Agraria_Journal_WINTER_2022

AGRARIA JOURNAL 2022 27 An Agrarian Vision of Shared Abundance BY RICH SIDWELL I was born into a rural agrarian community just as World War II ended. As the middle child of seven in a frugal Quaker family living on a small farm, my earliest memories are of abundant food and a happy extended family in a cooperative neighboring community. “Money was very limited, so my perception as I grew through my elementary school years was that we were poor.” We always had everything we needed, but many of my schoolmate friends had more of the material things that were always attractive to us as kids. In hindsight, that perception of poverty was, of course, a child’s innocent and limited view of reality. Since that time our world has changed dramatically. Rapid industrial growth after WWII has led to the loss of many small rural communities. It has gotten us to the point where we have built into our lifestyles countless layers of disconnectedness from the natural world. We consume and waste constantly, thinking in quantitative terms that more is better. But a new paradigm of life on the planet is emerging. Our work at Agraria centers on regenerating a healthy quality of life on and for the planet. Along with partners around the globe we are asking ourselves what that means: What are the elements of health, balance, and happiness that provide for meaningful co-existence on the planet? We are beginning to understand the lessons that Mother Earth provides: living with Nature instead of living disconnected from it. So, as we seek to reconnect with our planet, with all life, including each other, what would a model community look like? We know that agrarianism of one sort or another has existed on the planet for thousands of years. Our Indigenous ancestors developed distinctive practices in harmony with the land that reflected their understandings about the interconnectedness of life. Their teachings can provide a road map for renewal now. If we listen more deeply to the Universe, the lessons keep coming. Reflecting on my childhood in an agrarian community, the theme of abundance was ever present. Most of my relatives were farmers or gardeners, so food was being continually produced and shared. Neighbors who were less able to provide for themselves were cared for. There was security in the community simply because people watched out for each other. Good will prevailed and people were largely considered to be trustworthy. Resilient communities are built on trust, collaboration, cooperation, and compassion. Observing the natural world and learning to live within it in a more connected way can guide us toward building a new model of resilience. A living forest can serve as a model. In a healthy forest there is incredible diversity of life above and below ground. The plants both cope with weather patterns and contribute to them by the way they absorb and transpire water, clean the air, and support life in the soil. Nothing is wasted, all is recycled, life and death are occurring continuously as the systems evolve. Just as all life in the forest is intimately connected, all life, including all human life, is intimately connected on the planet. The more deeply we understand that, the more likely we will be to support members of any community. In a new model of agrarian community, quality of life will overshadow our current need to accumulate personal property. The concept of shared abundance thus is at the center as we promote the turning away from wasteful consumption and seek to regenerate healthy, just, and equitable agrarian community. Connecting more fully to each other, to Nature, and to the planet, increases that prevailing energetic abundance. Making the switch from abusing the abundance to living in full collaboration with it will take time, but we are ambitiously proceeding on that path. Future generations of all life will be the beneficiaries — but we are equally the beneficiaries as we learn along this way. Rich Sidwell is treasurer of the Agraria Board of Trustees. AMY HARPER The donation of a Grillo walk-behind tractor and implements by Dr. Soma Avva helped start and expand the new George Washington Carver Farm on Agraria.