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The Mounting Imperatives of 21st Century Agrarianism: Farms & Food Face Fundamental Forces

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co2The elemental wherewithal of our farms and our food is in motion. Whirlwinds of change bear upon our land, air, water and climate. Fundamental forces have shouldered their way front and center. The land calls urgently.

As reported worldwide this month, scientific evidence shows that the level of the most important heat-trapping gas in the atmosphere, carbon dioxide (CO2), has mounted far beyond the danger zone. Heat is rising. Consequences are evident.

CO2 has now reached an average daily level above 400 parts per million, a level the Earth has not experienced for three million years. That was during an epoch called the Pliocene.

The overwhelming majority of scientists understand that this current rise in CO2 portends epic changes.

“Our food systems, our cities, our people and our very way of life developed within a stable range of climatic conditions on Earth,” former Vice President Al Gore observed in the wake of the CO2 report. “Without immediate and decisive action, these favorable conditions on Earth could become a memory.”

Following the front-page news about the rapid deterioration of the earth’s climate, came two other hard news stories that underscore the matter of food vulnerability: news of the disease-driven collapse of the staple food crop for more than 500 million human beings in Africa, and news of grave troubles for citrus fruits in America and around the world.

Climate change and crop disease are serious business. Here the land is not just calling, it’s shrieking.

Cassava root

In Africa the cassava plant – which produces a large, edible root – is succumbing to brown streak disease. Africa already suffers debilitating food shortages. Because casava is the staple food for the continent, this plant disease is calamitous.

Meanwhile, the citrus industry is grappling with an infernal bacterial disease that has now killed millions of plants in the southeastern United States and is threatening to spread across the entire country. The disease has also been found in Asia, Africa, and South America.

Citrus Greening, also called Yellow Dragon Disease (Huanglongbing), is fatal. The bacteria devastate trees, rendering bitter, misshapen oranges, then death for the entire organism. There is no known cure.

“This year (2012-13) was a real kick in the gut,” Florida’s agriculture commissioner told The New York Times. “It is now everywhere, and it’s just as bad as the doomsayers said it would be.”

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When I absorb this short stack of climate and food news — just a fraction of the farm and food factors in flux — I realize that we must dig in now more resolutely to build a clean, respectful, sacred and sustainable foundation for civilization. That’s the direction forward.

Many thousands of local, organic agrarian farm-and-food initiatives have arisen across the Americas in the last 25 years. They offer a wide array of working models. Those models can and should be replicated and emulated far and wide. They represent intelligent and promising responses to the imperative call of the land.

buccolicOrganic farms and the cooperative food systems they are entwined with (the whole, broad range of 21st century agrarian initiatives) have manifold positive responses to the central issues, and a track record of evidence. They sequester carbon in the land and thereby mitigate CO2, helping stabilize climate. They offer clean, fresh food directly to people who live near the source. They provide dignified work in nature. They knit together healthy webs of relationship, both personal and digital, around concerns of a foundational nature to every human being. They teach essential ethical values. They establish oases of radiant environmental health. And they bring large numbers of people into a more direct and equitable relationship with the human beings who grow their food, and the land it is grown upon.

21st century agrarian initiatives also provide wholesome anchoring points (network nodes) for the brittle high-tech, digital-wave culture emerging so dynamically in our world. We are just at the beginning of that, really.

This 21st century agrarian initiatives – the many thousands of urban farms, CSAs, co-ops, community kitchens, church farms, and city gardens of all sizes shapes and descriptions – constitute core elements of a more wise and respectful human response to the imperative call of the land.

The cooperative development of clean local food systems is in no way a boutique idea or a passing fad. It is a key element of modern food security, and it is emerging not just as prudent but also as essential. It is also about the renewal of our overall human relationship with the earth that sustains us.

Valiant Pilgrim Paths Will Cross in Memphis

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This month a small band of women from the Ojibwe native nation is walking the land in prayer from the source of the Mississippi River at Lake Itasca in the north, more than 1,200 miles in a south direction along the shore to the point where the great river spills into the sea at the Gulf of Mexico.

Pilgrim paths form a cross.

Pilgrim paths form a cross.

The Mississippi River Water Walkers sang the Water Song when they began their walk on March 1, 2013. By now they are many hundreds of miles further south, still in ceremony, still walking on to fulfill their vision.

When the Mississippi Water Walkers reach Memphis, Tennessee in a week or so, their north-to-south trail will intersect with the east-to-west trail of the Sunbow Prayer Walk, which was guided 2,500 miles across the land 20 years ago by Grandfather William Commanda, now in spirit.

