Welcome to “The American Farm in U. S. History,” three week-long workshops developed by Western Michigan University’s Department of History and Tillers International

One hundred and fifteen teachers joined us last July 2007 for workshops that examined changing connections between farming and American life.  Participants explored how the production and consumption of food lie at the heart of a people’s history, culture, economy, and environment.  We made the farm a window to learning by examining how agriculture influenced larger events in American history, and how evolving technologies, social conditions, and government policies converged on the rural landscape. 

The workshops took place at Tillers International—a 450-acre farm in southwest Michigan.  The emphasis was place-based and experiential: Participants received training in animal-powered agricultural methods, household gardening, historical machinery and tools, and farm building design under the tutelage of artisans, teamsters, architectural restoration specialists, living history museum curators, archivists, and, of course, farmers.  We studied Victory Gardens and designed school gardens appropriate to our communities and regions.  We took a field trip to the Benton Harbor Fruit Market, the world’s largest cash-to-grower produce market.  Following the fruit market, we refreshed ourselves at the nearby Tabor Hill Winery, a popular agritourism destination. We also worked in a prominent regional archive examining an array of primary sources, including the writings of Thomas Jefferson and James Fenimore Cooper.  An acclaimed group of rural historians joined us to share their work (some of whom are farmers and gardeners as well as scholars).  Together, we dug deeply into our country’s agrarian past in order to understand the present. 

For Kalamazoo Gazette MLive Video of grain harvest:Click Here