As I mentioned in my last update, this month, I had the opportunity to interview Kristyn Leach, who runs Namu Farm. I'd found her name in several different articles on Asian American farming and decided to try my luck and reach out. I messaged her on Instagram and was so excited when she responded! I then prepared a list of questions and interviewed her on Zoom.
One of the things we talked about was the disenfranchisement of Asian American farmers and farmers of color. Particularly in Leach's home state, California, there is a long history of Asian American farming, but often farmers of color have not been able to own the land they labored on or pass it on to future generations. We also talked about American and European imperialism and their philosophical impacts on how we view land, as capital, as a resource, as something which can be overlooked and destroyed, and how we need to move away from what Leach describes as our Western mechanistic utilitarian way of viewing our place in the universe.