the keys to the kingdom

The keys are not literal, but we can still hold them in our pockets, whipping them out when needed, inserting into locks we didn't realize five minutes before were even there. What keys are on your keyring?

I see one here on mine for gardening, forest gardening, edible food and medicine gardening, paradise gardening, permaculture. In some respects all these words are the same thing--providing our daily sustenance for ourselves, providing healing food (in the food is medicine vein), and doing so without wreaking utter havoc on our habitat, eating AND caring AND sharing.

Gardening can be a very communal experience, from planting seeds to harvesting, to the next step: eating! Preparing and eating meals with people you care intensely about can be life-changing. Bonds are created over shared communion (we regularly have Jesus for supper--homemade country wine and homemade sourdough bread) that cannot easily be broken. My friend A says: "and so my eyes are always now looking at little places where something could grow, and my mouth is always telling people something about plants or food. mainly food. food is important, and everybody is tired of the lousy garbage so readily available." I agree. I think there are quite a lot of us who feel screwed buying food in a grocery store, who do not enjoy throwing away plastic packaging for our descendants to look at for the next thousands of years for a moment's convenience, and who enjoy the taste of real food. Ever have homegrown ripe in season fruit or vegetables, full of nutrition from the soil? There's no comparison. That food is medicine!

My friend A also says: "I think it's probably very important to hand out seeds, more importantly to plant them just anywhere they'll grow (including medical herb:), plant trees, graft trees, let the trees grow up. social change can be immediate, and that is something awesome to work for, but the slow physical change of our environment is something we have to work hard and fast for in order for that new social environment of joy and happiness to have a place to grow once it's born. birth happens no matter, all over the place, everywhere, all the time, and that's not something we can really do anything about, but we all know that the environment for growth is the most determinate factor in the future of our happiness and joy. so let's keep culturing, sharing, Enjoying, and becoming more the environment we wish to live for and in."

Other keys? I think being present in your own life is important. The less time you spend doing things you wouldn't normally do unless being compelled to do so (work is the biggest offender that comes to mind), the more time you have to spend doing something else besides rowing the galleys of Rome. Instead of rowing along in the land of minimum wage, we can spend our days providing for ourselves, helping each other, sharing our excess and our hardships. All ages being present and involved (in vital activities) is important. It's fabulous to have babies, school-aged kids, teenagers, young adults, adults, middle-aged people and elderly people all living together, sharing time, experiences, values and viewpoints. At home birth, life, and death, just like it used to be.

I think there is a key of entertainment also. I have spent much too much of my life in front of a screen. Who knew I'd someday pick up an accordian, a paintbrush, a library card, a pen to write? Not only can I entertain myself, we can entertain ourselves. We're talented people, after all, way more so than Brittany Spears' little sister, although we may never take over nightly news headlines for a couple of days. There's a lot to be said for providing for ourselves what we formerly purchased from wage slaves. Sure, it'll fuck up the economy (externalities!), but that's the least of my concerns.

Something Shadowcrew wrote that I heartily agree with: "I see us as a secret society of valiant re-foresters, committed to the great debauchery of the old dirty lifestyle. Leave it to others to come up with something better!"