D2_Agraria_Journal_21_OPT

An Invitation to Pay Attention — and Thrive I started to grow some of my own food in the spring of 2009. I knew nothing about soil health, but the house I had moved into had a big garden and I decided to use it. I got on the Internet and read about something called the “double- dig” method, a sort of tilling by hand. That sounded good to me. It turned out to be an enormous amount of work and I’m still not sure if my lower back has ever forgiven me for it. I planted what seemed like everything that first spring—and it all grew! Year two, my back and I decided not to double dig. Instead, I attempted to till in a rather clueless way, the borrowed tiller bucking left and right, raked a bit of the soil around, and weeded what was left. My food grew again, but not as well. Too much water? Not enough? Too humid? Plants in the wrong spots? Nope. Soil. Depleted soil. I was asking plants to grow without paying attention to what they needed to thrive. What do we need to thrive? And who, or what, counts as “we”? The writers featured in this edition of the Agraria Journal ask us for something, though they do so gently and with encouragement. They ask us to pay attention to the food we put into our bodies, how it was grown, and by whom. They also ask us to pay attention to the legacies of food and growing, what has been lost, and what can and should be regained. Beth Bridgeman talks to us about skills from the past and the joy that comes with learning that they are still worth passing down. Other writers encourage us to think Jacoby Creek crossing on Agraria. AMY HARPER 4 AGRARIA JOURNAL 2021 INTRODUCTION BY SHERYL CUNNINGHAM