Meeting Primal Needs in a Modern World
Why We All Need to Grow
From Sears Store Leaks to Lost iPhones: Modern Farm Boy Problems
When I was a child, we'd take weekend trips over to Augusta, Ga, where there was a massive multi-level Sears store. Going was akin to a field trip or maybe in today's terms, an IKEA trip. The store had little sales vignettes set up, a kitchen, a living room, and a bathroom. Once we watched a Dad rush toward his small son, who stood taking a leak in the open bathroom. My Daddy got so tickled, he giggled all the way home. I remember a lot of that generation's laughter came from the conflicts that arose between a modernizing world and old, sometimes ancient needs.
I try to find humor in similar conflicts. Yesterday, one of our teenagers lost his phone. A saga ensued. Instead of working, the whole team was digging through trucks and helping him think: "Maybe it's in the bathroom? Which one did you use?"
"I didn't! I went by the pecan tree."
"Maybe the porch where we break?"
Nothing. Worst case, it fell out and got buried under a hundred-pound crinum clump. "Oh, wait!" Logan, who now had wrinkles on his usually bright face, had a eureka moment. "My Mom has my location tracked, call her!"
He didn't know her number. Who would know her number? Through a series of who might know who’s Mom questions, we called a few numbers. "Do you know Logan's Mom? You don't happen to have her number? Could you ask her to make his phone beep?" It's humorous in retrospect, but that phone probably cost 800 dollars when he bought it two years ago, and the same phone is $1200 today, and knowing an outrageously expensive device was buried under our field or stepped on by a donkey is only funny because we found it
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The Cost of Modern Life: When Housing and Healthcare Fail Us
Like my Daddy, I can find humor in these moments. These teenagers are working the field, dirty, shirtless, in sagging jeans; they hardly have a place to carry anything, much less a thousand-dollar device. And their Mommas track them? My Momma told us to come home at dark.
But on a broader level, at Wednesday family supper last night, I listened to my family's conversation and thought that more often, the changes we see are horrendous.
The need to buy a house is eclipsed. The dream that young adults we love would buy a local house and be part of an extended family has gone up in smoke. Homeless people built a tent city under the bridge to town. All around me, unbridled, un-directed development that we all know leads to more conflict, and not the funny kind. Even on our rural farm, as we work in the fields, we hear the beeping and roar of tractors pushing away woods, stripping the earth to the subsoil with no regard for what the woods and soil do for our sanity.
The need for basic medical care, eradicated by greed. A good friend spent 3 days on a gurney in an ER at one of Augusta's hospitals, known for good medical care. He tells his story with incredulous humor. My sister chimes in about her 12 hours in a plastic chair with her husband writhing in pain. And my story is of a call from my long-time urology office, who wanted me to come in for a prostate check - they somehow missed the fact that I spent October through March in and out of hospitals, and the thing they want to check is long gone.
This morning, for me, Tom and the young fellas, it's back to digging and planting bulbs. They don't worry about the constant beeping of nearby construction trucks – or maybe they think it's part of the soundtracks coming from the phones they carry. As we work, as we dig through, I'm sneaking in lessons. One day, they'll need to know. One day, if they want good vegetables or a decent shade tree, they'll remember. I feel like a Mom sneaking veggies into cookies. I'm setting them up for success in a chaotic world that we've made for them (we being every adult over 20).
Set yourself up for success, too. But just as importantly, help others set up for success. Just like good urban planning, connecting with nature is essential for body and soul. I firmly believe that. I live that. Learn to grow something, just a pot or a backdoor flower bed will do. Understand it. Success, even for something as easy and tough as okra, takes certain things: decent soil, sun, a hose, and in okra's case, the understanding of plant care that tells you that okra needs to be picked every other day, else the pods get tough and the plant slows down in growth and food production. Understand. Observe. Find plants' secrets.
This baking July may not be a good time to start gardening, but it's a good time to plan. Mid-September, time to start things as simple and reliable as carrots, turnips and arugula, is really just around the corner. Find your spot, your pot, and meet one of the most ancient needs and get the satisfaction of cultivating just a little patch of something that really connects us.
Reconnecting with Primal Rhythms
These same forces that make housing unaffordable are also destroying the land and water we all depend on. When we grow our own food or flowers or landscapes, we're not just feeding ourselves - we're taking a small stand against systems that treat both people and the planet as disposable.
My new book covers gardening basics - soil, water, nutrients, pests - but it's vastly different from other how-to books. I illustrate each concept with real stories of success and failure from me and a team of talented, professional horticulturists. We all love this earth and plants, and we share the practical skills you need to create landscapes that are gentle to our Southern climate and the systems we love.
Pre-order now for just $20 – Like phones and health care, the price will go up soon!
Great story. Important insights. Did you ever find the phone? :-)
Yes!!! Most developers know nothing and care even less about the land. We must teach our younger generation or the generation after them will not be able to eat much less have flowers.