Once upon a time…
There was a young searching mother, seeking out answers to the most basic of questions, where does her food come from, what does the earth have to say to her and what can the ancestors of this land teach her?
She sat and thought, and sat and thought, walking through the city streets and alleys, listening for clues to her questions, often times hearing little murmurs and sparks that were never clear enough for her to decipher what she needed to know.
So one day she decided that what she needed to do was simply keep on walking. So with her family in tow, she kept on walking out of the city, through the suburbs, onto the long winding highways into the country landscapes, towards a little town still unknown to her.
She had brought with her the minimum that her family needed to survive, a compass, some tools, food and funds, but most importantly she brought with her a little pouch of seeds that had been gifted to her from Indigenous seed savers. These little life giving gifts were her anchor, her safe passage to her new destination, a way for her to feed her family when they finally decided to stop and grow some roots. As she walked, towards her destination, she would pass by fields filled with food, houses filled with families, she was drawn to the abundance that was laid out before her.
Her husband and children, who had been following her blindly would ask ‘’where are you going mom ?’’ ‘’What are you searching for my dear wife ?’’ ‘’Why are we here ?’’ The young mother so desperately wanted to be able to answer her family so she decided to stop and sit by a flowing stream and drink a little bit of water to reflect on where she was going. She asked herself, ‘’why have I left the comforts of the city, a good job, a stable life ? Why am I doing this to my family ?’’
At that precise moment, a crow flew down next to her to drink from the stream. The crow drank until he was satiated and then bent down his head again to pick up a little seed in his beak to feed himself. Before he flew away with the seed, he looked up at the woman and she was sure she could hear him say something to her. She heard the word simplicity. At that very moment she decided she wanted to be like that Crow, to find her very own seed, eat it, absorb it’s wisdom, plant it and send intentions into the ground to grow a new life.
Because of this chance encounter, the mother decided it was time to stop walking. The family stopped upon a charming country house and asked themselves if they wanted to stop and lay down their roots. ‘’Dear mother, dear wife, will you find your bliss here, will you find your flow ?’’ The woman sat calmly and looking straight at her family and said ‘’I do believe this is where we will create our abundance, where the earth will speak to us, guide us. We will listen to the seeds and through them we will learn how to grow abundance and simplicity the way the ancestors of this land did. These seeds will help us feed ourselves, as well as our community and create new stories to tell to our children and grandchildren. We will listen to the land, hear the answers and learn from the first people who inhabited this land before us. All the answers are in the little seeds that I hold in this pouch, and when they grow they will share many secrets with us all.
So now, the whole family works together to help the little seeds see the light of day and grow in safety and in health. And the mother who so desperately wanted to find a piece of land to grow her food and family found not only that, but found a way to steward the land for many generations to come.
If seeds are life, I am a life merchant and responsible to hear the secrets that these seeds have to share with me and to share with you. This is the beginning of my adventure, and the walk is a life walk, one that I take with honor and patience. I encourage you to come and take a walk with me to learn more because seeds are for everyone. I am proud to share my life with the incredibly simple notion of abundance, of healthy food for all, of outdoor activities with the ones we love. I am proud to do this work, a career that may have taken it’s time to talk to me, but now is heard loud and clear and will protect these precious life giving beings.
When we put 1 seed into the ground, we can harvest 1000 to 10,000 in return. The best bank is the earth and the best earth is ours. Let’s protect it and feed it as much as it feeds us.
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