An outpost of hope

These past weeks I've been totally absorbed in research, site analysis, and site preparation of my back yard as I decide how to create several forest gardens there.

As part of this process, I've taken out trees in the "front 40" on the east side of the house to clear a sunny space for fruit trees, berry bushes, and hazelnuts; I've identified areas for potential development and marked out the flooded low areas from this year's snow melt to guide planting decisions; I've made spreadsheets of what trees and bushes I want to plant where, with soil, water, and light requirements; I've taken a stab at writing down what I want the end result of all this effort to be; and I've eaten and slept with volumes 1 & 2 of The Edible Forest Garden by Dave Jacke as I try to get my head around all the possibilities. At times I felt as if my head would explode.

My biggest challenge has been how to transform the back yard into a forest garden without losing its park-like, unmanaged feel. The thought of turning this semi-wild place into a formal cultivated garden for purely human purposes makes me cringe like nails on a chalk board. I fell in love with this location because of the creek and woods and native (and yes, invasive) plants all make me feel like I'm camping even though I'm looking out my back window. On some level I fear that anything I do might detract from this wonderful environment and sully it so it loses some of its un-interferred with natural appeal.

And yet that's what I must do, at least to part of this place, if I am to grow food here. Success for me would be to somehow integrate human intervention into this natural setting so that the forest garden that rises up slow-motion from the earth will eventually look just as natural and inevitable as what's growing here now. I make my interference with humility and apologetic awe. I don't really know what I'm doing, but what I create whether well or badly will be here for many, many years to come. Because I have been here with my consuming vision of what could be, the world the will be different.

Yet perhaps not so different. Nature will continue to take its course, and whatever I do may not have much of an impact in the long run as natural forces sort through which of my efforts to keep or discard. My hope is that whatever happens, this land might become an outpost of hope as the new edible plant seeds and cuttings make their way around the neighborhood, hand to hand, a living bastion against food insecurity in a world that's quickly falling apart.

Pretty big intentions when I haven't planted anything yet! But I can dream, and it's dreams that make the world.

A political rant

This morning I got another email from a Democratic group outraged at what Republicans are doing. I unsubscribed, saying:

Democrats no longer stand for anything different than Republicans--results in Congress show that both bow to big corporations. All the shouting and bluster between the parties is, in the end, a smoke screen to hide the fact that democracy no longer exists in America (if it ever did). Participating in such a corrupt process is a waste of precious energy best spent in taking local actions to address how to survive when the nation takes its final plunge toward economic collapse.

I used to be active in the Democratic party, attending caucuses and pushing for changes to make the leadership in this country more responsive to the needs and priorities of living, breathing human beings and the planet we live on instead of big corporations and the military. I believed I could make a difference.

That began to change in 2000 when the country was held hostage to a radical agenda and blatently sold lock, stock, and barrel to the wealthy and to powerful corporate interests. These interests controlled the halls of power and wrote the code for voting machines to ensure that no one could get in office who wasn't pre-approved by the ruling "elite."

The outrages piled up as the country I grew up in changed in unrecognizeable, horrific ways. It embraced torture, effectively eliminated the Constitutional right to a fair trial, began illegal and immoral wars for oil, crushed the middle class by rewarding corporate thieves, got hyped up on fear, and mocked actions that might have saved our children from the worst of climate change. The nation became ugly, coarse, and arrogant, making civil discourse and true progress toward common goals impossible. Just as the powerful intended, we became demoralized and unable to band together to confront social, economic, and political issues. Numb, we embraced passivity.

The political corruption continues with President Obama. Elected by a country desperate to change direction and roll back previous outrages, in nearly every instance he continues the policies of his predecessor. My conclusion is that change is not coming from the political sector--it has to come from each of us working where we are, on the local level. To continue to participate in a rigged system to create change is a waste of vital life force.

Fortunately there is a solution coming, though it will be wrenching and painful for all of us. From the information I've seen, the economy will take its next plunge toward total collapse within the next year and the corrupt political and economic structures are going to implode along with it. We'll be able to start anew, from the ground up. If there is any hope in this situation, this is it.