I have this quote from Martin Prechtel as a footer on my emails. It is from his book "An Uneasy
Peace at Cuchumaquic," an amazing book which took me about a year to read. I kept fighting
with his reality when it didn't conform with mine. In the end, surrendered to what he
was saying and I believe this message is the most important, and eye opening, message
from the book:
This is what is at the core of keeping the seeds alive and
must be done physically for years to comprehend and make
happen. It cannot be thought into reality; it can only be done
with work. And because “seed” culture has been discarded
from the “progress” -oriented world, keeping this kind of seed
consciousness alive in one's life can look somewhat like
planting olive trees in an active warzone, a psychological war
going on within ourselves, where like olives that don't bear for
a long while we must nevertheless continue to cultivate with
the faith of seeds that we are actually planting for a time
beyond our own.
– MartÃn Prechtel, An Uneasy Peace at Cuchumaquic
These last few years, with so much divisiveness in our public lives, without a common
discourse from the Left and the Right, affirms Prechtel's words, that "we must nevertheless
continue with the faith of seeds."
The concept that we we are planting seeds not for us, but for future generations can be an
intellectual exercise, but Prechtel, is concise when he says we must do the "work" of saving
seed, over and over and over again until we can know what "saving seed" means. Our little
work in our little seed library is dwarfed by this understanding.
It is very important that we do this. We will know we are making progress when we can hold
a seed in our hands and think of future generations, in that time beyond our own," blessed
with the nutrition and flavors that we refused to let die.
david
