As we sink into winter in our little Green Acres Permaculture Village, a three-home holding interlaced with  gardens, paths, patio, chicken house, greenhouse, and soon-to-be-constructed yurt — all inside an American suburb — the land under our feet lies fallow. All we have to do this month is finish cleaning, oiling, and sharpening tools. Next month we get going again, starting with cleaning the greenhouse walls and shelves and containers.

Meanwhile, the larger vision that arose within me years ago also lies fallow. For me, the most important goal here is to learn from the land beneath our feet how to not only care for her, but to flourish upon her, by creating small businesses that utilize her bounty: salves, soaps, teas, tinctures, etc.

We did have a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) start-up one growing season a few years ago, with five members who received wonderful, varied produce from us on a weekly basis. However, the young woman who started it, and who also sent a weekly newsletter to the members, then moved away. No one was willing to take it up where she left off.

And we did get started on selling teas and herbs another year, but our “branding” (containers, descriptions of the contents, and logo) were all so amateurish that even I didn’t want to continue.

And we do sell whatever is left over of our spring seedlings each year.

But that’s about it!

One thing we have finally accomplished (and I mentioned this in a recent post) was to actually save our own seeds. So much better than having to buy them anew each year! And we have so many seeds of various types, that we’ve decided to put up another box besides our Little Free Library out in front, for Free Seeds.

Winter is a natural time to look back and see what still needs doing. So no wonder I’m in this mood today. For what interests me more than anything is to feature this tiny paradise as one template for the transformation of American suburbs, so that all those chemicalized grassy lawns can be put to use, plus the unnatural separation between households could at least lessen, if not dissolve, as residents begin to help each other do what we all need to do: GROW LOCAL FOOD.

Part of our issue here in manifesting this founding vision, is though we continue to make stabs at it, those who live here have to work elsewhere, and so their attention is bifurcated. Were they to learn how to create entreprenurial enterprises here at home, that problem would be solved.

Meanwhile, the larger world gets crazier and crazier, which affects us too, of course, since we are but a fractal of the tumultuous psychic and emotional currents washing over and through all of humanity.

 

I’m reminded of when I found out that Russia had decided to give away one hectare (2.5 acres) of remote land to its citizens, IF they would agree to work that land in some way for five years, after which they could either continue or sell or give it away. That was back in 2015.

Come and Get it! Free Land Soon Up for Grabs to Every Resident in Far East

Here’s a recent update. Notice how this particular article ties it into “climate warming” ideology. Have no idea how true that actually is.

Russia Gives Away Free Land to Citizens

Wales began its own program in 2011.

https://reasonstobecheerful.world/one-planet-development-policy-wales-rural-sustainability/

What’s interesting to me about the policy in Wales, is that it “requires residents to sustain themselves using the resources available on land they inhabit.”

Looking around for other examples, I came across this. Note however, that it says “7 countries;” since many of them are here, in the U.S. “7 counties” would have been more accurate.

7 Countries That Gives You Free Land And Money For You To Stay With Them

All of this makes me wonder: are Americans willing to actually reconnect with their own bodies which are themselves part of Earth? If the very successful Covid fear-mongering psy-op is any indication, Americans are NOT connected to their own bodies, but rather, treat them like foreign objects, or even enemies, which must be subdued, and/or subject to “treatment” by outside experts.

Are Americans, who, more than most, are so divorced from their bodies that they treat them like machines, capable of the kind of transformation required in order to truly immerse themselves in the abundance of mysterious Nature? Truly learn how, or I should say, re-member how, to actually live in place? If so, first, one’s own body itself must be recognized as a biome, one that is interconnected to and enmeshed in its natural surroundings. Without this recognition, the idea of “living on the land,” living IN the land, learning from our Earth Mother how to be with her on every level, feels to me, frankly impossible.

If we, in Green Acres, are seemingly stalled in this venture, despite that I, as founder, intend it constantly, it’s hard to imagine Americans being able to shift their attention, their intent, and their goals this profoundly.

Check this out:

Hungry Planet: Consumption Around the Globe