Harvesting lessons for wisdom cultivation, giving myself to darkness that fertilizes dreams, and sowing seeds of renewal is what the fall season implores for me.
This annual phenomenon of late life glory role models what it means to gracefully let go, how to allow and bear witness to the natural process of decay and death, and how nature deeply appreciates the wisdom and well-earned beauty of life that has aged. As the nights have become darker and farmers have been delivering ripe fruits and nourishing roots, the tenets of the ‘Honorable Harvest’ that I learned from Robin Wall Kimmerer’s writings during this past year (see below) are deeply inhabiting my dreams, and my yearnings for a renewed way of life. I am gently releasing parts of my emotional landscape that have served me, taught me - in some cases tore through me - to embark on more wholesome ways of relating to the earth, an organic sense of “home” and belonging, and ever more intelligent and authentic ways of relating to other humans as well as the other inhabitants of the planet.
According to Robin Wall Kimmerer, a renowned professor of environmental and forest biology and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, as written in her book Braiding Sweetgrass, if the guidelines for an Honorable harvest were to be “made official” (generally they are not in traditionally oral cultures, but they are well understood and faithfully practiced), they might look something like this:
“Know the ways of the ones who take care of you so that you may take care of them.
Introduce yourself. Be accountable as the one who comes asking for life.
Ask permission before taking. Never take the last.
Take only what you need.
Take only that which is given.
Never take more than half. Leave some for others.
Harvest in a way that minimizes harm.
Use it respectfully. Never waste what you have taken.
Share.
Give thanks for what you have been given.
Give a gift, in reciprocity for what you have taken.
Sustain the ones who sustain you and the earth will last forever.”
Upon deep introspection, for me, living according to principles of the Honorable Harvest would begin with manners of self care, community and living with purpose that vigorously question and challenge the norms and currencies of civilized societies. In short, in a digital, chemicalized and commercially driven society, it is my experience that what feels like the honorable choice is usually not convenient, quick, or widely celebrated. Holistic choices are – perhaps necessarily - cumbersome, expensive, and made where no one is looking.
Trees majestically demonstrate the graceful art of letting go of what’s old, allowing its once lush flora to tumble on the cool, crisp breeze back to the earth; creating a thick, nourishing carpet for the forest floor and compost that will nourish and protect many roots and life forms in the immediate environment.
Our human processes of letting go according to seasons and cycles can and do turn up in fits of grief or other strong emotional discharge; the menstrual cycle; seasonal allergies or illnesses; or intuitively knowing that a change is imminent or necessary. The natural urge to let go can show up as personal, relational, community, or ecologic turmoil. The process of change and releasing what is old and stale can disrupt our equilibrium and therefore feel profoundly uncomfortable, so it is exactly at these moments when the deep nourishment of well-prepared, organic seasonal foods, meditation, gentle movement practices, and deep rest will be supportive and very likely transformative.
“I think we are called to go beyond cultures of gratitude, to once again become cultures of reciprocity.” - RWK
I would like to invite our community into a conversation about what the notion of ‘The Honorable Harvest’ means for us city dwellers, and how we can be proactive stewards for earth and a wholesome humanity. How would the principles of The Honorable Harvest urge us to change our way of relating with food? Earth? Loved ones? Strangers? Community? Commerce? Our self care?
“It is an animate earth that we hear calling to us to feed the martens and kiss the rice. Wild leeks and wild ideas are in jeopardy. We have to transplant them both and nurture their return to the lands of their birth. We have to carry them across the wall, restoring the Honorable Harvest, bringing back the medicine.” - RWK
The winds of change are upon us. Let us breathe slowly and deeply and make the choices necessary to cultivate health, wisdom, and resilience.
Join our Red Tent Community for a forest walk and conversation this week:
Date: Wednesday, October 14, 2020
Time: 1 p.m. - 3 p.m.
Place: Eindhoven, contact host for location
Plan for rain or shine!
Please email to RSVP
Read more about the Red Tent here
