Full Farm, 1974

Full Farm: Survival Piece #6 – commissioned by the Houston Museum of Contemporary Art for its opening exhibition entitled “10”, 1974 (catalog). “Full Farm” was intended as a possible teaching system for grade school and high school as well as having an existence as a complex installation, it was designed to be exhibited and worked with, part-by-part. It contained, Portable Orchard, Potato Farm, Flat Pastures, Upright Pastures and Worm Farm. There was neither space nor funding to add a fish farm, which would have added protein to the ensemble of fruits beans, vegetables and potatoes.

It happened that the potato patch was attacked by blight and quickly expired. The beans grew well in the upright pastures. The flat pastures, with vegetables and salad greens, were highly productive. Somebody planted marijuana in the upright pastures. Somebody else planted peyote in the flat pastures. The exhibition did not last long enough for serious harvesting and feasting, although salads were prepared. The exhibition was not loved.