Stewardship Over Dominion

I had an interesting chat with my Dad this week, who has a tendency to wax philosophic from time to time, weaving together biblical themes, theoretical physics, history and science.

We got talking about how as a culture we've gotten mixed up with both Darwin and the creation story - that there is so much more cooperation in Darwin's work than competition and that we've misinterpreted the directive of the old testament as dominion over the earth instead of the more beautiful notion of stewardship.

It got me thinking about the theme of stewardship in my life, here on the farm, in the garden, as a parent and in my world as a whole.

Stewardship and Dominion might seem similar, and I guess in some ways can be - both can imply caretaking and power over . . .

But stewardship for me relies on a subdued ego, a shifting away from self towards others; towards the places, people and things we steward, as well as for the unseen future we steward them for.

When I'm in the garden, stewardship is my compass. It's not about ME. It's about this place, all this miraculous abundant life, so much of it unknown and unknowable.

I don't have dominion over this place; it doesn't belong to me. It belongs to those who will come after, and to the countless tiny lifeforms that were here before me and will be here long after, the soil busy with microbes going about their ancient work of transmuting death into life and round again.

And out in the world, this week I have also been focused on stewardship. Stewardship of our democracy and free and civil society.

Here's the thing : Stewardship of democracy doesn't mean stewarding rights and freedoms just for people who think like me, vote like me, look like me.

If I want to steward democracy into the future for my kids, I have just as much responsibility, perhaps more, to steward the freedom of those folks whose beliefs I don't share. Because one day, I may ask them to support me in my freedom to make a choice that they don't agree with.

These are difficult times. It is in these difficult times that we must hold even tighter to our values; it is easy to support the idea of free speech when there are no people screaming in the streets. But it is precisely when they are that we need those protections the most.

If you'd like to learn about my approach to stewarding the garden, enrolment for The Holistic Harvest : Your First Organic Veggie Garden will be opening soon.

The course is taught online over the course of the growing season. Most lessons are audio only (no dreaded zoom presentations unless absolutely necessary, I promise!) with six live online workshops / Q&A's for you to ask questions as you go and cheer one another on.

I teach what I fondly refer to as the 'lazy lady's' method of deep-organic gardening. We'll cover low-maintenance, inexpensive methods that put the ecology to work - so you don't have to!

This course is perfect even if you're a complete beginner and will work regardless of the size of your space. We will speak specifically about planning for everything from pots on a patio to a large-scale backyard garden.

This year - with grocery prices going through the roof - I'm also offering a new course - Preserving the Harvest, where we'll learn how to store your haul to keep the pantry full even when the grocery store shelves are empty. Stay tuned!

Freezer is looking pretty sorry for itself this week. I apologize. We will have more pork arriving in a couple of weeks. Thanks for your patience.

As always.

Best,

Stacey