Somewhere along my travels I heard the saying, “Abundance is having what you need, when you need it.” I can’t tell you the source of this – if you know, please fill me in. But I understand the root of it, as I find my life becoming ever more abundant. Since beginning this effort towards community sustained farming, I increasingly experience more awe than effort, as the weaving of people, ideas, creativity, laughter and tears continues.

In the past week, all of the pieces have come together for the puzzle of the making of syrup. From the knowledge of trees, to the first hand knowledge of tapping, to the sources of proper and simple, inexpensive tools, the people needed for the task are dancing with a childlike enthusiasm that never ceases to draw me in.

And the equipment to produce bio-fuel has appeared. Not magically, but of clear thinking, vision, and kindness.

“Abundance is having what you need, when you need it.” If this is so, the perspective to dance with abundance must be - understanding what it is you need, recognizing the gift when it comes, and having the ability to manifest when abundance comes your way.

As the social systems that we have created continue to deteriorate, we can sit back and watch with fear and attempt to bolster the decay – or we can choose life, choose peace and abundance.

For those with no desire to farm, I understand – and there is no need. There are wonderful people and communities developing in cities throughout this country creating urban gardens and fostering community. One leader in this movement is a visionary and an unrelenting source of strength and compassion when it comes to feeding people.
His name is Will Allen, and he is the founder of the Milwaukee based Growing Power. Recognized for his efforts, he is currently supporting Michele Obama’s Let's Move program, as she leads a campaign to reduce childhood obesity by providing good nutritious food to people of all neighborhoods at reasonable cost.

As we consider the rising cost of health care versus the benefits of proper nutrition from conception to old age, and as we acknowledge our dependent relationship to the earth and our need to keep her free of chemicals and practices that corrupt her ability to feed us, community sustained farming and urban gardens are obvious solutions.

Spring is most definitely upon us. The depleting winter will soon melt away. The time for abundance and gathering will come to us. Are we ready?

“Abundance is having what you need, when you need it.”

        

America cannot continue to feed her war machine and her people too.
How we utilize our resources define us.
It is possible and it is time to take back our land, the greatest resource of a people, and to care for it, enjoy it and allow it to nourish. Some Native American tribes have begun the task of buying back their lands one acre at a time, recognizing the intrinsic relationship of human to earth. The American Farmland Trust is an excellent network dedicated to preservation of farmland, and one that recognizes we cannot cut the branch on which we sit.
There are many more we will recognize here as this blog continues.

It is time for those who understand the significance of peace and the power of simplicity to come together.

Take back the earth. Return the garden, we have so devastated.

We do not have the luxury of looking back, and we cannot look for leadership where there is none.

If you have farmland you are struggling to hold onto, if you are not ready to surrender priceless earth to concrete, think on this:
Throughout this blog, we will be calling for people with farmland to consider community sustained farming. We will be inviting investors to purchase these lands for the sole purpose of community sustained farming. And we will be looking for you, the one who wants to enjoy the land, the simplicity, and one another, in the uplifting task of feeding people and honoring the earth.

Stay tuned.

        

Indian farmers are fighting to continue generations-old farming of eggplant.

Who are they fighting? Scientists and politicians who want to introduce genetically “improved” eggplant and the corporations who will benefit from the need for farmers to buy new product every year.

What’s the big deal? In order to plant the “improved” version, all old varieties must be destroyed.

Every farmer must comply, because the old variety might “contaminate” the new and improved…potentially wiping out the farmers' livelihood – and their way of life.

Why are we doing this? Someone, somewhere started the belief that there is not enough food, that the earth is insufficient to naturally feed her people, and came up with the solution that we need techno varieties.

This is not new. Ask the corn farmers.

 

So now we are hell bent on the “solution” to the “problem” that the earth cannot feed her people. Has anybody asked the question, “Is the concept that the earth cannot feed her people legitimate?"

 

The way I see it, the notion that there is not enough food, that the earth cannot feed her people, must be challenged.

While I understand the fight taken up by many to stop corporations like Monsanto, I am growing a bit tired of the David and Goliath story.

Like a cancer, Monsanto and the like have crept into the halls of justice, into the classrooms and laboratories, into the fields, and most significantly, into your belly.

Fighting Monsanto has taken its toll financially and has left many with the sickness of hopelessness. And Monsanto is only the tip of the iceberg. We are no longer surprised or alarmed when we feed our children processed foods with ingredient labels containing more chemicals than food.

 

The way I see it, it is time to choose life. I am tired of fighting death.

Someone said the earth can’t feed her people and we acquiesced.

