Emma Peaslee
speaker
237 appearances
4 recordings
1 series
first heard Nov 2024
last heard 22 Jul
Emma Peaslee’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 1 in all, peaking in Jul 2026 with 1.
Appearances
We get to our first plot with Friedrich and his son Veit, who's taking over the farm. Veit has all the stakes with their name. They have nine stakes for nine plots of land. Some farmers have dozens of stakes, others just a few.
Some of the best plots are at the beginning of the lottery. This first plot would be good for any crop, but it would be especially good for potatoes. So Friedrich really wants his name to be called.
After an hour, two miles of walking, and a dozen more names being called. Not you again? No, my name. Friedrich has watched as a lot of his neighbors get good land.
I got a 30 again. Now I have 90. You have 90? So you've read three times? Yeah.
As the day stretches on, we start to notice all the ways that it feels like we are not in the year 2024. This whole lottery seems really inefficient. For example, they walk plot to plot and they measure all the plots by hand using a tool that predates the metric system. The tool is called a girt. It's basically a giant wooden ruler with an incremental measurement called a shoe.
That's German for shoe. And it's based on an actual person's shoe size. The people here, though, say all this ceremony is because of fairness.
And this is key to what makes this system work. That people believe it's fair. The things we're seeing, like measuring the land by hand using an ancient tool, walking plot to plot, and watching each name drawn out of a bag. These are symbols of the system's fairness. And because people believe this is all fair, they're willing to accept the outcome of the lottery.
The ritualization helps people accept their fate.
I do it fast so everyone can go on, go on, go on. Like all the kids are like, uh, like staying there for like three minutes. Wiggling their whole hand in the bag, trying to pick it out, opening it, then struggling to like, eh, eh, they can't even read. Can you read the names? Sort of.
Three hours in, and a few dozen plots have new owners. But Friedrich is still waiting for his turn, waiting for his name to be called.
He pulls out his map of the Osing and writes down his name.
So we're walking down a hill. I'm thinking like maybe these are scratchy plants.
Do you all have ticks in Germany?
That's not what I wanted to hear.
It feels like things are changing. The sun is bearing down on us, and the soil in these plots is noticeably worse. This is not the kind of land Friedrich wants. But he still has three stakes left. Friedrich is worried about getting one of these really bad plots. And after a few draws, his name does get called. Friedrich's son Veit hammers their stick in.
And when he finishes, he leans over and mutters something to Markus.
This land has terrible rocky soil. It's nowhere near his house or even his other plots.
He says it's a bit schlumpy, but not worthless. Still land, though. Friedrich, the eternal optimist, knows that all hope is not lost.
After 15 miles of walking and more than 600 names being drawn, the map of the osing has been rewritten. And looking at the new map, it's kind of a mess. Farmers have plots that are all disconnected from each other, and wheat farmers have soil that's good for potatoes. Potato farmers have soil that's better for corn.
This is partly why pretty much everyone else on the planet buys and sells land. If Friedrich could just buy the land he wants, he could make sure he got exactly the land he needs for potato farming. But because he's in the lottery, he has to leave it to chance.
Showing 201–220 of 237 · page 11 of 12
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