46. Going Live...Kinda
Most everyone reading this blog already knows this tidbit about me: I have more formal training with video and cameras than I do with vegetables. And it was a farming Youtuber, Curtis Stone, who gave me the final push toward starting this urban farm of mine two short years ago. When I saw how much great food he was able to produce on such a small landbase, I was suddenly injected with the confidence that I could do something similar. The reason I was so enamored with digital media in the first place is because of its very real power to spread information and change lives, in combination with a good internet connection, from anywhere in the world. And I always knew that there would eventually be a part of this farm business that would capitalize on my skills and lenses as a creative with the goal of educating my own sphere of influence on topics relevant to me as an urban vegetable grower.
I didn’t want to run a how-to-farm Youtube page. There are a lot of people already making that content, and I watch a lot of it. I wanted to make a channel with a different mission and a more unique subject matter. But I didn’t have any good ideas for how to differentiate my own content from the field until last month, when Chloe and I attended the “Uprooting Racism in the Food System” conference in Harrisonburg. The conversations we were having in that room about food sovereignty just don’t get enough attention in our day-to-day lives. And I came to the conclusion that the GVH Youtube page would be doing a real service by focusing on those issues.
So that’s what we’ll do! My goal is to put up one video per week throughout the growing season. I’ll do my best to alternate, with a farm network update one week, then a food justice video the next week. Assuming sufficient interest from viewers, maybe I’ll also do an “ask me anything” episode from time to time. If this type of content sounds interesting to you, please take a moment to subscribe so you’ll get a notification when a new video drops!
I plan on still writing blogs here, if only a tad less frequently. At times, subject matter in videos and blogs may overlap. And on both platforms I would appreciate advice or requests as to topics to cover that would be interesting and informative. Thanks in advance for subscribing, reading, watching and spreading the word. I look forward to engaging with the community in this new format!