The Industrial Society Destroys Mind and Environment thread got me thinking about its doom and gloom focus. Generalisations can be misleading. Sure, I know that there is a lot to complain about in this life and we haven't treated the planet well but there is also a lot to celebrate. I agree that big business and naive governments are selling us short but I see a lot of people who aren't won over by their dodgy products and arguments. We are planting gardens and tending livestock, some are having babies. They are all investments in a favourable future. I think one of the ways big business wins is when we live in fear of our future. The politicians want us to be scared because it makes us more compliant and easier to manipulate. "The speed of visuals ( and words ) has increased so much during the last one hundred years that today the human brain has become incapable of focussing on slow visuals /words through perception, memory, imagery. " What rubbish. Our brains adapt well to most conditions. It's crazy to think that brains would adapt to anything in 100 years. Evolution is a slow process and in terms of evolutionary time, 100 years is the blink of an eye. It's naive reasoning at best. Advertising only has power of you believe it. Politicians are accountable to their consistuents. If you believe otherwise you might as well sit in a dark room and wait for the big bang. In the meantime, I'll be outside growing things.
Yep....... If the state of the world is getting you down, go plant something, tend to an animal, pick some seed etc... Do something that can't be governed over, taxed, sold, bought or advertised...... I had a muscadine seed germinate yesterday, after spending 2-3 months in the pot, I almost threw them out... This gave me so much joy.. Muscadines aren't grown in Australia at all and I only had a few seeds given to me by someone from a different group, as the last ones he had, so it was imperative that I had some germination, or I'd have nothing... If you don't know what a muscadine is, try this link, muscadines info or heres one with pics No doom n gloom here....? Naaaa...... I'm gunna go plant some more tommies...
Joel, I totally understand that kind of joy. It's a good thing to grow a plant from seed. A rare and difficult one is even more special. I've almost thrown out difficult to grow seeds too but a tiny hint of green saved them at the last moment. Good luck with the muscadines.
its not all doom and gloom My unbounded joy with my self-sown tomatoes. Here I was, lambasting myself as a failure cause I just couldn't get compost to well, compost. I lost patience and just spread the mucky half-broken down material around in the garden anyway. Guess what – tomatoes are growing in the oddest places.! I have done NOTHING to them. Except drape a bit of reo-and-chicken wire over the top to keep the starlings and rabbits off. Oh,, and one thing I learned from my small farms course was that the bugs loved a certain type of weed, so as one was growing up thru the middle of the tomatoes, I left it in place. The weed has been eviscerated by the insects, but no-one has even nibbled my tommies (famous last words). From failure to unexpected success – and determination to keep going with all this permaculture nonsense!
Jonathon, congrats on the dill seeds finally growing. Heuristics, I feel your joy. Gardening and growing food has a power that resides in little else. Isn't it great that a tiny tomato seedling can make you smile? 8)