Parable of the Citizen Farmer
“Urban conservationists may feel entitled to be unconcerned about food production because they are not farmers. But they can’t be let off so easily, for they are all farming by proxy. ”
Here's a simple exercise to try at your office. Find a sunny window that people pass by often. Place a basil plant on the ledge or a nearby desk. Watch what happens.
A scenario could go something like this:
A colleague wanders by the plant, and pauses to inhale the intoxicating aroma. She asks if anyone’s ever made pesto from scratch. Her desk-mate pipes up with his Italian grandmother’s tried-and-true method from the Old Country.
Later in the week, small jars of homemade pesto appear on everyone’s desk. In time, that windowsill becomes crowded with other herb-filled pots. More stories are swapped, recipes shared, and gardening tips passed around.
Inspired, you try your hand growing something edible at home. You start small, by planting a tomato vine and some herbs around your curbside mailbox.
A dog-walker stops to chat as you’re checking the mail, and instinctively, you offer him a couple of beefsteaks and a handful of rosemary sprigs. The next day you find a basket of fresh eggs from his backyard henhouse on your front porch with a thank-you note.
The lady across the street observes the interaction, and asks if you could use some of her excess zucchini. You propose a potluck for all the gardeners on the block to share their abundance.
At the party, a neighbor throws out the idea of turning the vacant piece of land at the end of the street into a community garden. You volunteer to seek permission from City Hall to use that public land, and before you know it, it's Saturday morning, and you and about fifty new friends of all ages are knee-deep in wood chips and compost.
Ideas and projects keep sprouting. You convince the PTA to start a schoolyard garden. You volunteer to help your church or synagogue grow food for its food pantry outreach program. You suggest planting herbs instead of annuals in those big planters on Main Street and maybe even planting an orchard in the park.
Through these volunteer efforts, your work skills develop, and you discover talents you never even knew you had. You feel happier and more invigorated than you have in years, and you find common ground with colleagues and neighbors you once only knew in passing. All because of that one little basil plant.
You do not need to trade in your urban clothes for overalls and move to the country to grow food. You don’t even need to own greenspace. Across the nation, organic growers and consumers are bound by a common mindset of striving to leave the earth the way we found it, no worse, and preferably even better.
Take part in a community garden. Join a Community Supported Agriculture Farm and volunteer to help with the harvest. Buy produce from your local farmers market. Join a crop mob or other group of landless farmers who are lending their labor on weekends to farmers in need of helping hands.
This is what Citizen Farmer is all about: taking actions that help foster a healthier, more sustainable world and passing on the knowledge and virtues to the next generation.
It is about savoring every moment and honoring the place where you are now. It is about supporting others, sharing your wisdom and passion and believing in yourself and following your dreams.
The steps and virtues found in the Citizen Farmers website and book will help you cultivate abundance in your garden and in your personal and professional life as well. Whether you are supporting the movement from your garden, kitchen, classroom, boardroom or farmers market, I like to think of all us as Citizen Farmers: each doing our part to help foster a healthier, more sustainable food system.
As a biodynamic farmer and an agricultural entrepreneur for more than fifteen years, I am convinced that integrating agriculture, and the personal virtues it teaches, into everyday life builds strong and vibrant communities.
I have watched it happen time and again, in big ways and small -- from the seat of a tractor, behind a shovel, in a boardroom and before a group of happy dirt-smeared kids. I believe this so strongly I have made it my life’s calling to grow as many citizen farmers as I can.
Ready to take action and join the Citizen Farmers movement? Start by listening to the podcast, following us on Instagram, joining our mailing list and buying the book.
Biodynamically yours,
Farmer D