Restoration Agriculture
One year has elapsed since I began writing about healing and vibration, and, color and sound. What a wonder filled journey that has ranged far beyond my initial expectations and explorations that are in fields more diverse than vibrational healing. Little did I expect that along with crystals, aromatherapy, sound healing, song meditation and chakra balancing, that I would find agriculture as a major healing modality for the earth. Yet, even the most distant subjects have direct and prescient applications in World Healing. I wrote about the work of Masanabu Fukuoka, One Straw Revolution, and how his agricultural approach helped heal and enliven the earth. Stephen Harrod Buhner’s, The Secret Teachings of Plants, reconnects heart, plants and humans in the quest to regain health and balance. And now I am working with the concepts of “Restoration Agriculture: Real-World Permaculture for Farmers” by Mark Shepard. Permaculture is a profound gesture towards shifting the energy of the earth from dissonance to consonance. When the earth is healthy, the creatures of the earth are healthy. We are intertwined.
Shepard lays out a compelling story about the decimation of our Earth’s health through the act of conventional row crops such as corn, soybeans and wheat. He notes that every culture that has depended on row crops has collapsed. He shows that, contrary to the popular myth, the crops grown in the United States today, do not feed the world. In fact, on page 159 Shepard states that approximately 17% of the 12.1 billion bushels of corn are used for human consumption. The rest is used as livestock feed, to make ethanol and for industrial ingredients. There are more compelling statistics that include the actual nutritional value, or rather, the nutritional deficiencies of conventionally raised row crops. These, however, you can find by reading the book.
When the complex vibrational harmonics of multiple species are interacting on the skin of the earth, there is a vibrant response from the plants. Trees have the effect of raising the water table, retaining and recycling minerals, creating multi-level solar collection, and building the soil. When soil is left undisturbed, beneficial fungi and other microorganisms create symbiotic relationships with the plants. This increases the soil vitality and, the nutritional, vibrational health of the fruits of these plants. Nuts, fruits, berries and other crops become vibrational dynamos as the minerals and compounds are dynamically increased. This means the fruits of these plants have a magnified nutritional value. In addition, if you compare the shelf-life of greens that are gown conventionally and those raised organically you will also find that they remain vital for a much longer time.
As my work with the elements indicate, each element is resonating at unique frequencies, and as the complexity of the elements increase, the vibrational harmonics also increase. Our bodies are not composed of phosphorus, nitrogen and potassium, the standard mix for insuring a ‘good’ yield from the row crops. We are made of many elements. A vibrant crop integrates many trace elements into the fruit. When the soil is minimally disturbed, the plant takes minerals that are dissolved by the fungi and mycelium and integrates them into the fruit. There is an attachment point with the root structure of the plant and with the cell structure of the microorganisms. The plant provides sap and photosynthetic nourishment and the earth-organisms provide minerals and dissolved solids that the plant could not otherwise obtain. When the earth is cut with the plow, sprayed with a herbicide, coated with a fungicide; this symbiotic, nutritional, vibrational, cycle is short circuited. Hence, the fruit, grain, product of the plant has a minimal vibrational / nutritional content.
Shepard describes a system that increases the health of the Earth and by extension, the health of the food that comes from the Earth. The Gaian energy is constantly moving towards health. Stephen Harrod Buhner asks the important question, ‘What happens when you break off a piece of nature?’ By extension, ‘What happens when you stop poisoning nature?’ If you watch, the land or water immediately begins to cleanse itself. Healing is the vibrational norm. Shepard’s system does not have neatly manicured rows. Everything intertwines. He uses the STUN system. Shear, Total, Utter, Neglect. Of course this is just a way for our human intellect to stay out of the way of the Wisdom of the Life Force. In my work with the elements and their resonant vibrations, it becomes clear that the music from our world is much more coherent than we know. The world is constantly Healing Itself. Becoming harmonious.
Even when we think that we are improving a crop by using organic, plant derived toxins, we are messing with the entire vibrational health of the land. Shepard documents how even the most “organic” treatments can affect every aspect of the system, even killing amphibians and birds that are natural insect predators. As we move to integrate our Heart as a guide, we can then use the intellect as it was designed, to help us implement the Heart Path.
Shepard has a radical and revolutionary vision. He writes this book for the conventional, row-cropping farmer. His farm, The New Forest Farm, in Wisconsin is in its 20th year and demonstrates the principles laid out in his book. He shows how we can let Nature take the lead and still provide nutritional bounty for us all.