Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Rain, Rain, Rain, Rain. No work in the garden today. Can’t prune the tomatoes or harvest the beans because its so wet. Handling plants in the wet makes them susceptible to fungus I hear.
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I’ve been reading just slightly more Biodynamic literature recently. Ina book on Biodynamic preparations I came across a line that seemed to sum up the whole approach. The line went something like “the role of these preparations is to provide for the earth what it can’t provide for itself.”
I’m in the midst of figuring out whether this is a statement of hubris or humility. On the hand full of hubris to think that the Earth can’t provide for itself puts humanity in a position of power. Men and women can only make these preparations which the earth needs but doesn’t make itself. In this position humanity becomes essential to the evolution of the Earth.
This hand bothered me at first because I generally put more faith in the processes of the Earth without humanity’s influence upon it. However, the hand full of humility seems to suggest that humanity is not above or separate from the Earth, but is a life that is dependent upon and is depended upon by the life around it. This hand integrates humanity and puts it in a mutually dependent role serving the earth so we can survive- eat fruits, vegetables and meat.
To take responsibility for the use of these preparations would be, according to Biodynamics, acknowledge one’s role in the evolution of the Earth and its processes. To give in the never ending reciprocity that comes with agriculture. To practice agriculture in a way that provides vitality to human nutrition and the Earth’s soil. A vitality that only comes when we realize our role in the health and rejuvenation of the physical environment in which we live.
