I describe monoculture practice as creating “Famine Farms” for bees and wildlife…becoming places of slow starvation for all.
I recall thinking this when first beginning to plant out the permaculture gardens here at Bealtaine Cottage.
As you can see from the place as it looked then, it was bereft of food for anything!
Walking around the gardens of Bealtaine during the Spring and Summer, watching bees forage in the blossom, frogs delight in the ponds and listening to the birds sing out a mighty chorus, makes me think of the dire situation these creatures face in the monoculture world of modern farming.
The average person knows little of bees and their importance to all life as we know it.
It forms part of the massive disconnect going right through the core of society.
In much the same way that medical doctors have a two week slot on diet and nutrition, during their four year medical training, farmers are unaware of much of the way in which the food chain operates around them and, in particular, the intricacies of Nature.
Within western culture, religion teaches us that we are placed here to have dominion over Nature.
Such arrogance is reprehensible as we gather more and more knowledge of the decline and loss of habitat of life as we know it!
It is widely held that our increasing use of chemical pesticides and herbicides, which honeybees ingest during their daily pollination rounds, are largely to blame for the continuing decline of the bees.
Many people point to the proliferation of genetically modified crops, which may generate pollen with compromised nutritional value.
The list of who and what is to blame goes on…
However, from my own observations I have come to this conclusion: we are responsible for starving the bees; with loss of hedgerows; tree depletion; use of chemicals; growing of gaudy flowers with no pollen; proliferation of ridiculous lawns and constant demand for monoculture raised foods, to name but a few!
It behoves us all to make it our business to know how to create and nurture bee habitats.
And that means looking at the natural world, not as a resource to be continually trodden on and suppressed, but as a wondrous gift from the Divine we all need to cherish.
Bealtaine Cottage website is free, with over 850 blogs and 3,500+ photographs.
However there is a new website for lovers of all things Bealtaine…
Bealtaine Cottage Good Life
To subscribe, a small donation of 12 euros per year, will add your name to the subscriber list.
You will then access to the website at bealtainecottage.org
Click on button below to make your subscription.
Oh how they love my borage in bloom.
Reblogged this on Intuitive Naturalism and commented:
How engaged are you with your environment?
Reblogged this on Bealtaine Cottage and commented:
“Famine Farms” …places of slow starvation for all.
your words are so true colette, we have put nothing on our grass and are growing food and flowers with no chemicals but with just a little help from mother earth,and watching a squad of birds feasting on the worms .
love and light to you
gail
That is wonderful to hear…we are growing in number, there is hope!
Blessings X Colette
A beautifully stated unfortunate truth. Thank you for sharing. I appreciate the work you do and also the inspiration for us all to be more conscious of. Blessed Be!
[…] The Rise and Rise of Famine Farms (permaculturecottage.wordpress.com) […]
Colette thank you for these lovely posts I read and enjoy them all. I live just down the road from you in county Roscommon, my son and I went for a walk yesterday and saw a large bumblebee in the hedgerow, our first sighting of the season! My son is two and a half and was amazed by the bzzz as he called it. Children see the wonder in the world around us…
It is lovely to be able to see the world through the eyes of a child.
We are reminded of how far we have become disconnected.
You are blessed.
Reblogged this on Eremophila's Musings and commented:
Over the years I’ve watched as more and more fertile soil is damaged by so-called progress – and if it’s not famine farms, it’s housing subdivisions that are little more than concrete castles – and there’s no need for it to be so!
I agree…and we all know, intuitively, what is wrong with the present system of living on the Earth rather than with the Earth.
Thanks Patti for reposting this. Thanks Colette for your insight.
Ed
Reblogged this on Life at Brookwood Shire and commented:
Wanted to repost these wise words from Bealtaine Cottage. What are we thinking?!
Beautifully stated Colette. The word famine is a powerful word, especially to the Irish perhaps, but it is very appropriate. The excuse for modern farming techniques is to feed more people….which it of course doesn’t do…but the costs to the rest of the planet are never considered. As if somehow what happens to life on Earth has no bearing on us. It absolutely boggles the mind. Thank you again for your clear thinking on all this. Patti
Thanks Patti
Colx
” A wondrous gift from the Divine we all need to cherish” I am going to cut and paste this blog and send it to the Minister for Agriculture – if I have the technical know how, fingers crossed.
I have felt this for a long time, but only found the words to articulate it this morning…and the word, “famine,” resonates with what we are doing to wildlife!