American Value: Herb Dishman. This is our land.

~ Live & Learn

“It’s a tradition that’s been handed down. Rice farming in the community has been a really big deal.  That’s what has driven our community for quite some time. I couldn’t wait to get into the field with my Dad. That was probably one of my favorite pastimes. He was there. He worked a lot. He worked very hard at what he did. He was always there to give me a hand…and give me just enough room to hang myself. When I originally left to go to school, that was my intention, was to go to school.  Fortunately, I was able to take those opportunities, and branch out and see different walks of life. I went into the restaurant business. Did that for a while. Then I went into the music business. I was always searching for something. Not always knowing where I was going or what I was trying to do. Just going and doing and trying to find that niche.  Where do I fit in? It’s a big question. Eventually when I was working on a documentary much as you guys are doing yourself, we went out into the jungle in Northeastern Cambodia. It’s a rice farming community as well. They plant everything by hand. Everybody is there together. Everybody is doing everything together. To help one another. Yeah, they butt heads, they fight just like everybody else. But their measure of worth is completely different.  And I realized that I had been missing the picture for a while. When it hit, I knew what I needed to do. I didn’t need to be anywhere else but here. Kinda have to figure out what you want to do. That was it.

As it grows. As you harvest. And make preparations for the following year, it’s the cycle of everything moving together. This is our land.”

~ Herb Dishman, China, Texas

~ Music: Bon Iver – The Wolves

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23 thoughts on “American Value: Herb Dishman. This is our land.”

  1. I imagine that farming connects one to the earth, the cycles of reaping and sowing, the elemental realities of life, as nothing else does. And to ‘feel’ your purpose with conviction – no doubt, no question. I admire that so much.

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  2. Awesome. =) In case you haven’t seen…..I think you came on board after I shared my integrative nutrition blog with the Journey readers. I’m not able to build the Table as hoped – four feet under the homeschooling. And I don’t want to pull back on the Journey any more than I have.

    myholistictable.wordpress.com

    Thx for the ongoing support, D.

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      1. I was simply sharing my other blog with you – thought it would interest, esp the pages on top (How to Eat, etc). It’s not a site I’m actively promoting at the moment, as hard as I’d worked on it. But readers have found it useful so it’s there for reference. Just thought it might toot your horn. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. =)

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  3. “I didn’t need to be anywhere else but here.” Love this. Searching only to realize what he was looking for was right in his own back yard.

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  4. Isn’t it funny how often we need to search far and wide for an answer that’s been with us all along. I was struck by the irony that he realized what his course in life was meant to be while in Southeast Asia, then returned to *China* Texas to love out his dreams. The angels are chuckling. A beautiful, moving clip, David, and having grown up in a Midwestern farming community, I know well the pull that working the land can have on a person, a family….. Thank you for sharing this piece….

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  9. Beautiful. To see someone on the Search, trying all the different counter-cultures, a heart and mind open and questioning, then to find his way back home–real Home. I love that he embraces ALL that he is. Lovely.

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