Spirituality and farming

martian

DD Moderator
BASE UK Member
Location
N Herts
“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.”
‭‭
What's always worried me about this bit of Genesis is all the chat about subduing the Earth and having Dominion over all the other animals. It pretty much sums up where we've gone wrong!
 

Daniel

Member
What's always worried me about this bit of Genesis is all the chat about subduing the Earth and having Dominion over all the other animals. It pretty much sums up where we've gone wrong!

But to the Genesis era farmer, subduing the earth meant hand hoeing weeds and tilling the earth with a bullock and plough. His dominion over the animals was herding some goats and cattle across scrub land.

WE might have it wrong but they didn’t. The problem for us is that with population and life expectancy where it is now we can’t farm in that style
and produce enough food.
 

Macsky

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Highland
What's always worried me about this bit of Genesis is all the chat about subduing the Earth and having Dominion over all the other animals. It pretty much sums up where we've gone wrong!

Depends very heavily on your interpretation, it could go either way.
 

martian

DD Moderator
BASE UK Member
Location
N Herts
But to the Genesis era farmer, subduing the earth meant hand hoeing weeds and tilling the earth with a bullock and plough. His dominion over the animals was herding some goats and cattle across scrub land.

WE might have it wrong but they didn’t. The problem for us is that with population and life expectancy where it is now we can’t farm in that style
and produce enough food.
Well, they turned the land of milk and honey to the desert it is today. I was shocked by how much damage the neolithic farmers did, when I read about it in David Montgomery's Dirt, the Erosion of Civilisations. It's that plough again...
 
Genesis 1:31 - God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.

Genesis 2:7 - And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.

Genesis 2:15 - And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

Genesis 3:17-19 - And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life....

In summary, God created a perfect world which mankind would administer; however, sin entered with Adam's disobedience with many consequences, one of which was the difficulties we see in forcing the Earth to yield her fruit.
 

Blaithin

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Alberta
Spirituality isn't a form of Religion.

Religion is a form of Spirituality.

At it's root Spirituality is usually broken down to having a sense of connection to something bigger than ourselves. Religious people will take that to mean a God, I do not.

I have no belief in a God. The Higher Power in my life is the Earth, the Earth is the one in charge. The Earth never gave us commandments or power over anything, no people can say "We have the right to rule because the Earth gave it to us". Instead more often than not you'll get people saying "God have mercy on us, the Earth just kicked us in the nuts. Please pray for us."

I was spiritual long before I got more involved in regenerative ag. I probably am spiritual because of how I was raised on a farm and being able to see first hand how the seasons affect organisms and how the organisms work together. I've also always been interested in Native cultures because of a smidgen of Metis heritage which lead to studies in Shamanism and Animism among others. I'm not religious at all but if I were to identify with any religion, it would be a Pagan one.

As soon as you start bringing in literature written over 3000 years ago to support your "right" to do things your way, you're starting to lose credibility to me. There are no rights, there should only be balance and health. Sadly most humans conceived rights are neither balanced or healthy.

Spirituality helps people form a link to the organisms and lifeforms we're working with in our day to day lives. It helps us understand their relationships to one another. It is our sense of connection to something bigger than ourselves, and that something is the planet we live on. As soon as you break the ideal that we are superior to everything, by God's grace, you are opening yourself up to being a part of the ecosystem and being able to work as part of that ecosystem. As long as your carry around the idea that God gave you this planet and you're above all other creatures on it, you'll be hobbling yourself.

As for the farming destroyed mankind line of thought, a year or so back a bunch of us read the book Homo Sapiens. It has some very thought provoking bits on how agriculture has affected us as a species and most of them are not positive.
 

Inky

Member
Location
Essex / G.London
I'm 60% through COTRW, it needs plenty of time for gestation but it's hard to deny it's contents.

I don't equate religion and spirituality as the same thing which is probably due to the fact i'm often around practising Buddhists, Daoist and Chinese martial art practitioners. The Chinese spiritual arts especially place a lot of emphases on "harmonisation" and "letting go" which i think could be the parallel of what people attain through transcending to holistic management of life and land.

In the arts you harmonise the mind and body and also the things you interact with. At the simple level you learn to let go of mental and physical tension, fear and suffering (often caused by our own selves).

The "culture" in agriculture is unfortunately skewed by capitalism, wealth / richness is mainly observed by economic prowess and with that goes the mindset. People don't see wealth in harmonising with the natural way of things.

I've come across the 5 poisons identified in Buddhism frequently in farming but I've yet to come across these in people who practise in a holistic way.

Ignorance - Lack of discernment; not understanding the way of things
Attachment - Attachment or desire for what we like
Aversion - Aversion for what we don't like, or for what prevents us from getting what we like
Pride - Having an inflated opinion of oneself and a disrespectful attitude toward others
Envy - Being unable to bear the accomplishments or good fortune of others
 

holwellcourtfarm

Member
Livestock Farmer
Spirituality isn't a form of Religion.

