Self-fed, sustainable food systems are the future

We are no longer in linear time, it moves in circles, in figure 8s. Humanity is waking up to the fact that we are all one, connected. The Greek word “Holos,” meaning “entire” or “whole,” supports this. There is a movement occurring, of holistic (sacred) economics, or circular economics, in which all business transactions account for the rights of the Earth, the water and each other as stewards of the planet.

The first step in taking care of the Earth is rebuilding our soil. There are agricultural practices that give back more than we take away, leaving everyone in abundance from the smallest microorganisms to the largest oceans. I am speaking of permaculture, food forests, syntrophic agroforestry, ways of living as a part of nature — like our ancestors did.

Sacred economics allows us to give services to each other as gifts, knowing that we will be taken care of. It also supports the local economy and ecology by using what we have here, utilizing the barter system and, if currency is necessary, sending some of that back towards the animals, plants, water and earth in whatever way we choose.

Self-sustenance is an immediate advantage of adopting these systems. Since Taos County has a budget, I’d like to see 10 percent of that go towards growing food forests, planting fruit trees and shrubs in parks, reviving our acequias and becoming the nation’s next selffed community.