The trails of these two pilgrim bands will intersect in space and across time, forming a Four Directions wheel anchored in prayer and ceremony on the land at the Memphis shore of the Mississippi.

The eight-month long, male-driven Sunbow Walk from the Atlantic to the Pacific crossed the Mississippi River from Tennessee to Arkansas on the ninety-eighth day of the journey (Sept. 28, 1995). They traveled then under the teachings of the Seventh Fire and the skysign of the Whirling Rainbow

The women who are the Mississippi River Walkers, now on foot in real time 2013, are approaching intersection with the Sunbow trail in Memphis.

You can friend the River Walkers and support them on their Facebook page, a page which is growing as the walkers make their way to the south, stopping at key points along the way to offer ceremonial blessings.

“We want the walk to be a prayer,” says Sharon Day, walk organizer, on their Facebook page. “Every step we take we will be praying for and thinking of the water. The water has given us life and now, we will support the water.”

Step by Step Along the Mississippi River

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“What they greatly thought, they nobly dared.” – Homer, the Odyssey

prayertstepsRight now a small band of women from the Ojibwe native nation is walking in prayer from the source of the Mississippi river at Lake Itasca in the North, to the point where the great river spills into the sea at the Gulf of Mexico.

They sang the Water Song as they began on March 1, and they are by now well into Iowa and walking on.

If you would like to follow the Mississippi River Walkers, you can friend them on their Facebook page, a page which is growing as the walkers make their way to the south, stopping at key points along the way to offer ceremonial blessings.

As I read about the powerful spiritual deed of these sisters, I was reminded of the 8-month long epic walk from sea to sea in 1996-96 guided by the late Algonquin teacher, Grandfather William Commanda – the Sunbow Walk many know as the Odyssey of the 8th Fire.

The Mother of All Particles: Epic Discovery for Physics & Metaphysics

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Relatives , I invite you to read on and learn of a major moment of recognition, a discovery of importance for both Physics and Metaphysics

bosonI invite you to check out this brief video clip from the March 5, 2013 edition of The New York Times. It’s a clip about discovery in 2012 of the Higgs Boson particle after a decades-long search by a large, sophisticated network of the world’s top physicists.
The Times wrote: “…It was the longest, most costly hunt in science, for an elusive particle that was said to be THE KEY TO THE WORKINGS OF THE UNIVERSE…
“For a generation of physicists, it was an appointment with history.” As you watch the video clip and listen to the scientists comment on the significance of this 2012 scientific and metaphysical breakthrough, you will hear them tell of  finally grasping — at an elemental level — something essentially important about the feminine-yin half of the universe.
The perceptions of the scientists may well remind you  of the understandings about 2012 shared with the peoples for the last two decades by our Mayan relatives in the South Direction. A turning point in time.
Of synchronus note, the same week the Times reported vividly on the Higgs Boson, the UN-sponsored International Womens Day released the a short video clip, One Woman involving 25 singers from 25 nations around the world. In the USA President Obama signed into law the historic Violence Against Women Act.

Gaze Lifts to Classical Considerations

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MusingsfinalWith respect, I’m pleased to announce the publication of my new, nonfiction eBook: Classical Considerations.

Succinct but penetrating, the new eBook brings some of life’s foundational questions to the fore by telling a nonfiction story about the late John H. Finley, Jr.  For 51 years Finley was the celebrated and erudite Eliot Professor of the Classics at Harvard. For generations of top students, he was a mentor and way shower.

Luminous and compellingly relevant, Finley’s story leads readers directly into engagement with the fundamental wisdom questions of a worthwhile life. While the book does not directly relate to agrarian matters, it does take a deeply rooted stance in tradition to explore the ethereal. In that sense it’s not so much The Call of the Land, as it is The Call of the Soul.

A compact 44 pages suited to all digital realms, Classical Considerations offers a thoughtfully lyrical shower of intellectual sparks to kindle a gleaming soul fire.

The eBook is available now at Amazon.com, Barnes&Noble.com, and in 9 different ebook and smartphone formats at Smashwords.com. There is a version adapted to iPhones and iPads at Smashwords, and the book will soon be available through the Apple store and other online venues.

“Profiles in Wisdom” – bestseller now an ebook

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“This wise and provocative collection is highly recommended.” – Library Journal

I’m pleased to report that Harlem Writer’s Guild has this week announced that one of my early books, the best-selling Profiles in Wisdom: Native Elders Speak About the Earth, has been converted to an eBook file format.  The new eBook version, EPUB, is becoming the standard for the eBook industry.

