by canoe to harvest natural berries that had survived, even fl ourished, without
the slightest intervention by humankind.
The moment that we clear that kind of land and even scratch the surface, it
ceases to be natural. We have disturbed the natural habitat of a whole ecosystem
of truly abundant, vigorous, and sustainable life.
Now I’m also a realist, and I understand that the growing population needs
to be fed and sheltered and must therefore displace the natural order to some
degree. I’ve been told that if the present 1–2 percent of organically farmed pro-
duce were to become the norm, then we would need about 40 million people to
return to the soil as a full-time way of life.
Neither is even a remote possibility, but we can still move in that direction as
we become convinced of its basic good sense.
As a result of my personal research, I’ve become convinced enough to fi nd
out what I need to know in order to do what I need to do to return my own small
garden space, as near as possible, to a natural habitat, where healthy plants grow
without necessarily growing faster or larger than those of my neighbors.
Surely we can admire each other’s gardens without entering into yet another
commercially inspired competition?
What I now know and am endeavoring to apply in my second year is quite
basic, but it has allowed me to undertake a bold experiment. I really want to have
an abundant garden that owes its vitality to very few inputs that have been con
trived by man.
In a real sense, I want it to mimic what Treena and I try to do with our phar
maceuticals. There are medications that we understand are necessary for Treena
(so far no prescription drugs for me). That means it’s on an individual basis, in
the same way your soil is quite likely to be different from mine—and even diff er
ent from one side of your property to the other!
Notwithstanding those often quite sharp differences, there are some simi
larities; just as both Treena and I need protein, carbohydrates, and fats, so do our
soils need nitrogen, potassium, and phosphate.
On a much smaller scale, there are also micronutrients that play as important
a part as do vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.20 • GROWING AT THE SPEED OF LIFE