The equivocation results from an attempt to clearly articulate the relationship between my intellectual ecological understanding and my philosophical Buddhist contemplation. Both are crucial components of our farming aspirations. They are entirely consistent. I intend to explore them more fully in subsequent posts.
Until then, and as an attempt to clearly state what we are trying to do...
Our farming goal can be expressed in either (1) romantic or
(2) more objective language:
(1) A landscape-scale garden, where most of the work is done
by nature – a garden that nourishes the bodies, intellects and souls of our
family and our community – a garden where we live healthy lives among the
healthy plants and animals that we tend.
(2) To
develop and maintain efficient, sustainable and stable ecological systems that
support our family and community and provide for our fundamental human needs.
By stable
we mean resistant and resilient to perturbation.
By efficient
we mean a high energy&materials output:input ratio.
By fundamental
human needs we mean our need for subsistence, protection, affection,
understanding, participation, leisure, creation, identity and freedom (or any
subset of those that we personally feel strongly about).
Our community
includes our immediate community but also the community of people who are concerned
about or interested in the things that we value.
This is not
an outcome-oriented goal. We have no time-frame, and recognize the scope of what
we are trying to create. Instead we see this as the work of each day, and also of our lifetime, and
of others who share our goal.
