Agraria Journal Winter 2021

Jacoby Creek AMY HARPER AGRARIA JOURNAL 2021 13 textiles have fractals embedded in them. If we are fractal creatures, it could explain why we love to spend time in the fractal light-filtered patterns of forests and are attracted to the fractal patterns of Jackson Pollack’s art. Other mathematical patterns like the spirals of shells, pinecones and sunflowers; the Fibonacci sequence, which describes the growth of some spirals; the Phi ratio, which shows up in the Fibonacci sequence as well as in the length of our limbs and the shapes of our eyes; and Fourier transforms, which describe how we translate frequency into perception, suggest there is something profoundly rhythmic in the nature of growth and evolution—and in the nature of us. Bones, teeth, horns, shells, and trees grow in a spiraling pattern. You can also see spirals in the spin of galaxies and the swirling vortexes of water as it flows across the landscape. In fact, these spirals may be how water is structured, producing a substance that is different than the bulk water that runs through our straight-line piping systems to our homes and through our irrigation systems. Biomedical Engineering research scientist Gerald Pollack calls this the fourth phase of water—also the name of a book where he explores the phase of water that is