Human nature suggests with some urgency the importance of putting seeds in the earth. We all might stop and give ear to this perennial call and also recognize that our times give it increased urgency. Today, to not-plant seeds should be a rare exception.
Aristotle pointed out that the work associated with making the earth fruitful is a natural work, precisely because it is doing what nature clearly intended. This is how we feed ourselves. Already here we have significant motivation, to the extent we are docile to how nature directs us, to undertake such work and let it bear its manifold fruits in us, within and without.
But what about the division of labor? Shouldn’t some be freed from the labor of producing food themselves? I say certainly, to some degree. We might note, however, a little history. Even in highly developed civilizations where the production of food was concentrated somewhat in certain areas and groups, at the same time agriculture was still widely practiced as a normal part of household life—even in urban settings!
Sure, economic and technological changes have made such widespread agricultural productivity seem unnecessary, and many have heralded this as a sign of ‘progress.’ Here, it seems to me, we must raise two questions.
1) While a few generations have lived almost exclusively on grocery store food produced remotely by others, is this truly a safe and sustainable model for human eating?
And, regardless of the answer to #1,
2) Is it better for truly human life, all things considered, that very few people produce our food and a large number of people have little or no experience of cultivating the earth?
I suggest that an honest consideration of current circumstances raises significant doubt concerning the first question. Even more to the point, current circumstances, among other things in the growing dominance of the artificial over the natural and the virtual over the real, point to the human importance of cultivating the earth. I think the second question alone yields a clarion call, to everyone who is reasonably able, to be intentional about beginning or expanding their cultivation of the earth.
This work need not, perhaps at first or even ever, make a significant contribution in quantity to what we eat. But the food will always carry a unique significance, as will the work of producing it.
We can begin with a container on the patio or a tiny corner of the yard. Many can find at least a five foot by five foot area in our lawn. Small is beautiful, and small is workable. Others can do more, including berries or fruit trees. The possibilities are many.
In the second century B.C. Cato the Elder wrote in his treatise On Agriculture: “The Paterfamilias should think a long time about building, but planting is a thing not to be thought about but done.” The point is not to work without reflection; the point is to get started. Here is something so obviously good and important that we dive in, and we just keep learning. And our work itself grows like a plant and bears fruits almost unimaginable in their goodness and their delight. ~ ~ ~
We warmly invite you to come to our homestead for our first LifeCraft Day at the Barn next month.
Today’s short Video highlights the urgency of GARDENING today:
Here is a whole series of my posts on Why Garden.
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Husband, father, and professor of Philosophy. LifeCraft springs from one conviction: there is an ancient wisdom about how to live the good life in our homes, with our families; and it is worth our time to hearken to it. Let’s rediscover it together. Learn more.
John, do you have any practical tips for “breaking up” with technology? Even though I don’t use any apps, my email and my text messages are constantly sucking away at my time, and I let them.
Adrienne, Great and challenging issue! One thing that I have found very helpful–when I actually do it!–is simply assigning certain times for email, and then strictly adhering to not checking at other times. This can really make a difference. Texting is harder to do this with–which is why as a rule I don’t text. Others won’t be able to avoid it as I do, in which case I think the approach needs to be the same: ask how you can quarantine certain times for checking and responding, or conversely, at least certain times of freedom from checking and responding. This is more in our power than perhaps we realize. Many blessings on your efforts! Remember, even small improvements are worth doing!
Hi Dr. Cuddeback,
Thank you for this. It seems cultivating the earth, nurturing in this way with awareness and intention, makes us better at nurturing and nourishing in our lives and the lives of others those things worthy of growing.
Malia, I am truly convinced that what you say here is so true! I think we discover the truth of this the more we open ourselves to experience this. Thank you very much for putting this into words.
“See, I give you every seed-bearing plant on all the earth and every tree that has seed-bearing fruit on it to be your food…The LORD God then took the man and settled him in the garden of Eden, to cultivate and care for it.”
Our urban property here in Ecuador is virtually yardless, but we currently are growing potatoes and beets in a small garden area, along with geraniums in flower boxes. It’s satisfying.
That is a great example, Christian, of maximizing an urban area!
Be a Gardener,
Dig a ditch. Toil and sweat,
And turn the earth upside down.
And seek the deepness.
And water plants in time.
Continue this labor.
And make sweet floods to run,
And noble and abundant
Fruits to Spring.
Take this food and drink,
And carry it to God
As your true worship.
-Julian of Norwich
Wow. That’s wonderful. Thank you very much for sharing this!
I love this so much. I am hoping to plant a vegetable garden either this year or next, which feels intimidating lol, but everything you say here is so true. I shared some related reflections on raising chickens here, if you’re interested. So glad I found your blog! https://briannaheldt.substack.com/p/backyard-chickens-as-the-means-of?utm_source=facebook&sd=pf
Thank you, Brianna. Good luck with the garden, and keep on trucking with the chickens!
Is it not written that Noah was the first to till the soil?
“The Middle East seems to have become increasingly arid after the Flood. Great deserts appeared in Egypt and Arabia; along their edges the forests shrank and the big game migrated away. Searching for new sources of food, men began to gather the wild grain which grew in the hill country and to domesticate the sheep and the goats they found there, in addition to the dogs which their hunting ancestors had tamed… . This was the Neolithic or agricultural revolution.”
Carroll, Warren H. A History of Christendom Vol. I: The Founding of Christendom. (Christendom Press, 1985). 23.
I have a poem about Noah planting and storing something other than grain for a little longer than he ought to have around here, but I’ll post that another time.
Thank you, Daniel. The development of agriculture in history is a fascinating topic. There are of course other ways of gathering food than growing it from seeds. But it would seem that such cultivation of the soil has a unique place.