In early July, I got an e-mail: “Come crop mob with us!” Crop mob? What on earth is that? The e-mail said we’d be doing “midsummer maintenance” at Sweet Land Farm in Trumansburg—four hours of weeding, mulching, and harvesting. I didn’t have any plans for the weekend, so I thought, Why not?
You may wonder why a comparative literature major would be interested in spending her day weeding tomatoes in the ninety-degree heat. And if I’d been presented with this opportunity a year ago, I probably wouldn’t have considered it. Having grown up in a metropolitan area, my horticulture experience was limited to summer trips to the farmers’ market and the tree plantings I did with my high school’s Green Team. But last spring, I took part in Hillel’s alternative break, which happened to be Jewish Farm School; we spent a week on a farm in Southern California. Though I signed up for the trip largely to get away from cold, drizzly Ithaca, it ended up being one of the best experiences of my life. So, when I got the invitation to crop mob, I hopped on board.
Although this was the first I’d heard of crop mobbing, I later learned it’s a national trend. The name is a spin on the “flash mob,” where people spontaneously show up at a public location to do a preset activity, like a dance. In a crop mob, volunteers—often with little or no agricultural experience—go to a small organic farm to help with tasks that are time consuming for an individual, but take only a few hours for a group of fifteen to twenty. The event I attended, organized by Ithaca Crop Mob, included townies, Cornell graduate students, and Ithaca College professors, among others. Coming from such varied backgrounds, my fellow volunteers were interesting and fun. One of the farmers was there, weeding with us and telling us all about his operation.
While four solid hours of weeding probably seems boring and exhausting, I found it relaxing. I got a break from the constant pressure to check my phone and e-mail, clean up my messy house, or start my work for the following week. I could enjoy being in the company of great people and become closer to the land and the food I eat every day; plus, we were sent home with free veggies including kale, cucumbers, squash, and chard. I’m amazed that there’s a whole different world just twenty minutes outside of Ithaca—and I can’t wait to crop mob again!
— Natanya Auerbach ’13