feel shy and quiet, and I wasn’t able to make much of a connection with the people we visited.
As time has passed, and I now know a little more what to expect, I feel much more comfortable. My initial discomfort has given way to confidence. I love chatting with the participants after the surveys have been completed and hearing about their lives and their gardens from years past, and I really look forward to maintaining these connections and continuing these conversations throughout the season.
I still feel upset and angered by the way in which our government, and more specifically in this case, the Border Patrol, treats these people who, as workers, are so vital to the VT economy and have overcome so much hardship to be here, and who, as other human beings, deserve a level of quality of life that is not being met. However, I feel energized and inspired by the participant’s enthusiasm despite those hardships, and by the wonderful Huertas team that I have the great fortune to work with.
I am really looking forward to spring, when the snow is melted and the ground is thawed and we can really get to work in the huertas. Soon we will be working in the sun in beautiful gardens full of chiles, hierbas, tomates, and more! I am so grateful to be a part of this amazing project, and I know the best is only to come.