Part 4: The Spiritual Farmer
Our feelings for the land make a difference
It is time we spoke about one of our main motivations as biodynamic farmers: our spiritual connection to nature. We do not build a spiritual connection with the land simply by understanding its components, but by opening our hearts and feeling a connection to its spirit, it's life force. A few days ago, around sunset, we took a walk through the garden to see what remains in the ground for the last shares. During this walk we watched how crop residues were breaking down and being absorbed among the beds to add to next year's fertility - we were watching the farm digest its food. We were witnessing the unique character of this individual farm organism. In awe of this living farm we felt a love for the life processes that embody the land.
Recognizing the spirit of the land and the role of human beings in natural systems is an ancient practice. For tens of thousands of years, humans lived primarily in horticultural societies (literally translated "plant-culture"). These societies, commonly thought of as simply "hunter/gatherer," cultivated and propagated plants in order to ensure productive foraging grounds. These people, like Native Americans, were guided by their instincts and intuitions or "knowing." They did not need to test their soils to tell them their land was healthy, they felt it. To them, Mother Earth and Father Sky were not romantic concepts, but symbols of the reality in which they lived. Through their lifestyles and reverence for all living things, these societies facilitated the regeneration of the natural systems upon which they relied and flourished.
Where horticultural societies regenerated the land, agricultural societies historically valued yields, extracting and consuming the resources nature provides. From China's Loess Plateau to Mesopotamia, agricultural societies followed the same general trajectory. They began with small populations cultivating grain. As their yields grew, so did their population, necessitating additional fields cultivated through techniques like slash and burn. After many generations and years of soil loss, these civilizations experienced famine, disease, and often war as they descended into a dark age. What these agricultural societies lacked was not spirituality in general, but a narrative that instilled humility and reverence for the natural systems they participated in. They lacked a spiritual connection to the land that served them.
The problems associated with agricultural societies are ever-present across the world today. In the name of mass production, efficiency, and above all, consumption, we have cleared forests, grasslands, and other highly-functioning ecosystems in favor of monocultures kept on life support with annual injections of fossil fuel-based fertilizers and pesticides. At the same time, a vast majority of children and adults alike fail to develop a personal relationship with nature, lacking all but minimal contact to the wild. Like the agricultural societies of the past, disease, famine, and war are all too common. In America in particular, incidences of heart disease, obesity, and diabetes are at record highs. If the land from which we harvest is sick, our people are sick.
When European farmers went to Rudolf Steiner in the 1920s to ask for insight into their lands that were not productive, Steiner encouraged them to deepen their spiritual connection to the their surroundings: the earth and the sky. He asked them to tune into the subtleties of the living earth and cosmos that we are surrounded by. When we take the time to notice and have awareness of nature's rhythms, we develop a deeper heart connection. This in turn helps us to know how to care for the land in ways that are healing and nourishing. As a result, human beings are then healed and nourished, bringing the connection full circle.
We could all benefit from spending more time deepening our spiritual relationship with "mother earth" and "father sky". Time in nature helps us tune our intuitions and instincts and recognize actions that harm and help the land. It also helps us identify the actions we need to take as individuals and as a society to heal and regenerate. Eating local food, growing a garden, and using alternative transportation are only the first steps on the revolutionary path to becoming a prosperous, resilient people.
