Interactive performance on farming and food security Hugh Kruzel January 14, 2025

Are you free on January 20th? If you have time I have a suggestion for your calendar.

“She Won’t Come in from the Fields” is a 30-minute one-woman show and conversation about regenerative farming and climate solutions.

Dale Colleen Hamilton has been on tour with her play and performance for some time.

She wants to tell you a bit more about the photograph you see here, and to explain why she has a laptop with her in the play.

“It is essentially a video call conversation between a farmwoman trying to convince her conventional farmer son to try farming regeneratively. She has chained herself to a fencepost until he agrees to try it on one field. She’s staging a one-woman protest, refusing to come in from the fields until he agrees to change. In the process, it hits home to both of them that working together is the best way to regenerate their farm and help mitigate climate change.”

She knows and lives what she shares; Dale comes from a 6-generations-deep farm family in southwestern Ontario.

You are touring with a message. What do you wish to communicate to audiences?

My hope is to communicate a message of optimism and hope because during my tour to date, I have met so many smart hard-working passionate people who are doing great things in the fields of regenerative farming and food security. That said, my optimism is tempered by the reality of the wide-spread serious decline in soil health, the climate emergency and the rise of regressive governments and corporations around the world that don’t prioritize the wellbeing of nature and therefore humanity.

There is the performance and then an interactive piece. Most “plays” don’t have that.

You’re right that most plays don’t do that, but for over 40 years I’ve used theatre as a tool for community engagement and education, so it comes naturally to me. Over the decades I’ve seen the power of theatre to spark community spirit and bring about positive changes in communities and individuals.

Specifically in the case of my one-woman show, my favourite part of it is the post-performance conversations. As I tour, I have learned so much from these conversations and have incorporated these learnings into the script. I keep re- writing it as I go. I guess you could say it’s an organic document.

Sudbury may not be seen by many as an agricultural region.

During my tour I’ve been told that the same misconception happens in Newfoundland and the Yukon… you have pockets of small and larger farms around; for instance Thessalon, Verner and Massey.

In terms of regenerative practices, I’d say they’re ahead of areas of Canada that have huge expanses of farm land owned or rented by large agri-business corporations that generally are not interested in transitioning to regenerative practices. I think smaller farms are more fertile ground, so to speak, for regenerative practices to take hold and be sustained. That said, some big agri-businesses are expressing interest in reducing tillage and reliance on chemical inputs.

What do you see is the biggest challenge in Canadian diets and food choices today?

We need to strike a balance between food security, affordability and convenience. That means trying to resist the temptation for the convenience of fast food and prepared food in favour of more home cooking and occasionally patronizing restaurants that use local in-season regeneratively-grown produce. And I think we need to minimize purchasing out-of-season fruits and vegetables that have been grown on far-off factory farms and shipped thousands of miles, creating a huge carbon footprint.

The future is our youth. Is your message for them also?

Yes, my message is definitely for young people as well, because there’s so much work to be done to bring us back from the brink that present and previous generations have pushed us to. Some soil scientists say we only have about 60 years of top soil left if we carry on as we are today, so we’ve got to get our act together fast if we want to hand over a world worth living in for future generations. That might sound like doom-and-gloom, but I’m very encouraged by the quantity of quality of young people I’ve met on my tour who are really “digging deep” into soil science and using it in their farming practices with great results. Anecdotally, I have noticed that the majority of the regenerative movement is peopled by young women, which I find encouraging. We definitely need more and younger farmers.

What’s next for you?

I’m already planning my next project. I want to do another touring one-woman show aimed at urban audiences, focusing on the importance of chemical-free lawns, backyard or community gardens, composting and native plants. I’m imagining a character similar to the one in my present one-woman show except she’s chained herself to her neighbour’s fence until he agrees to try some of her ideas. Maybe I’ll call it “She Won’t Come in from the Garden.”

For full details and to reserve your free ticket go to https://www.seasonspharmacy.com/classes/p/shewontcomeinfromthefields?utm_medium=email&utm_source=customer_notification

The performance will be followed by an optional conversation with the audience focusing on challenges and solutions in sustainable food production and food security, exploring ways to dovetail different approaches for the benefit of farmers, consumers and the planet.