Savory Sustainability

West County Gazette
July 2005
by Stacey Meinzen

From minute one of the July Daily Acts Sustainability Tour, we felt a sense of intimacy and community through our shared interest in preserving our beautiful planet. Marty Falkenstien, who organized the tour, discussed the power of our daily actions to affect change for the better.  Listening to Marty speak about our personal responsibility for living sustainably left me feeling empowered to affect corporate and government policies through my daily actions.  The Tour addressed two of the fundamental components of human experience; food and lodging.

 Our current cultural delusions might suggest that food grows on the shelves of our grocery stores and water originates at our faucets.  Although we know this is untrue, our disconnect from the origins of our food and water alienate us from a rich human experience.   We are robbed of the satisfaction of harvesting our food, of witnessing the miracle of a sprouted seed, and of seeing its beauty as it ripens on the vine.   An appreciation of the root systems that hold our water underground disappears with the attitude that the faucet will always provide for our water needs.  At the Occidental Arts & Ecology Center (OAEC), the tour addressed the issue of the human relationship to food and water. Brock Dolman, Director of OAEC’s Permaculture, Basins of Relations, and Wildlands Biodiversity Programs, amazed us with his wealth of knowledge as we melted into the landscape of over 3,000 varieties of heirloom annuals and 1,000 varieties of edible, medicinal and ornamental perennials.  Brock shared the intense beauty of the natural systems that have fed humans for thousands of years, while addressing the problems of the new system of agribusiness, which poisons people and planet and severs us from our true relation with food by veiling the dark origins of genetically modified and non-organic produce.   Brock’s language of invented words and puns gave everyone a good laugh and the depth of his expertise energized us to pursue our own healthy relationship to food and the land where we grow it.

 There is an excitement that comes with observation and experimentation when growing food.  When cultivating a plot of land for the first time or trying a new type of seed, one experiences suspense, hope, joy, frustration, pride, and satisfaction when the little seed matures into a plant.  Picking food from one’s own garden is a satisfying feeling not only because it means a reduction in packaging waste, pesticides, and fuel, but also because food production is a challenge that connects a person to the ancient practice of farming and leads to an understanding of the delicate balance between soil, water, seed, insect, bird, gravity, sunlight, and more.  In the next leg of our journey, Benjamin Fahrer of the Ocean Song Farm & Wilderness Center spoke about observation and experimentation as he gave us a taste of delicious living. Operating under the Ocean Song Organics label, the farm is planted with CCOF certified herbs and perennials that serve as examples of food grown by continually working with natural regenerative cycles and constantly experimenting with crops, tools and ideas.

 Our dwellings can also potentially facilitate a healthy relationship with the earth.  As we erect modern structures overhead, we punch holes in the earth’s ecosystems.  The lumber in our homes leave a hole in the forest; The granite and concrete, a hole in the ground; Our home energy consumption leaves holes from coal mining and oil drilling.  We are scarring the landscape beyond repair.  The next stop on our tour presented ways to make our holey earth whole again.  The beautiful straw bale home we visited can only be described as a visual feast. This nature-inspired work of art, designed by architect, Darrel DeBoer and built by the artisans of Vital Systems, features a very open living room with a high ceiling and sculptured fireplace.  Branches crawl up the staircase as a banister while cracks crawl across the earthen floors, creating a design that mirrors many of nature’s own patterns.  This energy efficient house uses skylights in the dining area to fill the room with natural light, the non-toxic, energy-insulating quality of thick straw bale walls, and geothermal energy to keep the house at a constant temperature by heating and cooling the house from beneath the floor.  This home was featured in Natural Home & Garden magazine last spring.

 The Daily Acts Sustainability Tour was truly inspirational to those who attended.  “Outstanding!” said attendee Steve O’Neal.  “A diverse group of over 50 people from all around the Bay Area attended our tour.  It was great fun, highly educational, and an inspiring community building experience that reconnects us to our roots.”  Tommy Phillips, who is a real estate investor, recalls, “The tour was life transforming… The tour made me realize that I can make small efforts myself to reuse, and decrease my consumption of throw away/recyclable products… The trip so inspired me that I've become committed to creating a sustainable multi family project… I look forward to living a more sustainable life.”  Gino Gaffney reported, “The tour was wonderful… The feeling of being a part of this community (Daily Acts, Sonoma County, the world, etc.) was very pervasive for me throughout the day…”

The next tour of savory sustainable lifestyles is scheduled for August 20^th and will feature co-housing communities around Sonoma County. Bring yourself into action and come see why so many people are calling the Daily Acts tours life transforming.