That is so wonderful Allyn, sustaining your family, and your immediate community.... and wild crafting as well ... herbs, mushrooms ...
Though there is nothing more delicious than fruits and veggies that you have nurtured with your own hands.... (now I am dreaming of a juicy sunripe tomato n basil sandwich)... torture, lols ?
I love your vision, and agree with the need for diversity and so much of what you said. But I'm also left to wonder, having grown up in a highly toxic rural area, how these villages will avoid becoming rigid and lacking diversity within themselves? What keeps them from "othering" different groups--maintaining an "us vs. them" mindset? Perhaps there is a shift that will help evolve human consciousness that would make this scenario different than in the past, but I am thinking it is maintaining their sense of individual identity against the pressures of mainstream culture is exactly what rallies the evangelicals, as one example. They see science as colonialism, although they wouldn't use that term. Within their "villages" they don't value diversity of thought, of race, and certainly not of gender and sexual identity. So when, for instance, a state passes a law that outlaws conversion therapy, I applaud that. I regret the dismantling of the civil rights era voting protection. But people within the communities who hold those toxic beliefs see that as mainstream culture trying to force them to "homogenize." I think of cultures like the Taliban, and how women could be beaten just for going outside without a suitable male escort, even fully hidden (there's a powerful film called The Breadwinner that shows this). I suppose I fear that many of these villages wouldn't be flourishing hippy communes or like how we imagine the peaceful indigenous tribes (which not all were), but that isolation might allow for the kind of toxicity I describe to thrive with impunity. Will far more people evolve past an authoritarian consciousness? How will we dismantle white supremacy and patriarchy if we don't work together?
It may be hard to see this future precisely because we're so immersed in patriarchy, white supremacy, heteronormativity, and capitalism. And I approach my work as an educator from a "liberatory pedagogy" perspective, aiming to encourage my students to question the dominant culture, even to consider science as one epistemology (rather than the ONLY way to know something). But in the university, a big part of that education process comes not in the classroom, but from students interacting with people from different backgrounds, with different ways of looking at the world.
I'm also writing here as someone who has lived in the tension of wanting to flee the mainstream world, to homeschool my child--live that hippie sort of dream. I'd love to live in an eco-community, and they exist in my area but you need $$$$ to get in! But I've also worked with students who were in deep poverty, people who don't have the same privilege to make a choice like that. I see many liberals in my city purport to care about racism and poverty, and yet they would never put their child in a public school because it is not good enough for them. Paying taxes and donating to charity just isn't enough--we need to become a community together. Liberation needs to be collective.
Not saying it is either/or here, and I love to hear thoughts about how we go back to villages and work to dismantle oppressive structures that disempower so many. How do we do this without leaving people behind?
It is so much easier planting when you have the space and time to do it (and I got some time on my hands right now). So, weather permitting, we should have a good harvest this year. Nevertheless, like many around the world, we are all too aware of how global warming is affecting our world, and thus have adapted.
I have the good fortune of living on land with many underground streams (we live near a cave system). The original builder of the house we live in built it in 1920, so he built a basement/cellar under the house that is positioned between two of the biggest underground streams. This means that our basement keeps a comfortable temperature all year long, so that we can store canned food, wine, and other items down there. If there is a huge rain or flood, we can actually hear the underground streams through the walls (it sounds like rapids or waterfalls, so I love it!). While we can never make the basement an entertainment center or anything like that, it is perfect for storing things, so we love it.
Because of the foresight of the original builder, we were able to trace these two streams as they go through our property. As the temperatures during summer have gone up in the last decade, we have shifted our garden to where our vegetable garden stands between the two underground streams. That way, we don't suffer the same issues of drought that others do. We still have to water them, of course, but in times when there are no rain, the underground streams still provide enough moisture to save them. Also, we take advantage of several shade trees where we plant the crops that may suffer the worst during a drought, so that they don't suffer as much when the sun beats down on them. It has taken a lot of trail and error (mostly error), but we are doing good.
With the underground streams irrigating our field, we can't use pesticides, of course. But who needs them?! We have natural means of keeping them out, such as planting marigolds around the crops (marigolds will keep many pests away, and are beautiful anyway). It has gotten to the point that I have to plant marigolds around my roses, as Japanese beetles have descended like the plague, and marigolds keep them away.
The reason I am telling all of this is to demonstrate that, if everyone keeps an open mind, we can all live better and simply. In the future, I see people with community gardens on skyscrapers or even little planters in their kitchen windows (yes, we have some too. They grow basil and parsley). But it can be done. My family just had a head start, so I am hopeful that if I share my experiences growing up, maybe it will inspire others. And I am a girly type of girl too, if you know what I mean. I dress up in my suites, paint my nails, go to court and the office, and work in the towns and cities like anyone else. But when I get home, I put on my jeans, put on my gloves, get my trowel, and work like a farmer outside. But people can have the best of both worlds, if they are willing to give it a try. Even if they start small, it is fine. And if you don't have a green thumb, you can still help in the community garden centers. Who knows? You may get help from other people who keep crops there and learn from them. At the very least, you can help them with their plants and get some in return. I know several friends who actually have done this. They all share a plot and take turns with it. While two are true growers, the other three...not so much. But these three help by pulling weeds or watering. Last year, they had plenty of cucumbers and tomatoes that they could all share.
Maybe it is because I live in a rural area that I see that the visions you guys have about a simpler life will come to pass, because it is already a way of life where I am.
Thank you so much for sharing this! What an inspiration your home is, and even though you make it sound so easy to maintain, I know that it takes an intelligent and thoughtfully connected Earther to have achieved what you and your family have done ....
The 'simple' life is quite alot of planned dedication, yes? And a real challenge to adjust to the changing seasons and to attune to the requirements of your stewardship to the land, all of the wild Flora and Fauna as well I expect.
But what abundant rewards and contentment you must reap, and especially in health and well being.....
I love the way you described your underground waters, and the basement between two streams...this reminds me of France where there are many underground rivers, streams and caves that are famed in the wine country for natural rock cellars. I've heard this rushing of the waters in the walls in a documentary on this... so cool!
Do you ever plant to attract certain butterflies, or most important right now, our endangered pollenators the mighty bees?? ???
Like you, these visions I've been having are more like musings, but I'm not imagining them out of nothing. They seem like distant echos in spacetime from the future. I definitely will be coming back here to write more, but for now I'm taking a break from posting on the forum. It took a lot of energy to transmit some of my latest posts. I need to return to attending to the spirits that are making themselves heard in this really potent juncture in time.
You raise a lot of valid concerns that I knew many people would share when I posted about my agrarian visions/musings. I want to address your reservations, because there's lots of potential color and creativity (as long as we make the right choices) that I didn't get a chance to mention initially. But as I just told Jeanne, I'm taking a break from posting. I have to replenish my energy.
There are ways to grow gardens in cities... http://www.naturalbuildingblog.com/rooftop-gardens-healthy-food-cities/ many ways...from hydroponics to containers to small pieces of land with vertical planting and planting towers.
There are resources around that be sustainable... community gardens and such. I see more people coming together to create a sustainable way to grow and share crops. There are definitely changes coming in the way we do things.
Even as I worry about current circumstances, knowing that this too shall pass, I am enjoying the clarity of the air and light that I see, the kindness and sharing and caring I see, the courage and love I see.Time feels very fluid to me now... and I am staying in the now more also.
Creativity is incubating all around as we shelter in place and space for ideas to be born/created is being given to us. We are learning not to clutch so tightly in our hands but to hold gently and lovingly and share the wonder as we take baby steps in this time seeking a way forward.