Weather Forecast: Tuesday, highs in the low 60s, 40% chance of rain. Friday, highs in the low 50s, cloudy.
After last week's rain and a few sunny days, John and I are scrambling on the farm to finish up orchard pruning, get the pheromone applicators into the trees, and get the gardens ready for planting. While you are out on the farm this week, we'll have you help us transplant some fruit and nut trees out of their nursery beds and into their permanent homes. We really want to get these trees transplanted before the rain that is predicted later this week so that the rain can help their roots settle into their new spots in the soil.
Because we are behind in our planting this Spring, we don't have the abundance of food (roots and greens) coming out of our gardens that we normally do during the first week of May. But Nature is taking good care of us by providing us with lots of wild food to eat. Last weekend I had the privilege of going foraging with botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer. This week, after we get our planting done, I'd like to share some of her teachings with you as we explore the fields and woods around my house and get to know our wild plant relatives a little better.
As well as nourishing our bodies, foraging can help us build deeper reciprocal relationships with our ecosystems. But as we harvest wild foods, we must be careful that our actions don't harm the plants and animals that are feeding us. Here's an article about what can happen when we apply a marketplace mentality to wild foods: https://www.chicagotribune.com/ct-urban-foraging-wild-onions-met-20150510-story.html
Robin Wall Kimmerer's teachings show us a way to cultivate a different type of relationship to the land. Please watch this talk before coming to the farm this week and think about your own relationship to land: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cumEQcRMY3c#action=share
You might think that you need to go into the wilderness to forage, but there are many edible wild plants in urban areas as well. Here's a quick video about Steve Brill, who leads foraging tours in Central Park in New York City: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeJn3VeCSRA
In your comments this week, first please write about your own relationship to land. What is land to you? If you look at the slide at 8:38 minutes into Kimmerer's talk, do any of those ways of viewing land that she describes resonate with you? If so, how do they show up in your lives? If not, what other ways do you relate to land?
Then, write about how you apply or how you might apply the principles of the Honorable Harvest to your daily life.
Wow... I can't believe you got to go foraging with Robin Wall Kimmerer! It is amazing... because after all you have been teaching her works for years! Over the weekend I went foraging (not with Kimmerer unfortunately) for morel mushrooms and found a small basket of them! I fried them up with farmers market butter and it felt really, really right. I also went foraging around my parents neighborhood for dandelion greens. I made salad to go along with my fried morels. I have been foraging for morels for the past three years and I have found several secret spots throughout Kalamazoo where I know they grow. These spots never fail me, and the foraging does not stop just because I found where they fruited, as their mycelium and spore networks are short, AND far reaching! (Thank you complex organic networks!)
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It is complex, as foraging in some areas is permitted and for others it is banned. I never thought about the intersection of enterprise and foraging since the action of foraging has always returned only enough food for myself or myself and a friend to eat. That is the unspoken name of the game with other Kalamazoo foragers, as we do not take more than we can eat, and we are thoughtful in our transactions between the land and our dinner plates.
Robin Kimmerer- Mishkos Kenomagwen: The Teachings of the Grass video:
Kimmerer does a great job at decolonizing even the notion of climate change in her connection between the Trail of Death where her people moved from the shores of Lake Michigan to the fields of dry prairie grasses in Kansas. Also in connection to her land as home, healer, knowledge identity, moral responsibility paired with non-human relatives. Then in the notion of land as rights, rights to land as property and suddenly because “natural resources, ecosystem services and capital”. I think her view really encapsulates the chaos that has strung from the genocide of first peoples.
The honorable harvest:
Interestingly, this is the way I have always gone about mushroom foraging.
1) Never take the first thing you see.
-To me, this translates into just because you see one morel does not mean it is the only one. Scan the area as the morels tend to grow in spaces near other ones. Leave one as a guide to others.
2) Ask permission (as a two way conversation), “pragmatically/ intuitively”
-If the mushroom does not look ready, leave it. If the mushroom is madly overgrown/ something else is snacking on it, leave it. If the mushroom is perfect, and is not the first one I see, I take it and tend to it very carefully (as they are a delicate and intricate snack for me!)
