The humble Farmer

society, culture, personal, journals · EN

The thing about The humble Farmer, Robert Skoglund is that the work speaks for itself, literally. We’ve chosen a selection of his shorter missives because these quirky snippets of northern wisdom reflect the beauty of local public media. Local interstitials are the sprigs of mint in public radio, or in the case of The humble Farmer, the bunch of rhubarb. Skoglund’s show ran for 28 years on Maine Public, which is both unsurprising and remarkable. Skoglund is an iconic Mainer. In the 1970s, he published humorous one-line personals in the Maine Times, such as: "Antique dealer seeks attractive young woman interested in one night stand." This caught the attention of local radio stations and he began hosting a show on Maine Public Radio featuring jazz music and his own style of humor. His work on Maine Public was initially pro bono but in 2006, he began receiving $30 a show. Skoglund had some controversy over airing political criticism which some interpreted as being directed at Georg