Soapbox Rant

re-printed from the 2010 Siskiyou Seeds Catalog...next soapbox rant brewing & steeping.

The Farmer’s Soapbox……(read at your own risk.....)

Ah, what to say on the extra odd page in the first edition of our catalog??? Come to think of it, I could easily fill many pages with my passion for helping to facilitate the emerging Ecotopian cultural revolution. What is hip? In my book, it’s clean air to breathe, pure water to drink, fertile earth to grow upon, vital seeds to plant, and multi-generational tribal culture. Nuff said.
Well, there’s still work to do to actualize this dream for all and the ethics of Permaculture provide a basic road map: Care of the earth, Care of the Species and Redistribute the Surplus to the first two. Sounds easy, well, let’s do it! I know I am not alone when I say that the people alive today face unprecedented challenges, whether it’s global warming, loss of biodiversity, pollution, genocide, peak oil, privatatization of our food and seed supply, war, corporate indifference to the sanctity of life, economic collapse, potential super volcanoes, or the next errant meteor. Heavy eh. Well meteors ought to be they’re usually comprised of nickel/iron, but so is our home planet’s core and it’s churning with an electromagnetic pulse unimaginably powerful, shielding us from the solar wind that would otherwise have blown our atmosphere away 4 billion years ago. I have my money on the incredible power and beauty of creation, Fo sure! This electromagnetic pulse permeates all life on this planet, just like on the mythical planet of Pandora, and like that magical world, plants and quite possibly all other life communicates through electromagnetic pulses via spores, pollen and mycorrhizal fungal networks (get an earful from Paul Stamets sometime!).
The blueprint for life isn’t just a piece of paper – it’s a living, breathing, seething, pulsing organism teeming with magic oozing from every pore of creation on this incredible blue sphere. As virtuoso bassist/tracker, Victor Wooten says, “we got the right notes, but we play the wrong songs”. Sadly true, at times. Fortunately for us, (“psst, hey, you’re in the club, if you’ve made it this far”), Creation wants and needs us to dance within the web of life- every breath you exhale is reciprocity back to the plant king/queendom. We owe it to the continuity of the wonder of this planet to step it up and pull it together for our own sake, our children and those who will follow us.
It’s our world. Forget reform. I’m holding out for complete grassroots revolution. When we all realize that economic reform doesn’t grow food, make streams flow, create air, or surround us in loving arms we will turn to our Mother Earth and plant seeds, restore degraded natural systems, plant trees, assist our elders, brothers, sisters, children in knowing what it really means to be alive- one of the hundreds of billions of organisms that is thankful to take another breath, exhale and swirl into the gaseous soup of the truly magnificent atmosphere that makes all this possible.
So please join me in actualizing the vision of a peaceful revolution: an organic seed bank in every river valley where food can be grown, vibrant community based food forest systems, thriving restoration ecology teams re-greening bioregions far and wide, decentralized cooperative governance that empowers individuals, reforesting deserts, re-patterning the landscape to fulfill its Gaian destiny to grow plants that shed pollen, upon which rain condenses to fall upon uncompacted earth, soaking in, nourishing roots, creating more organic matter, supporting fungal hyphae, stimulating growth, fixing more CO2 from the atmosphere, grasses and herbs sprouting in deserts, shedding more seeds, shrubs thriving, yielding more seeds, flowers, fruits, pollen, nectar, summoning extirpated wildlife, bringing more seeds, giving rise to trees thriving in bioregions formerly deforested stabilizing erratic weather patterns, more rain, gentle sunshine, more trees seed eaters arriving, resulting in the return of tribal culture of seed gatherers, seed planters and seed worshippers. The time is now to become re-indigenous to place, grow roots, drive less, love more, sing more and dance more. The time is now!

PEACE! , Don