3) Take only what you need
I touched on this in my entry paragraph/ tangent. Take only what I need, as the mystery of the rest is left to the next morel forager. (This is a small, small community, very secretive in Kalamazoo as well) Though I had not heard Kimmerer's speech, I learned the language of the Honorable Harvest from the first year Roots in the Earth seminar!
4) Be grateful
No specificity here needed. Gratitude is key to seeing the complex sides of all abundance or lack thereof!
5) Be thankful
I am working on this…. Being thankful that is! The voice in my head, the one that says I am not enough, is quieted when I think of the ways that the earth heals and provides for me, and this translates into what Kimmerer said, “Know the ways of the ones who take care of you, so that you may take care of them.” Let us all practice this as well move forward in this class and in our different life tracks!
We are all one member of a democracy of one species. Then we share with others, human and non-human. A culture of sharing is a culture of abundance!!!! YAY Kimmerer.
Urban Foraging in NYC Video:
Things we can forage for in Michigan too! (Thanks Wild Man Steve Brill):
1)Garlic Mustard
2)Wood sorrel flowers
3) Cat tail
4) DANDELION LEAVES! (not included but could have been!)
Through gardening and landscaping, my relationship with the land has always been an intimate one. The land has always been a teacher to me. I’ve learned so much about my characters and position in relation to the surrounding nature. The land has always found a way to cheer me up whenever I am sad, and nourish my body when I’m hungry. From the video, I resonated the most with the idea that the land is a healer and source of knowledge. Without the land, there is no life. I give thanks to the land for providing us with a stable ground to walk on. I am grateful for all of the plants that are on the land, feeding all living organisms and supplying air to foster our spirits. I think to honorably harvest in our daily life is to be humble and be appreciative of all the harmonies in nature. We must cherish the land as it is, and not forget to give back to the land as we receive.
ReplyDeleteI've always been taught to be "a good steward" of the land and resources. In this way, I felt a moral responsibility to 1) keep trash "in its place" and 2) not destroy plant life "willy nilly" (as the article about foraging in Chicago put it). I grew up building various forts in the forest near my house, and I learned (through my Dad and books) the basic names of some of the various trees surrounding my house, of which the majority are oak. I also remember being acutely aware of the various organisms living in and around the forest. When going on a scientific "study" as fourth graders in a local stream, I remember feeling a little bad that we removed some of the organisms (I think one was called scud...they looked like little tiny white shrimp), only to study/record them and have them die (sometimes from clumsy fourth graders operating tweezers). Yet, I also forget how much the land really does (literally and figuratively) fuel humanity and myself. I realized the difference between the flora and fauna within the US when I visited North Carolina at one point, but land as "home" didn't start to fully resonate with me until I lived overseas and I realized the vast differences (and surprising similarities) between the land I grew up in and the land(s) I spent time in while living abroad. When I think of "home" I think of something you want to take care of, something that you want to feel safe in, something that keeps you safe. When respecting the land and being sure to care for it, that helps it remain a home and remain a way to see and observe the ways nature makes it's way (despite the way that it hasn't been cared for, it remains powerful, continuing to grow and flourish in whatever circumstances). I realize that it's a losing fight against nature, but working with it is pretty incredible and points to power much greater than human ability!
ReplyDeleteWhen I first saw this question, I couldn't figure out just how to add the Honorable Harvest to my daily life, yet as I began to think about it, much of it is common sense! Making sure not to take the first thing is important, because you want to be sure to consider alternative options/ ways for that to continue producing (esp with plants). Asking permission seems like it is always a good idea, even with plants. Stopping to consider whether the plant is ready to harvest is smart and sustainable. Taking only what you need is a a pretty good lesson for all aspects of life: take too much, you waste it, take too little and you can always find more or substitute/ adapt with an alternative/replacement. Remembering to be thankful reminds me that I am not the one ultimately "in charge". Instead, it points me to the fact that I cannot, in my own power, fulfill all of my needs (I can't physically make plants grow, I can't tell spring to come, etc.), but instead I am provided for physically by aspects outside of my control and often through work and labor I cannot or do not do.
