GROWING SEASON: THE LIFE OF A MIGRANT COMMUNITY
There are approximately 130 agricultural migrant camps in Ohio. Tucked away from plain sight, these temporary communities for seasonal workers are scattered along dirt roads or on the corners of farm fields. The conditions of these camps vary and often mirror the commitment of the farm owners toward their seasonal workers. This project depicts the simple life of one of those camps.
In 2001, I was granted access to the migrant community that live on the K.W. Zellers and Son family farm in Hartville, Ohio. With the help of the Hartville Migrant Council, which was formed in the early 1950s and remains one of the longest running migrant councils in the nation, I begin to gain access into their lives. In 2004, writer David Hassler joined the project and created first-person narratives about the migrant workers and members of the community who know and support them.
Over the past ten years, about 80 percent of the Mexican migrant workforce return annually to Hartville. Because of this, they have, over time, established their own community on the farm fields. The environment is a unique blend of Latino culture, American influences and community support. With networks of support and connection, a sense of inclusion, belonging and shared joys, theirs is a community rich in social capital.
Understanding the broad legal, economic and social realities of migrant issues may help us to better understand their environment and the reasons why they would migrate to America, but they do not help us to know the individuals and the families – the people beneath the multi-colored hats that dot the farm fields.
By concentrating on one place and one community and by capturing the details of their daily lives, we are able to better understand the people, their culture, and the lives they live as seasonal workers.