Growing Our Future Together
Plow No More
Weeds are the Other
As the farm steward at Consideration Farm, the definition of a weed is any plant growing (and its seed) that I deem unwelcome inside my little five-acre farm — my sphere of existence. These plants represent ‘the other’ to my family and me, in stark contrast to ‘one another’ — us and the crops and flora we cultivate. Our approach to farming is more than just tending to the land; it’s a battle against the unwanted, relentless effort to dictate the narrative of life within our environment.
However, consider the perspective of the weeds. To them, I am the invader, an agent of entropy and destruction disrupting their natural existence. To assert dominance over these ‘others,’ the farmer, like a deity shaping their domain, must master the cycles within the biosphere. This control extends to the complex dance of life and death, light and dark, within the spheres enveloping the field.
No matter what, I can not defeat the narrative of the sun as it spins out information onto the Earth; the two are in cahoots to spin up reality. I am only here to place the seed where it goes and move the pieces on the board in anticipation of what the Earth and the sun will cook up next. Once you understand this, you are ready to be a farmer (to start thinking about it).
My plans must work with the biosphere, not against it, to encode reality forward. If I do anything to harm the biosphere — if my actions damage the integrity of the literal sphere of information that protects our future from the darkness, then that would make me a dark, evil wizard. I am not. I am a witch, and I’m here to tell you that all real witches are good. A dirt witch like me is dedicated to carrying forward the flame of life inside the lithosphere connected to the hydrosphere and atmosphere.
Remember Fear
I do fear terribly one thing: I fear the darkness of outerfucking space. I do. I never once looked up as a child and wanted to be out there. Fuck no. It’s no place for me. Whatever the darkness turns out to be, fundamentally, deep in my soul, I do not like the darkness, and I can NOT have it invading the biosphere of Earth Actual (the one I’m on).
My consciousness has emerged, and now it seeks to organize the light forward into the future in an effort to keep the actual lights on and the darkness out. That’s what’s up here, under the sun, inside the biosphere of Earth.
Death to All Weeds
The first order of business is to eradicate all living, indigenous (when I got here) weeds. The fastest way to do this is by introducing agents of death like cows, pigs, goats, and other livestock. American Guinea Hog pigs end the weed way of life on my five-acre farm, consuming them down to the root, destroying life left inside their tiny universe.
Once the weeds are destroyed, their seed still remains. We must replace the seed of the “Other” with the seed of “One Another.”
White Three Leaf Clover Colonizes the Narrative
A legume, white clover excels as a colonizer of landscapes, demonstrating remarkable adaptability and resilience. Its symbiotic relationship with nitrogen-fixing bacteria allows it to enrich the soil, supporting its growth and benefiting neighboring plants. This ability makes it a natural ally of the land, enhancing the environment’s overall health and magnifying its effectiveness as a cover crop. Nitrogen fixation, carried out by symbiotic bacteria in its roots, converts atmospheric nitrogen into a usable form, enriching soil nutrients and eliminating synthetic fertilizer needs (never considered chemical fertilizer in the first place…I’m a witch, not a wizard).
In terms of reproduction, white clover is prolific. It produces a bounty of seeds designed to withstand varied conditions and remain dormant until favorable growth circumstances present themselves (on an opposite cycle of the weed seed🌞 ). This strategy ensures its widespread distribution and enduring presence, especially on a planet with fast-changing conditions on the ground inside the 3+1 visible-light rendered reality.
For the land, white clover is a steward of fertility, improving soil quality and enriching the ecological fabric. Future seeds carry the legacy of resilience and adaptability, ensuring the plant’s survival in diverse environments. White clover is more than a plant; it symbolizes life’s persistence and flourishing, leaving an enduring mark on the landscape. White clover controls the narrative forward (now, my will be done on Earth, the farmer, me, even though the animals did all the work…hum.).
White Clover Stacks Utility
- Weed Suppression: Forms a dense mat, minimizing weed growth and herbicide use.
- Soil Health: Enhances soil structure, prevents erosion, and boosts organic matter.
- Moisture Retention: Retains soil moisture, lessening watering needs and drought impact.
- Pollinator-Friendly: Attracts bees and other pollinators, benefiting the ecosystem.
- Pest and Disease Control: along with intercropping, disrupts pest and disease cycles.
The Agents of Death
Pigs are like catfish, except they can walk and eat on land. Both are extremely tasty to humans. They can and do consume anything and everything in their path. They turn kitchen scraps into pork while plowing up the field the way nature designed. In the late fall, when many weed seeds begin to go dormant, the white clover will still thrive and sprout on the warm days it finds inside the sphere. It is a resilient colonizer of the canvas. As such, in the cold days of the fall, as the weed seed lies dormant, it is time to destroy their universe and plant our canvas of strictly white(s only) clover.
Bring in the Pigs
Three days before the forecast calls for three days of rain (it’s Monday, and it’s going to rain on Thursday), place on the land a small army of three or more American Guinea Hogs, allowing them to destroy all life, wholly gone and dead, down to the roots, leaving the lithosphere underneath decimated and fertilized with massive doses of pig poop.
Three days of this go by…
If/then the forecast still calls for rain tomorrow, spread white clover seed with the most entropy possible, as demonstrated by this video of Farmer Josh broadcasting white clover.
If it is a larger area, mix white clover seed with chicken feed, spreading it through the air again with great vigor. The pigs will walk all around in wild patterns, stomping all over as they feed, planting thousands and thousands of tiny white clover seeds to establish their new dominion over this little piece of the Earth.
Remove all livestock and allow the white clover to grow. Wait for spring.
Colonize High-Value Life
As beneficial as white clover is to the soil, it’s also very accommodating to the seed of our food. The two do not compete for resources. Once the white clover has taken root and begun to flourish, by way of existing, it continues to crowd out the weeds; we can now ( and forever forward) plant our intended final colonizers: the seed of our food crops. By way of our eminent domain, we will displace the white clover that we must in order to plant our crops, including garlic, onions, tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, herbs, and, of course, the Three Sisters of the Sun: corn/bean/squash.
The narrative of the other is gone–not for good, but for now. Their seed could once again rise inside future spheres if we are not considerate. The seed of the other will no doubt continue to plague us in isolated areas. With my European scythe in hand, I will continue to bring death to the other denying them the ability to reproduce inside the narrative of the reality that I now control.
The Sphere of One Another
We will all continue to destroy the biosphere of one another if we do not find a way to pass through the narrative of the other, spining forward from our dark past, that plagues the future of our precious Earth. We need to discover a new sphere made of:
- Love for ourselves and our seed so that we may LOVE the seed of one another. We are not weeds. We are human. We are one human species under the light of the sun.
- Courageously, We must protect the sphere of one another (no longer “the other”). Thoughts and prayers won’t do. I’m from Missouri (not really). Show me.
- Wisdom needs to dictate that our lifestyle does not destroy our life.
Fear the dark future we orbit. PUSH us in a new direction.
We must find a way to shine brightly over one another’s future instead of allowing the darkness of the past to straight up fucking ruin it. We must bend the knee to Mother Earth. Look deeply into nature, and we will learn how to build better days ahead with each other.
The sunshine claims manifest destiny over our existence. We must all find a way to live together inside the light of the reality that we are building for one another, to cross through the thin manifold of pain that separates us from shining brightly inside our shared future together.
My name is Farmer Josh. Please support me as I discover and promote a healthy meal system for the Spicey People of Earth. Please consider joining my Patreon.