I feel like I was raised in a community that was somewhat alienated from the land. At least, land wasn't something that we thought about much as a completely developed suburban community. The only space we had in nature was the wooded park near our house that we would walk my dog in. I always loved going on walks in that park, probably because it felt like a respite from the everyday grind of suburbia, and this love was shared by my family. Our idea of a vacation or family time is camping and hiking in the mountains. I think because of this, the idea of land as a healer is strongest in me, but I have also more recently been resonating with more of the ways of viewing the land that Kimmerer discusses. One of my earliest memories is land as residence of non-human relatives. One day, as I was walking home from school, I was tearing the leaves off of trees and bushed and pulling them apart. I suddenly realized what I was doing and felt immense shame for it because these were living beings I was damaging for no good reason other than being fidgety. More recently with climate change predictions looking more and more bleak, I've been thinking more about land as home, land as sustainer, land as moral responsibility, and land as source of knowledge. Part of the reason I signed up for this class was because I believe we can heal by caring for the land, and I guess that's where the ideas of land as espirited, land as identity, land as sacred, and land as ancestral connection come in. I never really considered myself spiritual because I always connected that to religion, but I have been exploring this more in the past year since I've grown to understand the land and universe as being potentially spiritual. When we lose our reverence for the forces of the land that affect us, we stop listening to the things the land tells us and will eventually let it destroy us. I thought Kimmerer's talk was super powerful because we have the potential to heal the land and ourselves, and that gives me hope.
ReplyDeleteI think what I get the most out of Honorable Harvest is the importance of listening and communicating, which can be applied to pretty much any situation. Earlier this year, I injured my back while dancing because I was not listening to my body and decided to push through the pain. When Kimmerer spoke of not only asking for permission, but also waiting for an answer, this really stuck with me because I feel like there are so many times in the day that we go through the motions of asking without actually really doing it in a conscious way, whether we're out foraging or checking in with our bodies and all the little aches and pains or even speaking to other human beings. It's easy to ask a question, it's harder to actually listen and honor the answer.
My relationship with the land has changed throughout my life, as I am sure it has for several of my peers. As a child, the land was somewhere I played, explored, and fostered my curiosity for our natural surroundings. As I grew older, I think that relationship was put on hold in order to go to school and play sports, I was not able to explore in the way I used to due to time. Anything I learned in high school was often in the context of capitalism, which I attribute not my teachers but the system and curriculum within which they taught. I remember learning concepts such as the tragedy of the commons and “efficient” ways in which to use resources. Now, as a college senior, nature is again a place to explore and learn and have become multi-dimensional, and frankly more complicated. Land cannot (accurately) be quantified into monetary terms as it provides so much more than can be sold. Now I strive to have a more respectful relationship with nature and to be more aware of the possible damage I cause with my actions, from lifestyle choices to simply walking on the earth.
ReplyDeleteWith this, I feel as though several of the ways Kimmerer describes land resonates with me. As a source of knowledge, I find more and more of my classes to be outside and have a deep connection to nature and by extension, my relationship with it. I know the land to be a healer as throughout my college career, the arboretum and walks around the neighborhoods near campus were able to bring me peace in some of my lowest lows. Protecting the land is more moral responsibility: I have the voting power, purchasing power, knowledge, and passion that can fuel the conservation of the land that I love.
The idea of the Honorable harvest is one that I love so much. It embodies so many things we have touched on in class but I hadn't be able to articulate myself. Kimmerer allowed me to put words to a feeling or idea which I knew but can now be tangible in a notebook a carry around. Something that I can read again and remind myself of everyday. From the tenets of the Honorable Harvest, I hope to incorporate gratitude more into my daily life. To thank the spaces I inhabit, to be more mindful of the native peoples who previously lived on that same land and be more mindful while I am in nature or enjoying the fruits of it. One way I find myself (hopefully) reciprocating the gifts from nature is picking up litter. As someone who loves being outside and hiking, I make a point to take time out of that experience to pick up trash around me in an attempt to leave the space a little better than I found it.