With the epic fires, drought and storms that have marked this summer, the publication of this work as an ebook seems all the more relevant. Many of the venerable native elders I interviewed for the book spoke of Earth Changes, as understood from their traditional teachings. And they offer much guidance on how we can respond.

In writing the book, I took my lead from John F. Kennedy’s Pulitzer Prize winning Profiles in Courage. Focusing on the quality and relevance of sagacity, the book Profiles in Wisdom presents the stories and thinking of 17 Native American spiritual elders. As our existing culture shifts, what do the ancient ones who have been trained in the sacred traditions of Turtle Island (North America) have to say to us? The elders offer penetrating and poetic insight on a host of crucial matters.

Profiles in Wisdom gives the elders an opportunity to relate their diverse teachings about the human relationship with the Earth. Each of the elders has a personal story, character trait, or insight that can help us get in touch with our own innate wisdom. Their teachings are in response to a series of critical questions asked of each of them: What is your personal story? What do you see happening in the world now? What do you see ahead? What specific advice do you offer to those who will listen? What have you come to know about living in balance on the Earth? How could other people apply these lessons?

Profiles in Wisdom is available for immediate download as an ebook on many web sites.

New York Times Book Review:“Profiles in Wisdom does a fine job not only of presenting the dignity, complexity, and wit of important Indian philosophers and religious leaders, but also of issuing cautions agains easy uplift and wisdom injections…There are some stirring and unexpected powers unleashed in this book.”

The Washington Times, John Elvin: “Our leaders should sit and listen to the counsel Steven McFadden has gathered in this book.”

Mythic Teachings of Our Land: the Legend of the Rainbow Warriors

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freebowHere’s one way of expressing America’s ancient teachings in a soundbite: There will come a time when the Earth grows sick. When it does a tribe will gather from all the cultures of the world. They will  believe in peaceful deeds, not words. They will work to heal the land. They will be the warriors of the rainbow.

Over the centuries many of the elders of the Americas have dreamed that people of all colors and faiths would come together on the land and heal the earth.

I’ve long felt that these mythic notions are in many ways what the good food-community food movement is about. It’s  not just providing clean food so people might have strong bodies and minds, but also about right relations, and directly involving people in healing the earth — or otherwise inspiring them to empower ambassadors (farmers and gardeners) to touch and heal the earth on their behalf.

The rainbow tales are not prophecies, but rather understandings or teachings. The stories originate from many visionary elders of the Americas, figures such as Black Elk, Weetucks, White Buffalo Calf Woman, Quetzalcoatl, Crazy Horse, White Shell Woman, and Eyes of Fire. The understandings have been passed on through the generations to the present. They continue to inspire hope, vision, and positive action among human beings.

Thus, it seemed to me auspicious when earlier this week The Harlem Writers Guild announced the release of a new ebook version of one of my early works that weaves together a great many of these teachings, Legend of the Rainbow Warriors.

Legend of the Rainbow Warriors is a true account of the pluralistic myths and mysteries of the Americas. As critics have noted it’s also an exploration of how those archetypal teachings are resounding through real time.

Legend of the Rainbow Warriors is now available for immediate download in an array of ebook formats — as well as print formats — from either  iUniverse.com or Amazon.com

BOOK REVIEWS
“I urge everyone…to read this small yet exceptionally powerful book.” – Odyssey Magazine

“This is one of those books…once you’ve read it you will wonder what you had been thinking of the world before that time. It is informative, inspirational, wise and genuinely important.” – One Heart

“…McFadden offers insight and hope. Further, he speaks to the power of individuals to address the overwhelming and complex problems facing us today—locally as well as globally.” – Headline Muse

“An extraordinary book. We recommend that it be read by all college students and their professors who are concerned about future life on earth. – Cynthia Knuth, FONA

“…you will want to reread it often and keep it handy for reference… Although the prophecies were made many years ago, they ring true for those who are living in today’s world.” – Amazon customer

The Whirling Rainbow of Year 2012

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For an understanding of how traditional Daykeepers and native elders of North America regard the end of the Mayan calendar on Dec. 21, 2012, check out my ebook Tales of the Whirling Rainbow: Authentic Myths & Mysteries for 2012. It is a swift, powerful and penetrating look at this momentous era from the vantage of the wisdom traditions that have been anchored on this land for 20,000 years or more. It explores how those teachings may bear upon the present. You can read it on any Smartphone, iPad, Nook, Kindle, computer, or whatever — 10 different eformats.

