Becoming a regenerative farmer has enabled me to give back to the earth. Having lived in London for many years, working as a stockbroker for Goldman Sachs, I hadn’t realized how much I missed being on the land. I’d grown up on a farm in rural KZN, and wore shoes only to go to school.
The more I experience the fertile world of regenerative agriculture, the more I realize that, as humans, we’re meant to be connected to the earth. While urbanization over the last 300 years has brought us an improved standard of living, humans aren’t happy.
Connecting Barefoot with Earth
The easiest way to connect to the earth is to be barefoot on it. Not on a concrete pavement or tar road. On the actual earth. There’s a wonderful book called Earthing, by Clinton Ober. The big takeaway for me was that being barefoot on the earth helps to restore the natural electrical system in our body. If you can earth first thing in the morning and get the rising sun on your face, even better.
The miracle of planting
There are numerous benefits to gardening, but I’d like to focus on two: the connection with soil microbes and the connection with the rhythms of plant growth.
Anyone can garden. If you don’t have land, you can even grow herbs on your windowsill.
There are more microorganisms in one handful of healthy soil than there are humans on Earth. This is such a humbling and mesmerizing fact. Conventional agriculture is at war with these microbes. When you start gardening and get your hands into the soil, you’ll discover that organic agriculture, which does everything to boost the diversity of those soil microbes, will be the only way you want to farm or grow plants.
Getting dirt under your fingernails is very healthy for you. The more variety of microbes you can be exposed to, the better.
Connecting to your garden
Getting connected to a growing plant is an uplifting experience. The miracle of planting a seed in fertile soil, watching it germinate, feeding it, removing competition in the form of weeds, planting companion plants (like humans, plants don’t like to be alone), watching the flower form, seeing the metamorphosis from flower to seed/fruit, harvesting the part of the plant that you’ll eat when it’s perfectly ready, and then enjoying it, is an experience that should be in our Bill of Rights.
Try this experiment I did with my children many years ago. On two separate windowsills, facing the same direction, put a few wheat seeds in between some cotton wool, which you keep damp. A few times a day, go to that one batch of seeds and say only positive things. Express as much love as you can to them. Then, go to the other batch and focus as much negative energy as you can on them. Hate on that batch.
Watch what happens with germination in the two batches, and then think about the connection and getting back to the earth.
If you’re fortunate enough to have more land than your windowsill, please consider bringing animals into your orbit. Regeneration of the land can only happen with animals in the system. Five laying hens in a safe enclosure on your lawn, moved daily and fed on kitchen scraps, will give you the best eggs you’ve ever eaten. In addition, their manure will ensure that your lawn never needs to be fertilized with store-bought again.
GRAB OUR LATEST LONGEVITY EDITION
Farmer Angus is featured on our cover. This article features in our latest issue, alongside other incredible articles and features. Our “Back to Earth” issue is Longevity’s must-have edition for anyone ready to reflect on what we put in and on our bodies.
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