Land to me is something that sustains life and grows life. I don’t believe it can or should be owned. I think that it should be respected and protected to the same degree as we give human life. Land as home resonates with me the most as I have spent the last 22 years living on land. This past week I was in Kentucky spending my entire days and nights outside whether in a tent, hiking to the crag, or climbing the walls of the crag. When you think of the land similarly to the feelings you have of your own house and community then it allows you to put into perspective the importance of land as a whole to sustain all life.
ReplyDeleteI think it is important to apply the principle of taking only what you need and to minimize harm specifically when looking at my daily life. My goal is to be aware of my impact on the land around me and to try and reduce my presence as much as possible. To think of the land as another living being with my main goal to maintain its life each time I use it, such as, when I go out to climb to be aware of my impact on the land I am camping on, the land I am hiking on, as well as the land I am climbing to do as little harm as possible.
My relationship to the land seems to have evolved into something beautifully complex. As a child living in a fairly urban area, I yearned for a vegetable garden. I was transfixed by the concept of growing my food to the point that when I found wild onions growing in my yard, I forced my family to come together (divorced parents and my grandmother) to have a spring party to celebrate my harvest (my mom chopped them and put them on salad). Admittedly, I guess I did see "land as capital" because I also wanted to have a stand to sell them. I spent time pulling weeds with my grandmother, and the smell of damp sand and the beauty of dusk in the springtime is today a deeply powerful reminder of her. For me, growing up beside, and going to the beach was always a very active endeavor, as I would spend all my time in the water. Still, it wasn't until I went abroad and backpacked in the mountains that I felt something close to immersion in a natural place. I began to realize that interaction with the land really involves so much trust, and this was reinforced as I began to learn about farming. Furthermore, it became clear that I could not separate my spiritual and familial connections to the land from the capitalistic ways in which I had come to rely on it. Reconciling this has been difficult, but Kimmerer's words on gratitude really resonated with me.
ReplyDeleteAs much as it is flawed in its origin, I have always enjoyed Thanksgiving for the way it compels us to look at the food on our table with reverence, and to be grateful. I do this sometimes, but could do better. That being said, when my mother and I cook together, we sometimes spend half the meal talking about what we made. She loves to tell me about the nutritional value of the different ingredients, and I love to think about the way flavors are paired. I feel like this at least honors some of the different components necessary for the meal. As much as I do try to be conscious of my choices, I could do more with my purchasing power to minimize harm of the Earth, ("using a digging stick instead of a shovel") and I am actively trying to share more meals. I also want to start thinking of ways to "reciprocate the gift" of what the land has given me, because I definitely have been a taker for a long time.
Growing up, I always had an intimate relationship with the land around me. When I think about it, I am always moved to tears. I'm not sure why, but it's a feeling of being overwhelmed, profoundly humbled, of deep, deep pain.
ReplyDeleteMy relationship to this land is, primarily, one of home.
I know the swamp on my grandparents' farmland. I know the knotted blue pines that grow together behind my house. I know the oak tree who lets down her bundles of acorns for the gray squirrels to store. The twin walnuts that are severed from each other for eternity. I know the names of the fish in Pine lake, and I remember who they are each year. I know where old fence lines used to be, where now only tall grasses grow.
There are many things that I do not know about the land that I call home.
I don't know what it has been. Who was here before me? I don't always know how to listen to its stories. I turn my head to listen, but, what was that?
The land here holds me, and I am bound to it.
Honorable harvest is/is not present in my life. With my last living Grandfather, I have learned much about what it means to have that reciprocal relationship with the world around me. I remember distinctly a time that he took me into my own backyard and showed me how to hunt and responsibly harvest the mushrooms. I remember him bending down, and with a swift flick of his thumb, the morel was loose. He made sure I understood that I had to leave a little behind in order for it to come back to us again.
