STEWARDING LAND

Every morning when I pray for a good death, I specify that one of the incomplete things in my life that I want to accomplish before I die is to steward a piece of land. 

But what exactly does it mean to steward a piece of land, particularly in the context of both not inheriting land and having no confidence that the next generation, let alone the next seven, will be responsible in their care for the particular piece of earth you’ve been graced to steward?

I don’t believe there is one clear answer to this question.  It’s not like if you set up a permaculture homestead (whatever that means) you’ve done your job. But here are some thoughts that might help.

First, stewarding land involves a partnership amongst the humans, the land, the different beings who are part of the land and the ecosystem as a whole.  How I might steward a piece of land in Northern California had better be different than how I would steward a piece of land in the mid-Atlantic because the ecosystem is different.  Even if I want to use the same tool of say a well defined and control burn to promote those beings who benefit from fire, there are different beings who benefit from fire in these two regions, you’d set the fire at different times of the year.  There’s a nice short youtube about prescribed burns in the mid-Atlantic at the headquarters of Adamah.  https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=268692134811899

The human is the being with the greatest range of possible action; a tree can’t simply get up and start walking away because the human who purchased a piece of land decides to use chemicals to poison weeds on the lawn.  So human action is decisive, and it has to be done in the context of listening to the land and to all the other beings.  What would benefit them? If you aren’t considering the well being of all beings, in my mind, you aren’t stewarding the land as well as you could.

You need to listen to your skills and interests. What turns you on?  What are you really good at? If medicinal herbs are what grabs you, grow them, assuming you aren’t terrible at growing them.  If you are terrible, but still want to use herbs to heal, partner with someone local who can grow the herbs.  If pigs raised on mast grabs you, learn to fence and develop an agroforestry plan. If you are into small scale grain raising, find an appropriate piece of land for that.

For me, I have a special connection with pasture land and cows.  So I started a grass cow-calf operation and sold beef, when I was blessed to steward a 100 acre farm in Central Virginia.  I was, it should be noted,  a vegan at the time I started it. On the other hand, controlled burns scare the crap out of me, so I wouldn’t want to use that tool and even though I knew that Native Americans had used it, I never considered it. 

My immediate predecessors had not stewarded the land well, and it is instructive to consider what they did.  The couple I bought the land from threw a few horses on the land and hayed the rest.  Some parts were consequently overgrazed, others were under managed. The couple had bought it from someone who had raised a family on it in a kind of self sufficient way—good for them. (I met one of the kids who had been raised on it and some folks who knew the farmer).  They had put on a milk cow or two along with some beef cows for milk and meat for the family.  They grew grain on the bottom land which meant they had plowed it, and I am quite confident that there had been times when it had flooded.  They used chemicals and because they didn’t manage the grazing well, my immediate predecessors inherited a farm that needed some healing—not that they could recognize it or had a clue about how to heal the land.

I did right by the land when I was there for four to five years, but I left the land and sold it to a jerk (unfortunately I knew the buyer).  I would do something different with that piece of land now because I’m 66 years old and not physically able to do the work of raising cows. I’d still need to ensure that the bulk of the acreage was well managed, so I’d either find someone to implement the right kind of rotational grazing, or I’d plan to return the land to an oak-hickory woods.  My focus now would be on the couple of acres around the house. I’d be interested in growing and processing as much of the food that I ate as possible, particularly fruit and vegetables which have the great merit of having bodies that can’t run away or knock you through a fence. I’d have a few chickens in a mobile hut—the technology here is much better and more available than it was 25 years ago. I’d focus on season extensions such as cold frames or mini greenhouses.  I’m no great shakes as a gardener, but I am not terrible and I could get better.

Lastly, I’d want to develop a communal space for rituals that might be something like a sacred grove—so some cleared space in the center surrounded by a circle of trees.  I’m not sure how I’d do that—it would depend on the land.

I hope this has stimulated your imagination.