Religion is a form of Spirituality.

At it's root Spirituality is usually broken down to having a sense of connection to something bigger than ourselves. Religious people will take that to mean a God, I do not.

I have no belief in a God. The Higher Power in my life is the Earth, the Earth is the one in charge. The Earth never gave us commandments or power over anything, no people can say "We have the right to rule because the Earth gave it to us". Instead more often than not you'll get people saying "God have mercy on us, the Earth just kicked us in the nuts. Please pray for us."

I was spiritual long before I got more involved in regenerative ag. I probably am spiritual because of how I was raised on a farm and being able to see first hand how the seasons affect organisms and how the organisms work together. I've also always been interested in Native cultures because of a smidgen of Metis heritage which lead to studies in Shamanism and Animism among others. I'm not religious at all but if I were to identify with any religion, it would be a Pagan one.

As soon as you start bringing in literature written over 3000 years ago to support your "right" to do things your way, you're starting to lose credibility to me. There are no rights, there should only be balance and health. Sadly most humans conceived rights are neither balanced or healthy.

Spirituality helps people form a link to the organisms and lifeforms we're working with in our day to day lives. It helps us understand their relationships to one another. It is our sense of connection to something bigger than ourselves, and that something is the planet we live on. As soon as you break the ideal that we are superior to everything, by God's grace, you are opening yourself up to being a part of the ecosystem and being able to work as part of that ecosystem. As long as your carry around the idea that God gave you this planet and you're above all other creatures on it, you'll be hobbling yourself.

As for the farming destroyed mankind line of thought, a year or so back a bunch of us read the book Homo Sapiens. It has some very thought provoking bits on how agriculture has affected us as a species and most of them are not positive.
(y):cool:

Snap! I could have written most of that myself.:rolleyes:
 

holwellcourtfarm

Member
Livestock Farmer
But to the Genesis era farmer, subduing the earth meant hand hoeing weeds and tilling the earth with a bullock and plough. His dominion over the animals was herding some goats and cattle across scrub land.

WE might have it wrong but they didn’t. The problem for us is that with population and life expectancy where it is now we can’t farm in that style
and produce enough food.
You haven't read the Conservation Ag manifesto then: the only "rules" are
  1. No tillage (or very, very little)
  2. Keep the soil covered (preferably with growing plants)
  3. Diversity of plants.
 

Kevtherev

Member
Location
Welshpool Powys
A lot of it is getting away from the old 'what am I going to kill today' mentality that a lot of modern farming seems to involve, as KP says, working with nature and not against it

It is probably enough to work out your own way of regenerating the landscape so that there is a template for others to follow when they are ready.

Yes set up a system that works
Reduced pesticides and inputs.
Show others and it gets them thinking
‘Hey maybe we should do that?’
Bring back proper rotations with livestock to get soil health and organic matter back up where it should be.
We are only guardians at the end of the day.
 

Farmer Roy

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
NSW, Newstralya
Spirituality isn't a form of Religion.

Religion is a form of Spirituality.

At it's root Spirituality is usually broken down to having a sense of connection to something bigger than ourselves. Religious people will take that to mean a God, I do not.

I have no belief in a God. The Higher Power in my life is the Earth, the Earth is the one in charge. The Earth never gave us commandments or power over anything, no people can say "We have the right to rule because the Earth gave it to us". Instead more often than not you'll get people saying "God have mercy on us, the Earth just kicked us in the nuts. Please pray for us."

I was spiritual long before I got more involved in regenerative ag. I probably am spiritual because of how I was raised on a farm and being able to see first hand how the seasons affect organisms and how the organisms work together. I've also always been interested in Native cultures because of a smidgen of Metis heritage which lead to studies in Shamanism and Animism among others. I'm not religious at all but if I were to identify with any religion, it would be a Pagan one.

As soon as you start bringing in literature written over 3000 years ago to support your "right" to do things your way, you're starting to lose credibility to me. There are no rights, there should only be balance and health. Sadly most humans conceived rights are neither balanced or healthy.

Spirituality helps people form a link to the organisms and lifeforms we're working with in our day to day lives. It helps us understand their relationships to one another. It is our sense of connection to something bigger than ourselves, and that something is the planet we live on. As soon as you break the ideal that we are superior to everything, by God's grace, you are opening yourself up to being a part of the ecosystem and being able to work as part of that ecosystem. As long as your carry around the idea that God gave you this planet and you're above all other creatures on it, you'll be hobbling yourself.

As for the farming destroyed mankind line of thought, a year or so back a bunch of us read the book Homo Sapiens. It has some very thought provoking bits on how agriculture has affected us as a species and most of them are not positive.
Just reading Sapiens now
As you say, very thought provoking & doesn't put agriculture in a very good light
Fascinating book

I also agree, being spiritual doesn't mean being religious
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 80 42.3%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 66 34.9%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 15.9%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 7 3.7%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

  • 1,292
  • 1
As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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