My grandfather and Kimmer's thoughts take on more importance as I am teaching myself about foraging, how to do it right, and with what kind of spirit. I have to institute these tenants into my life. There is really no negotiation. With that, I have to learn how to see better, think clearer, and love with more abandon than I ever have. That is how I plan to implement these ideas.
When I think about my relationship to the land, my first instinct is to imagine camping, hiking in the forest, and swimming in the lake. I imagine spending time outdoors and near the water and all of the feelings that come along with it. But I also cannot help but wonder if these occasions can truly be representative of my relationship with the land. Although I love when I have the chance to do these things, they seem to be more of a momentary escape, an excursion out from, my everyday relationship to the land. More than occasionally I travel in car by highway. I live in a house in neighborhood full of houses with sidewalks and roads and supermarkets. And I benefit from these things. These are the places where my life is sustained. So maybe this better represents my relationship to the land. The urban sprawl and my place among it. Or maybe it lies somewhere between all of these things. Whatever it is, I hope that what it can be a healthy one. That I am able to do my fair share to reciprocate what has been given. But I know there is much more I can do. There is a need to be grateful and respectful and take responsibility because at present the land deserves to be treated much better than it is. And like all relationships, I can imagine improvements are only possible with continuous work.
ReplyDeleteThe segment in the video asks the question, What does land mean? It describes land as sacred, healer, and identity and these qualities are contrasted with land as property and as resource. I feel that this alone says much about the flaws of our present ways of viewing the land. There are so many environmental problems that humans have created and many of these problems can be traced back to our relationship to the earth. Many of the tragedies of biodiversity loss, climate change, and the settlement of the Americas are rooted in a view that takes land as property, resource, and as disposable. Although I am skeptical (or maybe curious) about whether such views must always be held in opposition, they resonate strongly when juxtaposed. I guess this also begs the question of reform vs. revolution. In order to create a just/ sustainable future, in order to walk down the green side of the split path as Kimmerer had described, to what extent and in which ways do things need to change. For a place to start, I think the values set forth by the honorable harvest present some important guidelines. If we can, at a fundamental level, treat land in such a way- sustainably, regeneratively, and as stewards- a healthier relationship is bound to ensue. While I do not know if this would be enough to 'fix' things, it seems like a step in the right direction.
Something I appreciated this week while watching the sources provided for us was that although we’ve had a very similar conversation to this one before, the language used felt more intentional and therefore hit a bit harder. It’s also interesting that my own relationship to the land would be brought up because just yesterday Bella and I were talking about how much we missed the outdoors and how we needed to get back out there (for an extended period of time) as soon as possible for “grounding” reasons. We also both agreed that Landsea, the outdoor orientation program our school provides for incoming first year students, was probably the best experience K gave to us. So I guess if I’m looking at it from the lense of biophilia, or our innate tendency to seek out connections with our land as humans, then our land would be our healer, a way to seek our lost identities. Another aspect of land I have deeply internalized is this idea of a home for our non-human relatives to reside in reciprocity with each other, something we have yet figured out to do as humans. So many of the terms used in Kimmer’s talk have been applied to humans rights movements again and again- I loved how she wove together the two stories of the displacement of the birds with that of her ancestors. It sort of goes to show that as soon as we start assuming any part of nature to be disposable, we are creating space for inequality and dehumanization within our own species as well- we are dishonoring the concept of honorable harvest. I noticed this language come to life again when she explained the rules of asking permission before foraging wildlife (isn’t that essentially what we’re trying to permeate with Title 9??), benefiting the growth of the plant while doing so, and taking only what we need from the plant. When we watch movies such as The Inconvenient Truth, it feels as though all the threats being made have most to do with the extinction of the human species, whereas this talk made more strides to take all other relatives into account.
