Test Run
Resiliency in the time of a pandemic by Tony Daranyi In recent months, I’ve found myself returning to a quote from Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer: “We’re not in control. What we are in control of is our relationship to the earth.” If you haven’t read this book yet, please do yourself a favor and do so. It is so rich, so wise, so powerful. Written by an Indigenous elder, it reaffirms humanity’s place in the natural world, an especially important reaffirmation for those of us struggling to strengthen our relationships with the earth in our machine-dominated society. The book is so timely, given the current COVID-19 pandemic that has us all on edge, not to mention the constant reminders, all around us, that we live in a time of great humancaused climate change. The pandemic has us locked down here at Indian Ridge Farm, in southwestern Colorado. As I write this, we’re sheltering in place. It’s been this way since mid-March. Our county health officials are worried about a surge in cases. Their concern is that, if there’s a big local outbreak, it could overwhelm our minimal health care resources. We don’t have an ICU anywhere nearby to care for patients, with the nearest one 65 miles away.
and trees are very susceptible to drought, insect infestations, and invasive weeds. This susceptibility is exposed by the smallest imbalance in an ecosystem or farm organism. It may be that the imbalance is created by a stressor: too many chemicals, not enough organic fertility, over-crowdedness, or no natural defenders to control or conquer an invasive species. Invasive insects and weeds, in particular, are naturally opportunistic. They will exploit whatever weakness they encounter and try to throw the broader ecosystem off balance — usually quite successfully! Eventually, after a painful process in which forests may be wiped out, or crops ruined, the ecosystem finds a new equilibrium. At least that’s what nature has taught us. But that equilibrium may look very different from what existed previously, challenging us to adapt and evolve.
As a result, a profound lesson is being taught to those wise enough to absorb it: nature is not separate from humans. We are nature, nature is us. Once this pandemic passes, a new normal awaits us all. What might that new normal look like? Right now, it’s hard to say. There are forces trying to pull us right back, hurriedly, to the way things were. But this moment offers the opportunity to prove that we have truly learned something new, that we must change our ways of relating to nature and to each other, or risk further destruction of our natural world. Time will tell if we take that lesson to heart. How should we think about the resiliency of farms in the context of the pandemic?
Holistic Resource Management teaches us that a sustainable food system is built Is something of this sort occurring right now, on a three-legged stool made up of the with the coronavirus and its deadly global environment, the community, and the impact? Is this nature’s way of telling us economy. For real, long-lasting resiliency something’s wrong? That our way of life on to take hold, each leg of that stool must be this planet is not sustainable and that a virus, strengthened. That’s been our focus here at for which we have no inherited immunity, the farm for the past few years, and that is opportunistically changing the order of continues to be our focus now. things? That’s something worth pondering.
In barely five months since the outbreak, and with many of the world’s nations inching But pandemic or not, the farm is a grand toward reopening (following their own place to be during a lockdown. Essentially, lockdown modes) to avoid further strain on it means we’re continuing to grow food. hospitals, the evidence already abounds that, Amazing food. Nutrient-dense food. As if left alone, nature will reveal its beautiful farmers, this is what we would be doing right resiliency. Our extractive global economy has now regardless. And we’re trying to do good stalled, resulting in clear air in large cities, things for the earth: composting, building purified waters along coasts and rivers, and soil, tending to the garden, practicing wildlife that are re-wilding areas formerly regenerative agriculture, raising livestock trampled by humans. A quiet tranquility humanely, and using renewable energy. Most exists in places where before there was noise importantly, we’re taking care of ourselves and chaos. In these instances, the natural and each other. We feel secure. We have world appears vibrant, almost as if it’s food stored, we have a 15,000-gallon rain found a renewed balance by not having to catchment cistern and rely on the sun for our constantly compete with our interference. power. The farm work hasn’t really changed, Although many global citizens have no in spite of global challenges. We’re excited choice but to plug back into a vibrant about the task at hand, but we’d be lying if capitalist economic system to eke out a we didn’t tell you we also have our anxieties. living, others who can afford it are awaiting the outcome of this pandemic before This pandemic has me thinking, and drawing venturing forth. This economic lockdown is an analogy to, of all things, plants. Plants giving the earth a chance to breathe, to rest. 22
I’ll briefly describe some tenets of these legs, in the interest of sharing what we’ve learned with others. For the environment, the focus for farms must be on conservation and restoration. The best practices in support of this focus can be found through regenerative agriculture, a method that blends the humane raising of livestock with organic produce production. But it’s much more than that. A general definition for regenerative agriculture is a system of farming principles and practices that increases biodiversity, enriches soils, improves watersheds, and enhances ecosystem services. This requires a whole-farm approach to our practices, whereby the farm is viewed as a living organism benefited by adhering to these principles. The community leg of the three-legged stool includes, foremost, the actual farmers in the fields. In this regard, we’re focused on health care. Currently, visitors are not allowed
