Agriculture Dr. Richard Alan Miller has described what he sees as proof of a shift in consciousness that is occurring in his recent work on the outskirts of Mexico City as well as in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Groups of children, varying in age, are learning to grow vegetables and salad greens on their own terms. Taking a page from Rudolf Steiner’s Waldorf educational philosophy, the children become both the teachers and the students. They learn at their own pace while Dr. Miller and others are there to oversee and provide only minimal, gentle guidance. According to Dr. Miller, while observing the youth interacting with nature he states, “Many of the children had inherent, natural skill that was better than most master gardeners.” The food grown by the children was then used in nearby cities to feed hungry adults.“We are witnessing an educational shift with a new paradigm shift in agricultural reform in which small groups of children grow food for larger groups of adults” said Dr. Miller.
The answer for many of society’s problems can be found by walking in the opposite direction of the current push for further centralization being sold in many aspects of our life. Indeed, it is because of the centralization of the food system that we are now vulnerable to supply chain disruptions that can come from a variety of sources, instantly crippling unprepared communities.
In addition, a centralized food supply allows large corporations to monopolize the food sources while diminishing our rights and lessening the quality. As this has happened, answers began appearing like the seven acre Beacon Hill site in Seattle which made headlines in 2009 with plans for the first free open Food Forest within city limits. Simultaneously, the commonsense concept gained momentum through many cities across America.
This movement can be seen in the first crop of documentaries chronicling the rise of urban farming and community food forests. America is witnessing many communities develop local foodsheds in small cities and large metropolises alike. A foodshed encompass the land where the agricultural products are grown or raised, the route the food travels, the markets it is sold at, and finally the individuals who eat it. This is true community empowerment on multiple levels.
With these local movements beginning to establish powerful roots, we are now seeing a supercharged quickening of them with the use of alternative agriculture practices such as permaculture, biodynamic practices, aeroponics pyramids, vertical and roof top gardens for space limitations, drip irrigation and structured water systems for water conservation, and microbial, phyto, and bioremediation for accelerated soil building. The combination is propelling humanity forward and rebuilding the connection we have lost towards the relationship with our food and each other.
In America there are over 46,000,000 people on The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) –AKA food stamps. This is proof the old paradigm didn’t work and is over. As individuals and communities learn and empower themselves through decentralized, free food urban gardens, it is an absolute certainty that this number will decrease.