ReplyDeleteI think the idea of honorable harvest is very similar to that of good enoughness I mentioned earlier in the term- and that this balance of what can be given and what can be taken is a beautiful method to try and abide by everyday life, even if we aren’t given the chance to be outside in nature. I feel that I’ve watched myself pick my connection with other humans over my moral responsibility to this balance before and regretted/learned from my mistakes in return. This is going to sound really vague and I’m not sure if it makes sense, but learning to recognize and value incredible life opportunities that are being handed to you at minimal cost to other beings over the ones that may seem better at the moment but are more forced is a big part of growing up. Sustain the ones who sustain us. Consider the responsibility we have to a parent that has raised us and is beginning to grow old and weak (maybe not so much in western society where many times we stick the elderly in homes). We should be both spiritual and pragmatic when making decisions within communities- as Kimmer stated we owe everyone at least attention, at least to know their names.
I feel as though I cannot talk about my relationship to land without first expressing my gratitude to Klienstuck forrest, here in Kalamazoo. My parents are not fans of the outdoors. As a family, we never went camping, hiking, or foraging. For a while, we had a small vegetable and herb garden—which I loved—but its lifetime was short. I am grateful to have attended a small school, right next to Klienstuck, where my relationship to the land I live on and am attached to was grown. With the exception of days with lightning and dangerous cold, we were outside everyday. When it was warm enough, class was held outdoors as well. We would venture into Klienstuck for art, science, English, history, physical education, and music classes. We would track the growth of tadpoles, draw mosses, smell sassafras, and listen to the wind blow through the pine grove. At one point, I knew the name of every tree and plant that called Klienstuck home. Land, for me, is about mutual learning and growth. I love the way that Robin Wall Kimmerer summarizes land as about relationships and moral responsibilities. For me, I most resonate with Land as Source of Knowledge. I think about how, if I were to now walk through Klienstuck, I would no longer remember the names of the trees, plants, and animals as I once did…as I so naturally did when I interacted with the land every day. If I wanted to remember, I would have to turn to my phone and google leaf patterns and such—a very sterile way of “knowing” the land. Yet, even if my memory was perfect, I would struggle to recognize many parts of the forrest. The land is now under the control of Western Michigan University. The soft dirt paths that we would lightly and single-filed traverse are now widened with gravel. The small little pool on the north side of the pond, where tadpoles once grew, is now covered with a bench dedicated so some person who “cared” for the land. The steep, root lined path down into the woods has eroded due to foot traffic and the removal of many plants. You can no longer enter that way. Thus, I also connect with Land as Home and challenge the current stewardship projects which forget this.
ReplyDeleteI began this post with a principle of the Honorable Harvest, my gratitude for the land I arew up on. During my time spent in Klienstuck, our teachers never let us forget that the space was a gift that we must reciprocate and never damage. We would do all that our small elementary hands could muster to give back to the forrest through compost, pulling garlic mustard, protecting turtle nests, and even building fairy houses. We never took much, only the occasional stick or leaf, but we also never asked permission nor listened for the answer. This is something that I want to hold on to and practice moving forward.
I feel that I have always had a strong connection to land, especially the land I grew up on. During my childhood, my friends and I would run through the surrounding forests, mountains, and fields for hours each day. I still know every corner of that land and often, when I need to reground myself, I go spend time on that land again, walking or sitting. Sometimes I find it difficult to be away from that place because it does feel like such a grounding and true piece of my life, but I try to spend time outside in nature in other ways (one of my favorite things to do in Kalamazoo when I need to feel grounded/time alone is to go walking on the Kal-Haven trail and in the nearby woods). I particularly loved Kimmerer's view of land as healer and source of knowledge. I've always felt that land has shared a healing presence with me and, though I am not the most knowledgeable about plants and animals it holds, I always feel that the land shares a different kind of emotional and spiritual knowledge when we spend time together. I also am drawn to land as ancestral connection, especially where I grew up, because I live on very sacred land. It was previously inhabited by native tribes (alas, I am forgetting the name so I have some research/remembering to do). It was also home to the leading community of the Shakers, who were a religious, pacifist group that believed in utopia through communal living. There's a ton of Shaker buildings and walls (built out of stone, they're really beautiful) throughout the land. All in all, it is a very sacred and powerful place.
