Five ways to grow to change the world

Every weekend I get to talk to visitors to our homestead.

This past weekend, the reverberations were worried, alarmed, indignant and angry. One visitor was in Davos as part of a lifetime of work for those with disabilities, and she described the tone as defeated, as many years of work was erased. Another works in healthcare, and was alarmed at the sudden closure of clinics across South Africa as funding was abruptly pulled. One was just super angry at a vine taking over their garden and didn’t know why the vine made her so mad. Relateable, no?

Growing vegetables in this context may seem besides the point, myopic and limited. So I wanted to encourage you today!

1. When you grow, you actively change yourself. You even change physically as you ingest good bacteria and your vegetables become a part of you. You see you are part of the world, connected to the worst and best parts of it. This connectedness means that changing yourself changes the world. You face both death and life, and become an active participant in the cycle. You are not reactive to world events, your alarm doesn’t stop the cycle of growing and eating, and participation in that cycle brings quiet and resolve.

2. When you grow, you actively change your community You are the sum of the people you spend the most time with. When you feel the abundance of a good crop, that abundance is contagious. If you normalise growing, inevitably others will grow and get caught up in the cycle with others. You will make it easier for others, as they can learn from our mistakes. Instead of gossiping about weird neighbours or worrying about crime, you gift them vegetables and discover common values.

3. When you grow, you actively change the economy If you become a producer, rather than a consumer, even at the smallest level, you change your economic context. Over time, you save money on food. Because your experience makes you value farmers differently, you are willing to pay a fair price for the food you don’t grow. You are grateful to the hands that sowed and picked and processed and transported. It is no longer about the cold laws of supply and demand, it is about connection.

4. When you grow, you actively change your environment Ecology can change on a tiny scale. You see insects, birds and reptiles proliferate in new ways. Slowly, you understand your part in the ecology of your space.

5. When you grow, you change the world If we can roll into cycles of death and life, change our community into a kinder, more grounded place, alter our relationship to the economy, and become part of our ecology, is it not inevitable that we change the world?

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