(Host) Being single and living in rural Vermont can be an isolating experience. And if you’re a farmer, the long hours make meeting people, not to mention dating an especially tough challenge.
So, when one of her farmhands complained about the lack of romance in his life, Wendy Palthey had an idea.
Last weekend, Palthey hosted a farm version of speed dating.
The rules were pretty much the same: people pair off for brief conversations before moving on to another partner. The big difference here is that the conversation took place while the participants pulled weeds.
VPR’s Steve Zind reports.
(Zind) The breeze that moves over the fields at Wendy and Jean Palthey’s organic vegetable farm in the hills above Tunbridge carries the threat of rain.
But there’s also a promise of romance in the air.
(Woman) "We’re all going to get nice and dirty…"
Laughter
(Zind) In an era where dating takes place online and on television, why not on the farm?
(Jean Hamilton) "Ok, and your name?"
(Woman) "Tracy."
(Zind) Introducing weed dating; a kind of open-air speed dating.
(Jean Hamilton) "Weed dating is based off of the concept of speed dating, but we’re out here on a farm instead of in some stuffy hotel lobby.
(Zind) That’s Jean Hamilton. Officially she’s the Community Food Security and Direct Marketing Coordinator for NOFA-Vermont, the Northeast Organic Farming Association. Today, she’s cupid.
(Hamilton) "So I’m just going to hand these out to each of you. These are little weed love notes. If you meet someone and you’d like to leave them a note you can just write on here and put it right here in this box."
(Zind) Weed dating participants wear whimsical name tags, designed to preserve some measure of privacy.
(Hamilton) "So, we’ve given you a vegetable last name, in case you want to remain more anonymous than you are."
Laughter
(Zind) Emily Blackberry, Josh Kale, Elizabeth Garlic, and Karl Basil are among the 10 or so people who turned out. There were more who pre-registered, but there were some no-shows: Mostly men, we’re told.
Whether they were afraid of commitment, feared rejection, or just hate weeding, we’ll never know.
But none of those things rattled Ben Wolfe, a.ka. Ben Blueberry, of North Tunbridge. He’s hoping to meet a woman who shares his gardening passion.
(Wolf) "It says something about someone if you’re willing to do work while you meet people rather than doing something leisurely."
(Zind) And there’s nothing leisurely about the way weed dater Caitlin Henzler is approaching this.
(Henzler) "I am a very competitive weeder, actually, which is probably a bad trait for this situation"
(laughs)
(Zind) Henzler works as an apprentice on a farm in Western Massachusetts. She’s driven two hours to be here.
(Henzler) "Because I’m looking to meet a farmer. And there’s not that many many opportunities for farmers to co-mingle. And we’re always on the farm working. So this is one of those opportunities."
(Zind) It turns out this crowd is mostly made up of serious gardeners, not actual farmers. But they all share a commitment to local food production.
(Woman) "Get our weeding started, let’s go…"
(Zind) The participants pair off and begin weeding several long rows of leeks. They’re interrupted every 7 minutes by an announcement that its time to change partners.
(Bell ringing)
(Woman) "Ok, so everybody move down a row…"
(Zind) A new round begins with each couple exchanging a muddy handshake.
(Woman) "Beautiful, is everybody paired up? Good weeding, guys!"
(Zind) No one in attendance claims to know for sure, but its probably a safe bet that topics like climate change, bartering and permaculture aren’t standard fare at speed dating events. They are here.
(Woman) "I bartered for my yoga classes. I bartered for my snowplowing this winter. It was great!"
(Zind) Weed dating is finished once everyone’s had their 7 minutes weeding and chatting with the other participants.
Bell ringing.
(Zind) It’s unclear whether any romances or even friendships have been kindled here today. But several rows of leeks have been cleared of weeds.
Caitlin Henzler, the competitive weeder, offers this assessment.
(Henzler) "It was fun. I can’t say I met anyone that I’d be interested in dating. Maybe they should figure out the whole age thing, too. I mean I’m only 22 and there are a bunch of people that are older, which is fine, but.
(Zind) With a little fine tuning, the NOFA organizers think they’re on to something. They plan to hold more weed dating events in other locations this summer and they expect turnout will grow.
After all, few things are more eternal than love and weeds.
For VPR news, I’m Steve Zind.