ReplyDeleteI think the Honorable Harvest principles go for so many different areas of one's life. It could be around land, but it could also be around human relationships, or even one's relationship to oneself. The last one is where I think I need to most implement these - to really tune into myself and ask how much I can give and make the best use of that energy. Of course, I am always striving to do this in my other relationships as well, including to the land. These principles are a beautiful reminder of how to do that.
I agree strongly with the “land as home” and “land as identity” bubbles, as well as the “land as source of knowledge”, “land as sustainer”, and “land as moral responsibility” ones; “land as healer” I find nice, too. “Land as home” and “land as identity” are ones I have an unfair privilege to: I was born in Michigan, I’ve lived all my life in this area of the state, and I purposefully chose to apply to colleges near home because I love this area so much. Unfortunately, during these college years I have not spent enough time outside, doing work or leisure, and so my connection to my home land is not what it once was or what it could be. After graduation, I do intend to spend more time outside: the only way to get that connection is through time and personal, physical contact. “Source of knowledge” and “sustainer” refer to the ways I look to nature for understanding of life; “sustainer” is lessened by how little I rely on my direct environment for actual sustenance, but it remains at least in a spiritual role.
ReplyDeleteFor the Honorable Harvest, that first rule is so beautiful: “don’t take the first one”. It’s so simple, and it reflects values like moderation, self-control, and thankfulness. All these deep, interconnected scientific measurements of renewability rates and so forth, right next to this one, simple rule. In terms of translating this harvest idea into relationships or something, it could mean always be patient, and actually willing to listen to people around you: not just waiting for them to stop so you can say what you want to say, but always being open first, in thankfulness for the chance you’ve been given to spend time with and connect with someone.
1)Land has always been a gift to me. It has been one of the more multi-faceted, man of 1000 faces, laygroundesque relationships for me as land has been so much for me. From being what brought me peace as a child to being where I have learned to be the most respectful adn fearful of what nature can do, land has lalways uplifted me and everything around me. Land is a platform and land is a friend. Land is a foundation adn it allows itself to be built upon; it is generous and inviting and it is utterly important.
ReplyDelete2) For the Honorable Harvest, I think that many of the rules are things that I have seen working in my everyday life. I was particularly a fan of taking what you need. While that is so important to me in terms of a healthy diet and a healthy body, I also internalize it as a way to describe how we should emotionally relate to one another and make sure that we treat each other as extensions of the land and only take what we need, never take first, and always ask for permission. I love the ules of the honorable harvest as they seem to all indicate that communication and mindfulness are the only things required to be honorable and grateful and this leaves space for so much contextual specificy that allows folks to find their own entry point and truly reflect. I am alwyas struck by the rule to never take the first one. I think it implies a need for patience, a requirment of being in conversation with time and land to wait and let the land give more. It helps us think more critically and it allows for us to really understand that what the land gives us is not without a need for reciporcation. the first could grow and nothing else, so dont take the first one. More is coming.
1. Looking at the slide most of them resonate with me. I always craved land as in the vastness, and when I first experienced in Mexico as a child it was not easy because I did not have the same relationship as my parents did. So land became something informing identity for my parents and I, but in different ways. The land where my parents have their home has been one that has been theirs for more than one hundred years, so that land also is enspirited because I know the moment my parents set foot they think of the generations they got to meet and those they did not, but nonetheless exist within that space beyond death. They know that no one knows how to care after it as much as they know. And despite me not growing up there other than a month every couple of years, I feel generations embracing me when I'm there even when that land was a site of violence. To me land is a relationship, you give it and it gives you back.
ReplyDelete2. I think that taking what you need, ask, and reciprocation are the ones that relate the most because even when you know the answer is yes, asking takes into account that there are multiple involves. Taking what you need and reciprocity are important in particular because to me is brings land and humans to be at the same level and apply human relationships to land and it makes you realize and learn that it too lives