Playing Music Again in Dutch Farm Country
As incredible as France’s Jura region was, it felt good to be back playing music again, especially in a place that’s a renovated old barn with a thatched roof! The sound was really interesting - warm but not as “live” as solid wood usually is. The show was sold out, and the people were incredible, from the hospitality of retired-dairy-farmers-turned-concert-hosts Henk and Anna, to the audience who showed up for the music, the social hang, and for the 8 different kinds of beer that Henk brews. We did three sets because people like to visit with each other and drink beer - but they are incredibly quiet during the music. I try not to drink much beer while I’m singing because the carbonation tends to want to announce itself in the middle of phrases, something I was reminded of in Bavaria! So I had to wait until the end of the show to try one of Henk’s fantastic dark brews. He produces both light and dark beers, which he sells at the shows as well as to local grocery stores. I’m definitely more of a wine person than a beer one (as you’ve no doubt figured out by now!) but a glimpse of his brewing setup was incredibly impressive. We talked farming when we weren’t talking music. Henk and Anna farmed about 125 cows, which they sold in 2010 and started a second life as concert hosts/brewers. They still look and talk like farmers, but they say they’re relieved they got out when they did. There was a pressure to increase production and profit (which sounds eerily similar to what’s happening in the States), and they didn’t want to farm that way. Now apparently the Dutch government is also imposing strict regulations on farms (mostly to do with pollution - a fair point since cows aren’t the most eco-friendly animals to have around), but farms are struggling to adapt and still stay in business. Holland has a lot more limited space than we do, so it’s a struggle to balance the needs of farmers with neighboring residents. Our next night’s lodging host also said something similar. She herself is a former farmer, who sold the cows when she got divorced, and now runs a B&B. She was saying the community is getting further and further disconnected from where their food comes from (“the kids don’t think the milk comes from a cow, they think it comes from a grocery store”), which is a definite direct parallel to the situation at home too. Also the weather has been so wet lately that the farmers are struggling to get out into the fields to get the manure on it. (Doesn’t matter the continent, no one likes mud season.) Anyway, getting back to our concert, we were delighted with the Henk and Anna’s company, the music, the beer, and the lovely folks we met at the concert. It was a good night to be back playing.
