DO YOU PLANT TREES, OR DO YOU ESTABLISH THE CONDITIONS IN WHICH TREES WILL VOLUNTEER?
For a cattle farmer, grazing practices prepare the land for what’s next. If you want trees, then manage your grazing in such a way that trees will grow.
“We have a pasture full of seven foot tall trees that was an open grassland just three or four years ago. The most beautiful part is that we did no work. The system matured on its own. And the mothers of all those trees are right there, watching us and nurturing their young.”
--Daniel Griffith
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From a conversation with ecologist, farmer and philosopher Daniel Griffith, who owns “Timshel Wildlands” based in central Virginia. For the entire conversation, please click on the link to the YouTube video.
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DANIEL GRIFFITH: I was in conversation recently with Charles Eisenstein, a brilliant thinker and author in this movement. He was saying that we get lost in this idea that we don’t have enough time, that we’re running out of time. In some sense that’s true. Climate refugees are actually with us today, and natural disasters are increasing. The key here is that the climate has always fluctuated.
And I’m not trying to say that anthropogenic climate change isn’t real. Yes, humans have created a plastic problem. We have created a chemical problem. We’re running out of soil. These are serious problems. I’m not trying to diminish these problems.
But 12,000 years ago, the land that I inhabit today was under an ice cap. And then the ice cap receded. And then wildfires ravaged this region for thousands of years. And then the climate settled and found a nice place of stability that is the modern era. And maybe we’re gravitating away from this era.
The point is that nature undulates. Life happens. Life nurtures life through death. We can’t get away from the death process. But the hope that we are continuously presented with at Timshel is: Life is seeking harmony. And life is seeking harmony in its own time. And it’s not hurrying. It’s urgent.
But Charles reminded me that there’s a difference between hurry and urgency. Hurry is manufacturing abundance. Urgency is dedication to purpose.
These are two different things. Mother Earth, Mother Nature, our landscape, the ecosystem that we are part of and the environment that is our individual context … it’s urgent. We have urgent and very purposeful work to do. But at pace with how Nature wants to respond.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t go out there and plant a tree. I’m just saying that if you want a tree to grow, that’s not the only option. For instance, we have a 30-acre plot here at the Wildland where we’ve utilized very strategic and purposeful animal impact, in grazing systems of cattle, sheep and goats, to “plant” a savanna or silvopasture.
But we didn’t plant any trees. We just grazed in such a way that trees came. If you want trees, then manage for trees. They will come. We have a pasture full of seven foot tall trees that was an open grassland just three or four years ago.
The most beautiful part is twofold. For one, we did no work. The system matured on its own. We just nurtured it through. We were a participant, as the cows and the trees were a participant.
And secondly, the mothers of all those trees are right there. They are right there watching us. They are nurturing their young. It’s a system under the embrace of community and lineage. Therefore, it is a system of hope, because it is possible.
We don’t have to hurry. We all get lost in hurrying.
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For the entire interview, please click on the link.