No Tomorrow in the Fruit Business : Precarity and Belonging at Montgomery Place Orchards

Doug and Talea Taylor, who are the managers of Montgomery Place Orchards, lived on the farm for thirty years with no more than a year-to-year license to work the land. The Montgomery Place property has always been divided between wealthy landowners and tenant land workers, between the estate and the farm. This precarious arrangement, of a licensing agreement and of relations between workers and tenants, has necessitated the production of stories of belonging and authority, on the parts of workers and owners, in order to assert claims for rights. These stories have also served to make claims about the meaning of the Montgomery Place landscape. With the recent Bard purchase of Montgomery Place, Doug and Talea Taylor are finding that the meaning of the land is being opened up again and their voices are finally being heard