In the future, every individual will once again be closely involved in their food production. People will either grow and forage for their food themselves, or know the person(s) who does.
I’m certain of it, because it’s just a better and more resilient system for survival and lasting happiness.
And when you build a system around perennial plants, you get something truly amazing. Automated food production. This is the future.
You don’t have to take my word for it. It’s already a reality in a few rare places on this planet. The rest of us just have some catching up to do.
Just watch this short video with permaculture teacher Geoff Lawton for one example:
In the video Geoff is visiting Angelo of Deep Green Permaculture in Melbourne, Australia, who has a tiny suburban backyard with only 60 square meters (640 square feet) of garden space.
Despite the small size, in his permaculture garden you will still find…
- 80 medicinal plants
- 30 fruit trees
- 22 varieties of berries
- vertical growing spaces
- annual yields of 70 kg of vegetables and 161 kg of fruit
How many families are sitting with 60 square meters of empty lawn in suburban America? Or in any so called “developed” country for that matter? Some people spend hundreds and even thousands of dollars every year to keep their lawn green and sterile, when they could spend that money to build a real asset that would pay dividends for years to come and increase the value and resilience of their home immensely.
The realization that anyone can do this anywhere should give us all a powerful wake up call.
It’s not all about the economic benefits
Far from it. Growing your own food and getting your hands dirty not only connects you with nature, it reminds you that you’re an inseparable part of nature and this ever-repeating circle of life.
It’s how communities have lived in balance with nature throughout the ages. If a fruit or some other plant tasted good and didn’t kill you, seeds were saved and transported and planted in new places. Trees were propagated and spread over continents. People foraged and literally picked food off the ground. Free food.
Aside from fending off wild beasts every now and then, life shouldn’t be harder than that.
And it doesn’t have to be. Because all these things, these living means of production, are essentially free when you approach them as systems that can be replicated. One nut tree can be turned into ten, a hundred, or even a thousand trees and beyond.
Of course, in our shortsighted and profit-driven world people don’t have this kind of “seventh generation“-thinking, especially not those in power, because imagine the horror if future generations could go and pick free food off the ground!
They wouldn’t have to work as much for their survival which would produce less tax revenue for governments and less profits for Big Ag. What a nightmare!
It’s as Bill Mollison, founder of The Permaculture Institute in Tasmania, says:
Bill Mollison
“We know how to solve every food, clean energy, and sensible shelter problem in every climate; we have already invented and tested every necessary technique and technical device, and have access to all the biological material that we could ever use.
The tragic reality is that very few sustainable systems are designed or applied by those who hold power, and the reason for this is obvious and simple: to let people arrange their own food, energy, and shelter is to lose economic and political control over them. We should cease to look to power structures, hierarchical systems, or governments to help us, and devise ways to help ourselves.”
Decentralization, or self-reliance, allows us all to disconnect from the fragile and violent systems of centralized politics and finance run by the triumvirate of politicians, international bankers, and monopolistic global corporations.
And the great thing about self-reliance is that anyone can do it.
Not everyone can save up a few million dollars, invest it and retire on the passive income.
But anyone with just a little land can plant an apple tree and sit back and enjoy a passive income in the form of delicious apples for decades to come. Add a bunch of other perennial plants to this living system and you’ve got some serious passive income coming your way.
Put in the time, effort and resources today. Harvest the outputs for decades to come with little to no maintenance.
What Geoff Lawton shows you in this video, that’s real wealth. Not gold. Not fiat dollars. Not a fancy car. Not a big house.
A productive garden, now that’s something to strive for.
