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The Swander inspiring view!

 

On this Episode of My Fulfilled Life we talk with Mary Swander who is a poet laureate from Iowa. She speaks about these topics on her journey:

 

 

  • Change Food Festival in New York -Performed two plays
  • Ag Arts – a group design imagined to promote healthy foods through Art
    • Create residencies for artists
  • Came from a farming family and currently had a small plot
  • Started worked with students on a farscape play about farming and it took off!

    Mary Swander

  • Created a small theater company
  • We are experiencing  a changing consciousness of people with the connection of food
  • The history of Victory gardens. U.S. homes grew 40 % of our foods during world war II
  • World wide network of farming. Wolfing – travel around the world interning at different farms.
  • Smaller rural communities looking to renovation
  • Desire to address the social justice issue through plays
    • Loss of farms in the rural area to big companies
    • Moving from family farms to contract farming
  • The connection with the loss of the way of life from farmer’s. miners, urban large manfucturers
  • Became extremely chemically sensive to the air, toxins, everything (1938)
    • Extremely difficult to find food without it
    • Move to Amish county and learned new gardening techniques
  • Challenges to moving into a different way of life and environment. How it affected her career
  • How to get over the obstacles of supporting yourself living your writer’s dream

 

Amish neighbor’s Fruit & Veggie cart

Swander Lambs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How to Find Out More About Mary

More about Mary: http://www.maryswander.com

AgArts: http://www.agarts.org

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mary.swander.7

AgArt Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/agartgraphic/

Poetry Foundation: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poets/detail/mary-swander#poet