I have been gardening and farming for over a decade, now. Biodynamics, Permaculture, Regenerative Agriculture, Agroforestry, Nutrient Cycling, etc have all been part of my research and ethos long before I even started. And, while it is, or should be, obvious to any urban gardener that our gardens, farms, homes, and ergo the vast majority of the expanse of our soil is highly disturbed by human activity; there are those who insist that any disturbance which results in certain species proliferating is “bad”.
This perspective can only be held in a the sterile environment of the mind in which Germ Theory exclusively prevails. In that Germ Theory concept, the disgust for contamination is always at the fore. There is a necessary need for separation of the ‘clean’ from the ‘unclean’; of perfect straight rows of identical plants of the same species and often the exact same cultivar and even genetically identical individuals growing in barren, dead soil. Weeds are hated and killed for their ‘stealing’ of precious nutrients. It is quite apparent that this concept has become viral and overtaken most of Western thinking in this arena- and spread it’s roots into virtually every facet of life imaginable.
Yet we’re at the point of breaking in our bodies, minds and economy; this Germ Theory system cannot continue. It is failing to feed people nutritious food, it is killing the land, and the massive inputs of resources in the form of mechanical work to kill the soil, keep it sterile, grow infertile and genetically identical plants, manufacture and apply synthetic fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, etc., AND all the while creating a massive disturbance to the environment which needs to be mitigated to enable this system to continue producing at all. This concept put into practical terms, produces less all the time while requiring more resources. It’s simply unsustainable, which is why we find ourselves at the breaking point. It would have happened sooner or later because of the nature of this effect.
Germ Theorists, whether or not they realize it, hate natural systems because those natural systems are inherently messy, dynamic, integrated both vertically and cyclically! Natural systems are always in every stage; germination, growth, reproduction and decomposition. This is how natural systems gain their Resiliency; They are self-perpetuating and will last for hundreds or thousands of years with zero input, all the while producing fertility, food, and shelter for animals, insects, fungi and humans. And so it is.
When the author of one of my favorite homesteading books, Ben Falk, pointed out that there is no such thing as as native to space, but only native to time, and coined the phrase “Native to When”, I knew this was the only systemic concept that could possibly make any sense at all. For, how can the Germ Theorists bemoan the Autumn Olive disturbing the native landscape by taking hold in sterile barren land when they are the conceptal ideology “disturbance” which created the barren land? It is a mind set that puts it’s own foot in its mouth. Ideologically and practically, the Germ Theory is proven false.
Here we can muse and, if we are so inclined, percieve the spirit of this Germ-theory; none other than Ahriman himself. The materialist and artificial intelligence of our time has slid into the mind of Western man and made him deny his own essence. After that, it is quite simple to deny the essence of nature itself.
All too often I see some of the most useful and productive plants placed on someone’s “Invasive Species” list. Is it tongue in cheek to mention in this list the very reason for the species’ appearance? Reading between the lines becomes an art and a game!
Loading comments...