A Journey of Regeneration

Moving up here to the mountains in July 2021, I didn’t have much of a growing season that first year, but that Autumn I employed what limited knowledge I have around permaculture and regenerative agriculture to invest in collecting organic matter and building soil. On the land where I live, I have some garden beds that have been reasonably productive so far, and are ready for prime time and full planting this year, and others that are still in the state of soil building.?

This has been a hard labor of love, and between an abundance of elk manure, rotting salmon, decaying plant matter and homemade compost, I’m excited to see what thrives this year up here in the rainforest. No digging. No tilling. No chemicals.?

Being called to service here in my community, I took on the role of HOA President last year and one of my pet projects is to utilize one of our private parks as the site of an agroforestry initiative. As one of the few sites in this community with open space and relatively ample sunshine, I’ve just begun the process of this land’s transformation. First up was to get the invasive Himalayan Blackberry under control. Rather than attempt to eradicate this plant in the park area, I used a brush cutter to groom around the mature cedar trees that were being strangled by these aggressive plants. Next step is to dig up each plant by the roots and throw all that organic matter into a compost pile we created in the forest as a future source of rich organic matter.?

On two sides of the park, this Himalayan Blackberry grows in abundance and several community members shared that they came here to harvest these berries when in season. Listening to community and understanding where they’re at is core to these kinds of transformative initiatives being successful - you want people to know that this is their project too - and when people know they’re being heard, they are much more enthusiastic about being involved.?

Taking this community input, I used the brush cutter to cut picking paths into the dense thicket of berry bushes bordering the park, making the harvest areas much more accessible. More root digging in these picking paths comes next, as the first stage of working with nature around this highly invasive and problematic species to provide nourishment for animals and humans, while controlling its spread, and creating space for the reintroduction of native species that support biodiversity and thriving local ecosystems.?

This weekend, the cardboard goes down for the first garden bed. There are mole mounds and piles of elk manure, decaying plant matter, and neighbors with chicken compost that will provide the first layer on top of what is pretty decent soil to start with. Our community is sourcing free fruit trees through various state and county initiatives, and these will be planted and fenced this Spring, strategically planting them adjacent to the young Douglas fir that were planted as a future harvest crop before I moved here, and harvest-ready long after I’m gone from this earthly plane.?

Now that I have my private community buying into my regenerative zeal, I expanded my focus to the town in which I live. Recently joining the Concrete Economic Development Committee, I now have direct access to local government decision making and my intention is to have regenerative systems thinking at the forefront of everything I bring to the table. When most think of economic abundance they still think in terms of extractive models, the very foundations of which produce imbalance. When we look at the problems plaguing our current world, all are caused by imbalance. Regeneration is something we as human beings need to pull into our hearts and express with our Soul Purpose. With a regenerative mindset, we look beyond our limited egoic Being and the fallacy of competition and duality and create from a collective Consciousness and Love, following Nature’s laws and respect for the Divinity of life.?

My intentions are grander than what I’m sharing here, however the goal is to not focus on the vision but to hold the vision in my heart and operate from the present moment, pecking away at positive change directly in my current orbit, and allowing that orbit to unfold and expand as it will under the guidance of Love’s Grace.?

Have a beautiful weekend - I hope you get up to some regeneration too!

#regenerativeagriculture #permaculture #agroforestry #regenerativesystems #circulareconomy #community #plantmedicine #consciousness #nature #love