If 2020 has felt like a rollercoaster ride at Disneyland, blame it on the moon.
Or Saturn, Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter.
According to astronomy or astrology, whichever way you look at it, 2020 is a year of noteworthy and potentially beneficial planetary happenings.
Here’s just a short list of events you can expect: Conjunctions between Jupiter and Mars, Saturn and Mars, Pluto and Mars, and Jupiter and Saturn have a rare face-off in December; Saturn will also oppose our blue planet, as it will the red planet, Mars. We have six eclipses, the moon occults four planets, there are meteor showers and asteroids, Venus will rise in the west so brightly her glow will be visible anywhere in the world, and as if March hasn’t already been an e-ticket ride, fasten your seat belts because this month has plenty more thrills to come, including Venus and Mercury at their greatest elongations
What does any of this have to do with regenerating our planet?
Everything, or maybe nothing at all, that depends on your perspective and perception.
Regenerating our planet is an audacious goal, but it is our goal…
To do our part in the regenerative movement being led by thousands of small and large farms worldwide, and in so doing help turn the tides of climate change.
Our aim is to grow all the nutrient-rich, organic foods for our restaurant and our region on our little farm, and to do so within two, maybe three years, sequestering long-term stores of carbon.
On paper this sounds simple enough, but it is an effort that is 180 degrees from conventional and currently pervasive growing practices.
Regenerative methods are slow like Saturn, and the path is fraught with mercurial twists and turns.
The planets will have their sway
By definition, regenerative agriculture is an alchemical process, so one could argue Saturn rules it.
That’s a bummer from one perspective (Saturn’s way is never the easy way), but good news if you are into evolution and lasting transformation.
With as little human interference as possible, we attempt to let the soil, plant roots, bacteria, mycorrhizae, water, photosynthesis, and timing work together to turn the lead of the old input-based agricultural methods (focused on higher crop yields but willfully blind to the carbon they release) into the gold of the new process-based agriculture that produces densely nutritious foods and biologically diverse ecosystems while putting stores of carbon back in the soil.
We need this alchemical gold more than ever right now—on a global scale. For that to happen it’s gonna take a revolution in world consciousness…
which is happening.
…imagine the influence and power of that many people, informed and supported to grow all that food using regenerative methods.
The scope of the opportunity
Worldwide there are 3.5 billion hectares of grassland, 1.5 billion hectares of arable farmland, a huge quantity of wetlands and forests, and 2 billion+ farmers on over 500 million farms.
90 percent of these farms are run by individuals or families, and the vast majority of these farmers are women growers who feed humanity with their hearts and hands attuned to healing Mother Earth.
With family farmers producing nearly 80 percent of the world’s food, imagine the influence and power of that many people, informed and supported to grow all that food using regenerative methods.
A final planetary note…
The presence of the planet Mercury is said to bring ideas like quicksilver, governing thought, communications, technology, networking, and travel.
But when Mercury goes retrograde (appearing to go backward in its orbit), this Merry Prankster may throw a monkey wrench (or several) in any of the above, perhaps to keep us humble.
Be it Saturnian sluggishness, or Mercurial twists and turns, the fact is the process is messy, unpredictable, requires we remain calm, keep things in perspective, and above all, unite.
Enjoy the ride
We are all spinning together on this tiny blue planet, surrounded and influenced by not only the sun and moon, but nine planets and five dwarf planets in our solar system, countless asteroids, and 100 billion or so galaxies in our universe, orbiting, spiraling, and fluxing.
As 2020 brings planetary opposition or occlusion, we humbly pay homage to the moon, to the Dark Planet’s demand for patience, and to the mercurial nature of Nature.
With enthusiasm and optimism, our e-tickets in-hand, come what may, we’re fully on board this regenerative Earth ride.
