ichthyoid

I did a previous post back in March about how my wife and I were beginning (or rather, restarting) to grow our own food, starting with small basic herbs and vegetables, namely bok choy, cilantro, rosemary, and some green onion.

Here are some photos on our progress so far:

Our cilantro has grown quite well. We've been blessed with a lot of both rain and sunshine the past month, and it's had a pretty positive effect on

And, obviously, the rosemary is sad as ever.

Here, as you can see, out of the many bok choy pods, only about 5 really grew. This is to be expected (for the most part). First, because we're still amateurs. But also because there isn't a guarantee for the growth of any one plant. So you plant a lot, and hope for the best.

With that, the ones which grew are now ready to be transplanted.

I didn't get a chance to take a picture of our green onions growing, but basically, my wife bought a bunch from the supermarket, and after we had cut them down to the basic roots, regrew them in a plastic container with water.

And here they are now, cut up once again and ready to be eaten:

And last of all, I've started to experiment with growing avocado plants! These are long term, since the actual avocados don't grow from the plant until about four to five years in. So I'm pretty excited to see how this will work out in the process.

So that's our 'garden'!

Modern vs. Agrarian Society

I've been pondering the predicament of modern society a lot recently, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic has basically shut down most major parts of the world economy. But, while both big and small businesses have been impacted, it doesn't have to mean that all individuals must suffer with it.

Nature and life go on, and if they do, so can we.

I think there's a lot that has been lost as modern society has moved away from agriculture into industry and then into information technology. There's a lot that nature can still teach us. And while studying natural things through the lens of biochemical labs is important, I think it's also important to understand the bigger picture.

And none have a bigger picture of nature than farmers in today's societies. They have to deal with so many different things and aspects of life. I think this Youtube video describes it best.

One of the realizations you have as you grow your own food is the decision about which of the plants being grown is seed and which is food. This is especially relevant if the things you're planting aren't year-round, and require some re-planting during different parts of the year.

If you're going to have self-sustaining permaculture, understanding and setting aside different plants for regrowing seed and eating is important. If you have too many plants set aside for reseeding, then you won't have enough food now. If you have too many set aside for food, then your next harvest isn't going to sustain you very well in the future.

Of course, in modern society, you can always go to the local grocery for food, or the local Home Depot (or similar) to get more seed. But the principle here is still sound—notably if you're going to be self-sustaining.

But the reality is that not all of us can afford to have a homestead or cultivate permaculture where we live. Many people who live in urbanized cities don't have the space or the legal ability to grow much of anything. This is why most modern societies have a split in culture and ideas between those who farm for a living, and those who depend on those farmers in order so they can do the other things they love.

The Relationship Between Farming and Money

But in many ways, money can function similarly to the principles of farming. Just like how farming has seed which results in fruit that can be used both for sustenance and more seed, if we think of money as this kind of seed, this kind of enablement, then we can prioritize and categorize our finances so that, as individuals, despite even a world pandemic going on, we can still live how we need and want to.

I've talked about rethinking money before, and how it is simply a medium by which we exchange debt or trust. That medium has no intrinsic value, except for that which is laid upon it by the two parties in the transaction.

But because there is a common mode of exchange in most countries in the form of fiat, this means that such a currency becomes a sort of base from which an individual can reliably understand the quality of a product based on its price. And if an agreed upon price of products and services can be determined for a general population, material value is quantifiable. Quantifiable material value helps us to understand just how much of the currency we will need to exchange for our own enjoyment or need, and how much we will need in the future in order to obtain the same or better.

And this would be the foundation for understanding money as “seed” and “food”. Just like farming, money can be managed for our own sustenance and gratification, and to be planted to grow more of the same for the future.

Presently, the typical places people plant their money to grow (stocks and investments markets, bonds, and even oil) are plummeting in value pretty crazily. And, not to sound like an overbearing advertisement plug, this kind of crash was also the reason I wrote about becoming your own bank when I first started blogging on Coil.

Solely relying on risky investment practices is like a farmer who was advertised a completely new compound or seed with the promise of a better harvest, and then switch his or her entire homestead to it. It would be a pretty stupid move, all things considered. The safest thing to do is to test it out in a small patch, and look at the results. If the results are undeniably favorable over the long term, then a switch would be wise. But if not, then the farmer would need to determine how much risk he or she is willing to take on. But in the end, there would be a mix of reliable and traditional seed along with the new compound.

When we switch our thinking this way, we're always in the mode of making sure that we have enough saved for the future, and in times of turmoil or chaos, we're stable enough to be able to provide for ourselves and even others in need.

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