It’s hard to imagine a place that more typifies the,
idyllic dream, of small town America, than Berryville.
Carroll County is a living landscape of rolling pastures,
forested mountains, and weather that blesses us with four
beautiful seasons, without a single one of them being so
severe as to make life uncomfortable. We have bountiful to
adequate rain and many of us are actually lucky enough to
get our household water from mountain springs. Yet, in our
grocery stores, we buy imported spring and filtered water.
This is the crux, a drop in the bucket, of how our money
leaves this county to make other people, and cities, rich
while Carroll County struggles to find the money to improve
and maintain itself. Leaving us at the mercy of major
corporations, for the town’s survival, which allows them
to set the county’s pay scale.
I came from a southern, Navy, family. My first memories
of life were in Subic Bay, in the Philippines. We moved
constantly and it was our rural roots that gave me the only
consistency in my childhood. My mother’s father was a
Southern Baptist minister, from South Carolina, and he
preached in tiny towns, in picturesque churches, surrounded
by oaks draped in Spanish moss. I often spent time, visiting
family, in small towns. These visits are some of the fondest
memories of my childhood. I was especially joyful when my
parents stashed me, in the country, for a couple of weeks
during summer vacation.
The freedom allowed, a child, in a small town and the
lack of human compression that was so pervasive on the naval
bases and suburbs, my family normally called home, was sweet
ambrosia for me. I envied my cousins who all had horses,
minibikes, and 22 rifles, things that were unheard of in my
world. This was during the sixties and early seventies and
these were working towns, with vital centers and activity.
But starting with the interstate highways and ending with
strategically placed Super Stores, most of these
towns look post apocalyptic now. They are grey shadows of
themselves. There is no money, left in the towns, to even
paint, because everything is imported, nothing is made there
anymore, and houses have gone empty for want of any reason
to stay.
The idea of foreign imports hurting the U.S. economy, is
nothing new. The other side of this coin is domestic
imports. By centralizing jobs, corporations can set wages
and strip small towns of diversity in employment. Then they
say, "Americans will not work, these jobs, for those
wages." so they import labor from other countries to
make the lower wages stick. Every time you see a corporate
logo, that is money leaving town. I am not advocating
anything as drastic as building our own cars, but let’s
start with beef. You might say, "Well, all our beef
gets sold." Yeah, but you have processed beef being
sold in Carroll County that is not raised in
Carroll County. This means, all the jobs in-between that
steer being sold and our tables, are being taken elsewhere.
By taking those jobs to other states or countries, we reduce
the number of jobs in Carroll County. Less jobs, lower
wages.
Two other things to consider: Think of all the wasted
energy of our beef being shipped across the country and some
other beef being shipped in. And why should we have to eat
beef that comes from, who know’s where, when we raise the
best beef in the country right here. I promise you, if you
ever saw how they process one of those corporate hamburgers,
you would slap the bun from your child’s hand and never
let one pass your lips again.
Another example is a local blueberry farmer, with an
incredible crop, who was turned away by our grocery stores
in favor of higher priced imported blueberries. This is just
silly. The end result is the people of Carroll County pay
more, because of all the middle markets and shipping, and
money leaves the county that would otherwise be reinvested
here. Carroll County’s climate is very reasonable for
green house production. If you drive down 21 south, you’ll
see chicken houses terraced into southern exposure hills.
You could do the same thing with green houses. Even better,
you could earth bank them into the terrace. Then combine the
operation with a fish farm and the water tanks become a heat
reservoir in addition to raising the fish. And here’s the
great part, you can filter the water, through a hydroponic
system, to fertilize your crop. No chemicals; no wasted
water. All these jobs that could be created are completely
harmonious with the agricultural nature of Berryville and
Carroll County. And the cycle will continue. More quality
jobs, higher wages, the county prospers.
These are some of the many reasons Sandra and I want so
much for one of our commercial spaces to become a farmer’s
market and local grocery store. If you are interested in
this project and would like to help form a coop, to make
happen, or might be interested in renting booth space in
such a market, please contact me at the gallery.
Ozarts Center for the Arts
108 East Madison Avenue, Berryville.
(Across from the post office.)
Ozarts.org (870) 654-3231 Alexander@Ozarts.org