I say the earth CAN feed her people and there are more people willing to pick up a hoe than a gun, so let’s get busy.

Let’s return this garden, let’s enjoy the fruit of our labor,and let us help our children remember the wisdom of walking in beauty on the earth. Now, perhaps more than ever, with so much destruction around us, it is time to chart a new course.

 

Okay, so you like the city and don’t want to farm. How about supporting a CSA, or participating in a community garden? How about reducing or eliminating the processed foods you consume? Make that political statement and stop feeding the cancer.

 

If everyone who loves life took a few conscious moments to choose life, we could stop the madness. If everyone who loves living would stop aligning with the concepts of fear and doubt, we could stop the madness. If for once we decided to ignore the pundits of doom and simply took up the task at hand, we would, most definitely, stop the madness.

And to you, who want to farm, but don’t know how, or don’t have land…then stay tuned because this is what www.farmslinkpeople.org is about. Getting people back on the land, helping one another, feeding one another, and having a good time.  

 

This blog will salute and support the efforts of those who are choosing life.

It is my hope that we will see how very strong we are.

        

As pundits rush to be the first to tell what is coming economically and politically, farmers wait for Spring. As the bloggers condemn, exalt, rejoice in or are burdened with the news, we measure the amount of water the snow may make, and prepare to prepare the soil for the seed. As the news of the day tells of empty pantries, and we are told not to worry, there will be no bread lines, sustainable farmers hope and plan to grow food.

I could warn you about outdated laws that hurt the small farmer, agri-business looking to crush family farms, and scientist’s hell bent on inventing the food your Grandmothers once grew – but there are plenty of good people fighting those fights.

I want to do is remind you: Everything you need is at hand.
This Earth, our home, is a breadbasket.

I want to salute those who care for her, who delight in the mystery of all that she gives, who get delirious over fresh greens and are not afraid to eat “weeds.” I want to champion those who are challenging farming practices that harm the land, and those who refuse to treat their animals cruelly.  I want to thank those of you who enjoy organics, support the CSA’s, and congratulate those who call for laws to support organic and sustainable farming.

And at this moment, with Spring so close you can feel her warm breath in the wind, I really want to encourage those who are creating or continuing community gardens - GO FOR IT. And to those who are beginning to recognize the importance of feeding our children good nutritious foods and are taking it to the schools – you are in an important battle, many people are getting involved - support one another.

Here are some of my favorite links for those who are reclaiming the right to live from the land, and to feed people, locally and sustainable.
www.communitygardens.org
www.growingpower.org
www.kitchengardeners.org
www.seattletilth.org
www.greenguerillas.org
www.learngrowconnect.org

NOT TO BE MISSED        www.eattheview.org

Quotes to consider:
It is not too soon to provide by every possible means that as few as possible shall be without a little portion of land. The small landholders are the most precious part of a state.                           Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1785

America’s farmers are America’s future.
                           Barack Obama, Oct. 23, 2008

        

After spending the greater part of forty odd years wishing I lived on a farm, I found myself creating one for the past seven.
When asked, a Navajo friend had told me, “Buy the land, it will teach you.” I recognized the concept of buying land was alien and perhaps archaic to her, but the concept of stewardship was not.
I bought the land and so it began.
It has not been without difficulty…a 500-year flood followed by a 1000-year flood (where do we get these names?) teaches you a lot about where to plant. It has been with great discovery…the sheep and goats have taught me about the plants on the land, from comfrey to soothe and walnut to de-worm, to the bark of an apple branch to reduce bloats.
The land has taught me to share. It has taught me the intrinsic truths that we are tied to her and to each other in a sweet symbiotic way that deserves honor and respect.
And as the land has taught me, so have her people. Each person has come bringing a new gift, a new way, a new understanding.
Farming isn’t a solo sport.
So it is from these very basic and undeniable facts that Farms Link People was born.
We don’t need government to help one another.
We simply need to recognize the facts.
We need to eat, the land gives, and it takes an effort. The nature of the effort is peaceful and satisfying and a lot more productive when done with others. It is not a science to be crafted and controlled. It is wild and thoughtful. It is fun.
The sustainable and organic movements are not new. The passion to return to the land that I witness from the very young to the very old is not new. The fact that the land can sustain us when we work with her and stop the “fat –taking” is not new…
Let us begin; let us remember that which is not new. Let us help one another and the earth in the most basic of ways.
Have some land? Need a hand? Have an old grandmother’s cabin waiting for the fireplace to light again? Tired of throwing your money in the gamble pit called the “market”?
Buy the land, it will teach you.