We've got to get ourselves back to the literal, physical, spiritual, practical and hypothetical garden.
We've lost touch with ourselves, with our world. We've lost the art of living that used to be such an integral part of life. Hardly anyone remembers what it was like to make our own homemade anything anymore.
Apple cider vinegar, cured olives, saurkrauts and pickleed vegetables, fermented yogurts, homemade blankets, clothes, gifts, etc have become a thing of the past. But I feel we drifted so far from our roots, that we are swinging back on the pendulum. We are on our way to finding ourselves again. Sometimes we need inspiration and/or guidance to step away from the convinient habit of buying everything and try these age old traditions at home.
Having a garden is one of the greatest gifts you could give your family. I believe every child should know how to grow his/her own food and that it should be taught in every home and every school. Once every family had a garden where they grew their own food and raised a few chickens or llivestock. It was the norm and people were more normal back then.
Children took part in planting and harvesting. They were connected to the earth and cared about it. They had a place in the family, they had chores and people expected things from them to keep the family going. Nowadays it seems children and adults are lost. They're not sure what they're here for. They're not sure what to do with themselves. Most of the time they're glued to the lastest technology and they don't even notice the world around them.
Planting a garden gets families back outside together. It gives everyone a chance to reconnect to eachother and to the earth. It's fun to play in the dirt , but more importantly to grow your own food.
Children need to learn and see and take part in making their food grow. To know it doesn't come from a store, but that someone grew it . To learn the wisdom of a seed and how it can hold future meals inside of it. Our food and the varieties of it is getting scare. The price of "health food" is going up and up but the quality of it is going down.
The only way to solve this is to grow/raise our own food. It fits the budget, helps the earth and cures humanity's dis-eases. Joni Mitchell had it right with her song for Woodstock , "We've got to get ourselves back to the garden".
We have many things in common with the "Woodstock" years. For one, there was a pandemic happening at the same time. Instead of cowering in their houses, they met at Woodstock with a 3-day outdoor concert in the mud and rain with 400,000 unmasked, barely clothed mass of humanity. It was beautiful, messy, and they didn't let a virus scare them into submission.
Secondly, we have veered so far to the left of common sense and our natural world that we must also get "ourselves back to the garden". That was Joni Mitchell's song that came out of that amazing event. It was inspired by the turmoil that was the political situation at that time, the Vietnam War and the division of the people.
Those who attended the Woodstock Festival were labelled "hippies" . They had faith in the wisdom and strength of mother earth, in spirituality and in being bold. They took a stand against the government, the war, racism and other injustices that were being perpetrated at that time. They were ridiculed, and called crazy and even anti-American.
But their message was clear: plant gardens, make love, not war , don't worship money and material objects, instead find value in each other and in the simple things. Communes came out of the 60's because people wanted to be a part of a community that shares responsibility, farming, sustainability and self sufficiency. Practicing an alternative lifestyle, including homebirths, homeschooling, gardening, herbal medicine , crafting etc.
We are experiencing a similar questioning now as they were back then. To step away from conventional and search for the alternative. We don't trust the government, big ag, big tech, big pharma, the educational system, and so much more. They no longer seem to have our best interests at heart, so we are returning to ourselves, to the garden, to God. Where things are plentiful, simple, self sustaining, and in line with mother nature.
This new path is emerging with force from the mess that was 2020. We are rising and we are unstoppable. We were forced to take stock, to look inward, to uncover the mess . Now that we've seen, we are following the path of truth. We' ve re-examined health, government, freedom, self sufficiency, priorities, what brings us joy and what makes us depressed. It all became clear and now we know what side we stand on. We know what to fight for and what's at stake.
This is our roots reaching into the soil. Pulling out the nutrition to feed our soul, provide strength and stability. Branches rising up to complete the (r)evolution creating life and light for the whole organism.. We've got to get back to the garden, because we are the garden, the garden is us.
