DESCRIPTION:
Willie Nelson and Marty Dread performed their song "Lend a Hand to the Farmers" at the Farm Aid concert in Milwaukee Oct. 2010. On March 10, 2010, I had the honor and pleasure recording my own version of the song and having it featured in a video on Willie Nelson's ~ Peace Research Institute Website.

My husband, Craig, and I lived in rural upstate New York for several years. It is our home state, and we have many wonderful memories of our local farmers as friends and neighbors and also from county fairs and 4H events.

We gained the richness of their lives and work. It was a happy time then. However, unfortunately, those times have changed.

A nation that does not have an abundance of small family farmers ~ is an impoverished nation in body, mind, and spirit.

And, that is where we're at right now.

Today, for every family farmer who is being torn apart by financial devastation, it tears apart the farmer, his family, and eventually the country.

Many family farmers are teachers of the natural world, and we need
them even more than ever, now.


Patty Ann Smith
Singer, Songwriter, Musician and Author

http://www.pattyannsmith.com