Natural Solutions To A Manmade World

Photo by Vikesh Kapoor

I just got back from Maine where I attended the Maine Organic Farmer and Gardener Association’s Common Ground Fair. It’s the oldest celebration of organic farming and agriculture in the country. There are demonstrations of weaving techniques, old school agriculture practices, livestock demonstrations, Maine made crafts, and a showcase of the state’s most prized organic produce. I’ve been going since I was a kid and it’s really fun to feel like you’re stepping back in time and discovering so many ways of living that have largely been lost to the modern world.

My aunt, uncle, boyfriend, and I went to a talk by a famed seed savor and homesteader named Will Bonsell about how to create eco efficiency, which is essentially looking at a process or a system and determining what you’re putting in as natural resources verses what you’re getting out. For example, a forest takes care of itself in that it provides its own food, fertilizer, nutrients and generates such a surplus that you can harvest an incredible amount from it without having to add anything back in the way of nutrients, fertilizer etc. whereas a garden or farm takes a lot of resources and inputs, and it generates so little of the resources it needs to sustain itself. So the idea is to feed a garden from sources that are the most eco efficient to create conditions that let nature do what it does best. Essentially, to get out of the way. I love this concept because it addresses a rare aspect of sustainable growing, a way to work with natural processes most efficiently to support a man made process, a way to create a harmonious relationship with nature, which is exactly what this podcast is all about.