Wendell Berry

If you really read my blog it probably won't come as a shock that Wendell Berry is one of my favorite individuals (to give him a singular label like writer/thinker/farmer just seems like an understatement, thus the use of individual). What may come as a shock to some is that I have time to read but I do try to maintain balance in life for what's important. Reading and re-reading Berry is important. Reading a signed copy of one of his books (I myself have never met him) entrusted to me by a close friend is very special and important.

So this is precisely what I found myself doing this weekend as I recovered from a bit of a cold and still waited for the frigid cold weather spell to snap (which it is thankfully forecasted to finally do this week). The Art of the Commonplace - The Agrarian Essays of Wendell Berry is a excellent compilation of some of his work that was edited and introduced by Norman Wirzba. (Check your library or local book store, or maybe with a friend who constantly surprises you.) Anyway, two concise paragraphs from Norman's introduction that I simply had to share:

... we must learn to resist those practices that further isolate us and turn us away from the earth. This can begin practically by cultivating a new relationship with food. Food, rather than simply being fuel, is the most concrete and intimate connection between ourselves and the earth that exists. We often have little sense of where food comes from or under what conditions it is produced. Educating ourselves or, better yet, participating in the production of our own food, as when we tend gardens, or getting to know and working with farmers more directly, will enable us to appreciate a variety of concerns - medical, economic, political, religious - from an agrarian point of view. It will force us to reconsider the meaning of health, and prompt us to see that the context of health extends beyond our own bodies to include rural communities and the land.

One of the unfortunate by-products of urbanization, one that has not gone unnoticed by contemporary urban planners, has been the isolation of city residents. For good reason, planners are trying to reinvigorate the idea of communal spaces, places where people can gather around common concerns. In this effort agrarians are helpful allies. Berry's own work has addressed at considerable length the obstacles to community formation. In many instances the primary obstacle is economic: corporate culture thrives on competition, the homogenization of desire, and the dream of ever-expanding markets. In this process, what is overlooked or ignored are the needs and limits of local traditions and places, the only meaningful place where communal life can occur. And so, contrary to the hype of globalization, Berry insists that the place of health and happiness must be grounded in the places where we now are. The hope for community finds its strongest support in developign local economies, for it is here, on the level fo long-term, face-to-face exchange, that the work of cooperation and mutual help help can find its most honest expression.

Thanks everyone for your continued support!