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Library

Rachel Schneider

June 24, 2024

|

Ghent, NY

Song

Recorded by

Isvett Verde

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Summary:

This interview with Rachel Schneider was conducted at her home in Harlemville, NewYork on June 24, 2024. In the interview, Rachel tells us that she was born and raised in the New York City area. She describes learning about the work ofRudolf Steiner, and how the Waldorf education methodology inspired her to become a Waldorf teacher. She tells us how in 1978 she visited Hawthorne Valley Farm with her third grade class. She fell in love with the farm, as well as her husband who was working on the farm at the time. In time, she too became a farmer.

Rachel explained how growing food for other people is a supreme act of brotherhood and sisterhood. She described the first time she ate something she herself grew, and how she started the farm’s CSA. That rural urban connection planted the seeds for what would eventually become Hudson’s Rolling Grocer 19, a fair pricing grocery story. She spoke of the connection she felt to Hudson and fostering a relationship with the city’s community. How community is an integral part of the work they do and why it’s so important that people have a sense for helping each other out.

This interview may be useful, or of interest, to those who wish to learn more aboutRudolf Steiner, Waldorf education, biodynamic farming, community activism, community supported agriculture and food access.

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Themes:
Farming
,
Nature
,
Food
,
Environment
,
Activism
,
Hawthorne Valley Waldorf School
,
Interviewer Bio:
Isvett Verde

Isvett Verde is a journalist. She was born inHavana, Cuba and was part of the wave of migrants who left the island for Miami, FL during the Mariel Boatlift in 1980. She resides in Brooklyn, where she spends much of her time working as an opinion editor at The New York Times. But her passions have drawn her to write about the Indigenous people leading the fight on climate, how Floridians learned to shop for produce on social media during the pandemic and avocado dyes. These days she often turns to her kitchen for inspiration, where not just cooking, but sharing a meal with friends fills the spaces the written word can't.

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Additional Info:
Interview language(s):
English
,
Audio quality:
Medium

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Permissions: 

This interview is hereby made available for research purposes only. For additional uses (radio and other media, music, internet), please click here to inquire about permissions.

Part of this interview may be played in a radio broadcast or podcast.

Oral history is an iterative process. In keeping with oral history values of anti-fixity, interviewees will have an opportunity to add, annotate and reflect upon their lives and interviews in perpetuity. Talking back to the archive is a form of “shared authority.”

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