The Wisdom of Women Farmers oral history project was a continuation of the research I began when writing the book, The Woman Hobby Farmer. I wanted to understand better what a farm-based lifestyle is really like, from the perspective of women farmers who are over the age of 50 and earn some of their livelihood by growing food or raising livestock. This project aims to convey the reality and beauty of mundane routines and the subtle nuances of tending the earth. It also aims to present the qualities of the women farmers who live closely with the realities of natural processes, including patience, unpredictability, resilience, perseverance, and discernment in trying situations. The goal is to present a thought-provoking image of working women in a responsible, respectable, and realistic way.
The video interviews with five gracious participants in this project are archived at the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, and are available upon request. Portions of the womens' stories are summarized in a series of three articles published on HobbyFarms.com.
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The Chronicle of African Americans in the Horse Industry is a website project of the International Museum of the Horse, funded in part by the Institute for Museum and Library Services. From 2018-2020, I served as the Digital Project Manager, and from 2021-2022, I was their Writing Project & Institutional Partnership Coordinator. In this capacity, I initiated an oral history project and had the honor of interviewing a few of the participants. I also trained other oral history interviewers and created a manual for this project, with the supportive partnership of the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History.
In partnership also with the Lyric Theatre in Lexington, Kentucky, and Phoenix Rising, the International Museum of the Horse conducted a history harvest, where initial oral history sessions captured the stories and opened up the door to more conversations. All of the recorded interviews have been archived and indexed online at the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History.