Why they farm

NARROWSBURG, NY — Capturing the region’s farmers and its farming life took hundreds of photographs. There were nine interviews. It resulted in an exhibit, titled “Why Eye (I) Farm,” currently open at the Narrowsburg Union.

“Why Eye (I) Farm” closes at the end of October. With it will end a chance to learn more about your farming neighbors, their way of life and their concerns as the climate—and the world—changes.

Photographer Woody Goldberg is just one of three people involved in “Why Eye (I) Farm,” an exhibit at the digital gallery at the Narrowsburg Union. The others are WJFF host Rosie Starr—she helms “Farm and Country”—and Pat Carullo, an artist and curator of the digital gallery.

“I’m so pleased about how it all came together,” Goldberg said.

The seed that became the exhibit was planted when Goldberg and his wife began spending more time in their second home in the area.

A photographer, he has books, shows and newspaper work to his credit.

So it was natural that while here, he would explore the area, his photographer’s eye on details.

“My wife and I had been driving around, and it’s the agricultural landscape” that resonated. “It’s so beautiful in the Upper Delaware, so splendid.”

So he decided to take pictures of farms.

“I thought of Rosie Starr and her radio program,” Goldberg said. He reached out.

“We went to nine farms, and Rosie interviewed the farmers, and she got them talking,” he said. Growers of sprouts, hemp, organic fruits and vegetables and more, they talked about what they worried about, what they saw happening to agriculture, why they do what they do.

They were young farmers. Old farmers. But age didn’t matter.

“The farmers were so articulate and so profound,” he said. “Every farm we went to, without exception, I learned something.”

The photo exhibit includes current Wayne County Dairy Princess Elektra Kahagias and 4-H members Sara and Matthew McNichols from Riverside Farm and Creamworks Creamery in Waymart, PA, as the young people made ice cream.

As an exhibit of photos and interviews took shape, so did the name. “Why Eye (I) Farm” comes from the dedication, and commitment to the land, of the local farmers to whom Starr spoke.

“I have such respect for them,” Goldberg said. “They’re incredible. They’re biologists, meteorologists, they’re mechanics… And they work! I didn’t know the meaning of work” till I met them, he said.

Goldberg also praised the labor that Starr and Carullo put into the exhibit. “Rosie did a huge amount of work, and Pat took it and put it all together; he’s a true artist in this. Twenty to 30 prints is a lot [to work with for an exhibit], but this is 250 to 300 photos.”

Returning to Starr’s contribution, he said, “Audio editing is very difficult and physically demanding. And without Rosie having the contacts the exhibit wouldn’t have happened.”

He paused, trying to explain why the exhibit is so important. It might be vital. Farmers not only grow our food but they care for it as it grows and keep the land healthy for the next generation of plants and animals. It’s work, endless work, but within the ground and the food that springs from it course the life and future of the country.

“I’m hoping we can convey to people… what we saw in the presence of these people,” Goldberg said. “To see what this is like and to see all these people, who are remarkable.”

The digital gallery at the Narrowsburg Union is open Monday through Saturday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Sunday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. If you miss “Why Eye (I) Farm” this month, or if you want to see it again, it’ll be back in December at the Narrowsburg Union. Learn more at www.narrowsburgunion.com/union-digital-gallery.