‘Alot of people put in gardens thinking, ‘oh look I’m doing this great thing for my body and I’m being all eco-friendly, but they never put anything useful back into the soil, so they expect the earth to just give them all the minerals and life giving things from the plants they grow and then they dont give anything back’. ~ summerized quote from Kirk, owner of Cascade Meadow Farms
My neighbor and I went to see Kirk and his lovely little farm last weekend. We were met by a thin, heavily bearded jolly guy that immediately introduced us to his guinea hogs that have free reign of the place. Tereza (as we shall call my neighbor here on) and I were smitten with them immediately as we scratched their tight broad bellies and fuzzy little ears. We were completely sold on them after holding a few of the 2 day old piglets. This next weekend we are hoping to go purchase a breeding pair from him.
From there we wandered into the Icelandic sheep and Dexter cow herds for their daily feeding of winter hay, and Kirk continued his passionate monologue regarding soil health, nitrogen, the relationship of grass and red clover and how vital it is to the protein feeding of your livestock and essential to the consumer of the beef products. It was fascinating. He doesn’t truck in fertilizers and weed killers, antibiotics or heavy machinery. He doesn’t send the manure off the land or heap into piles covered in tarps. He uses the natural spring to water, good pasture rotation, the natural fertilizer that is manure and the common sense of letting nature be your teacher to create a successful, yet humble little farm empire. His animals were happy, healthy and docile. They trusted Kirk, you could see it in their eyes as they blinked contentedly as he scratched them behind the ears or withers.
In the same thread, Tereza and I have been researching permaculture and what it means to grow and sustain while giving back to the earth and not eroding the land we use. Instead of rotatilling, we are simply sheet mulching right on top of existing grass. We started discussing the hugelkultur method of building up your soil, which suggests using logs and forest debris in a pile and then heaping on manure, or finished compost, straw or other leafy debris right over the top and let nature take it’s course. The logs act as a sponge as they decompose aiding in proper drainage as well as being a water source during warmer months. Planting right on top of this requires little effort, because nature knows best.
I love this. I love this so much. It feels so right to garden with the natural cycles and courses of the earth, climate and seasons. We aren’t disrupting nature, we are adding to it, becoming part of it, including it in our daily lives. As opposed to simply cutting out our plot of garden space, ripping out the weeds to keep our garden area ‘clean’, poison the bugs and animals that come near it and scare away the birds. Because nature doesn’t belong in the garden! I have been of the later school of thinking my whole life really. I knew that manure was good for the soil, but it’s only been recently that I’ve realized that before miracle grow, pesticides, black gold topsoil that you buy at the grocery store, and seedlings from the nursery, that nature knew how to do this well and even more easily! The weeds I used to yank out, some of them are nutritious herbs, or helpful in deterring harmful bugs, or they provide shade to the seedlings.
I love this video! It puts it to words and images so well.
The reason I really like this is because of how this is all an incredible metaphor to community and spirituality. I love thinking of my spiritual community as a permaculture garden. We don’t cut out our plot of space, declaring it a church for a certain type of individual. There is room for any life. The focus is to give back, to sustain to find harmony amongst the community, the city and individuals. We aren’t afraid of chaos. Because we grow when we are challenged with hardships. We are there to provide shade for the weary and to be willing to turn around and ask for a hand as well. We thrive in our messy garden. Because life is messy. My spiritual life isn’t pristine, my relationship with my savior, Jesus, still has much room for growth. My community is not well polished. But we can still be fruitful. The goal is to be fruitful in real every day life. Much like the tomatoes that will grow from a raised hugelkultur bed. It would be hard to tell that it is a garden, except that there is productive life happening in there. Spirituality shouldn’t be a separate box in your life, it should be intertwined with every faucet of your being. Spirituality = Nature. If you try to force growth in your garden (your soul) with chemicals and keep it separate from everything else, it will only be fruitful (but not substantial) for a short time. The minerals will wear out. The facade will vanish and you will be left with an eroded soul. (Am I getting too metaphoric here?)
It’s beautiful, isn’t it? Doesn’t that seem so natural? Both the gardening and the spiritual application? Nature has so much to teach us when we stop trying to fight against it and instead pay attention. I believe that is part of God’s plan. He has given us the tools we need. For abundant life, for health, and for community.
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A few reading resources regarding sheet mulching, hugelkultur and permaculture