Further along the trail  I was interviewed recently by Lyn Goldberg on her radio show about the 2012 end of the Mayan calendar on December 21, 2012, and the boundless range of traditional understandings associated with our momentous personal and planetary pilgrimage through the years ahead. You can listen to the interview here, or download the conversation in MP3 format.

Review from Amazon.com: “Tales of the Whirling Rainbow is a stunningly powerful little book. It puts the whole 2012 story in a new, more authentic, and vastly richer and more hopeful context. By seeking out the traditional keepers of medicine wisdom for our era, and having traveled the road of adventure with them, Steven McFadden has assembled a matrix of powerfully intersecting tales, all true and all with immediate relevance. I loved this amazing little ebook.”

R.I.P. Mishomis, Grandfather William Commanda

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At the UN – Grandfather Commanda (center) displays the Seven Fires Wampum Belt
at The House of Mica – UN headquarters on Manhattan Island.

Dear Relatives – Grandfather William Commanda died early on the morning of August 3, 2011, two days before the start of his annual gathering in Maniwaki, Quebec, Canada. He was 97 years old.

Among the many accomplishments in his long life as a protector and defender of the land, Grandfather served as Spiritual Advisor to the Sunbow 5 Walk for the Earth in 1995-95, a walk chronicled in Odyssey of the 8th Fire.  The story of Grandfather’s leadership of this epic walk is also at the heart of the project to create an audiobook based on the nonfiction Tales of the Whirling Rainbow. I am honored to have known Grandfather, and to have traveled with him, since 1989. He was a remarkable man with a brilliant soul.

Rest in Peace, Mishomis (Grandfather)

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One vivid memory of Grandfather’s resolute nature comes from Friday, November 24, 1995 in the desert to the west of Rio Rancho, New Mexico. It was Day 155 in the Sunbow 5 Walk for the Earth, what I have come to describe as the Odyssey of the 8th Fire. In his 80s at the time, Grandfather served as Spiritual Advisor for the walk and its epic quest across Turtle Island (North America).

Grandfather Commanda (author photo)

Grandfather was leading us from Atlantic to Pacific to meet with and learn from wise elders of all traditions, and to seek out “what had been left by the side of the trail long ago” as described in the Seven Fires Prophecy.

But our grand pilgrimage for peace and unity had hit the wall of human nature by the time we got to New Mexico. We had been arguing viciously among ourselves, and fractured into four or more groups — each group filled with suspicions and hostility.

As we arrived at a desert knoll to hold our council and air our ferocious grievances against each other, the wind rose. It blew so hard — 45 to 50 mph — that the air literally began to scream across the desert. The unrelenting desert gale blew stinging sand into everyone and everything. The storm rocked across the desert relentlessly, whipping ceaselessly through our gathering as we huddled low on a dune, seeking a windbreak. We prayed.

In the western desert, Grandfather listened to us for a long, long time, and then confronted our brokenness. His hands shook and his eyes filled with tears. He wiped his tears and then spoke. “No,” he said. “This is not my way, this is not the way. You must all stay together. You must stay in unity.”

He was unshakeable on this point: “You must all stay together as one group, one circle,” he said. “You can’t kick people out of the hoop. That’s not the way forward. You must find a way to stay together…You cannot fulfill the Seven Fires teachings any other way…”

In this manner it was settled. We were all to walk together — one reconciled, reunited walk.

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With the help of his companion Romola Treblecock, Grandfather Commanda developed his own website, a Circle of All Nations. Among the many treasures in his spiritual legacy to the people, he left his vision for Asinabka – an indigenous guided island for personal and planetary healing, located downtown in the river that runs through the heart of Ottawa, Ontario and Hull, Quebec.  Grandfather Commanda’s final vision is only part way to fulfillment. It needs wider support to come to full realization.

Kickstarting an Audiobook to Tell True Tales

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I’ve launched a Kickstarter project to enable me to make a short, powerful, professionally recorded audio book of Tales of the Whirling Rainbow: Authentic Myths & Mysteries for 2012. Check the project out by following this link.

You can support the project not just with a donation, but also by sharing it on Facebook, Twitter, and so forth.

Tales of the Whirling Rainbow is a true account of some of the key spiritual mysteries of North America and the land that supports all life. It’s also an arresting exploration of how those mysteries are resounding through real time.

Earlier this year I wrote the nonfiction stories as an e-book. But now I want to record the tales as an audio book and MP3 file for iPods, iPads, Smart Phones, any computer or digital audio player, and also on CD — so people can hear the tales told in a range of formats.