Reconnecting with Creation Through Regenerative Agriculture

For tens of thousands of years, humans have survived in many environments all around the world. Through thick and thin, humans have been able to fight against predators, weather, and starvation. The unlikely survival of humans can be heavily attributed to one thing: agriculture. With a stable food source, people have been able to do almost everything, live almost anywhere, and support billions of hungry stomachs all across the world. Agriculture is the science of cultivating plants or animals for human use, and it hasn’t changed much since the beginning. Starting around 9500 BCE, humans planted crops for a controlled harvest, planting rice, grains, and chickpeas for stable and healthy societies in the Middle East.

Almost 12,000 years later, I continue to perform the same actions in my own backyard, with very little changes. I started a garden with my Dad about 10 years ago. We squared off a 3×1 meter section of my yard, lining the outside with some decayed logs we found in the park. Carefully, the two of us buried seeds from pocket-sized bags we got at a garden store. I was sure to spoil them with loads of fresh water from inside the house every morning. I checked multiple times a day to see if I could spot any green sprouting through the brown. When there was nothing to see, I prayed and asked God to show some sprouts soon, just as the ancient civilizations I had learned about in school would do. Even after some small issues with hungry rabbits and a premature harvest, the whole idea of growing your own food from nothing but soil, water, and sunlight just fascinated me. Now, I’m much more experienced, and I still grow my own vegetables every year, even in a tiny studio apartment…

Find the rest of this chapter in Emerging Perspectives on Religion and Environmental Values in America HERE.