abundance

YES, I’m gonna geek out again about lambs quarters.

Earth is always singing abundance, yet western mind insists on scarcity; driven to prune and cut back and weed and discard to keep our definition of abundance domesticated, controllable.

So I let this lamb’s quarters do its thing because I wanted to see what would happen. Why not let the plant do its thing? What prevents us from doing so? Look at all this. I harvested a ton of leaves and seeds this week, aware that of several things as I did.

One, as I pulled leaves and collected seeds, I enjoyed being with the plant and the rhythm my hands got into. It is a tedious meditative task. This is another way wild abundance shows up: in a society where we’re hyper-plugged in, addicted to screens and external inputs and stimuli, such hand-tasks help regulate our nervous systems.

Two, it is work meant to be done in community with others. There is no way, or reason, one should be harvesting so much by oneself. This ‘I do it by myself’ is a function of scarcity; causes us to organize our lives around solitary confinement. Normalizes aloneness.

Three, this harvest is meant to be shared. There is no way, or reason, this abundance ‘belongs’ to me. Again, a function of scarcity, descendant of the ol’ pull-yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps paradigm.

So if you’re reading this, consider it an invitation to come over and harvest. Oh and if you don't know the health benefits of lambs quarters, do yourself a favor and look these puppies up.

What do we miss out on when we offshore work with our hands? Offshore communal tasks and abundance? And what do we turn to to replace it? Does this not dis-locate our sense of and relationship with abundance to capitalist forces?

Maybe when we live outside of Earth's cycles, as we do in capitalism, we become dependent on the market which provides us stuff year round, regardless of Earth's cycles. How does that impact of our dependence on each other? Maybe it goes like this: maybe since we don't need to rely on the bounty of say, lambs quarters, we don't need to gather to harvest. Maybe since we rely on the 24/7/365 bounty of the grocery store, we don't need awe of Earth's abundance. Where does our awe go to? Does it pivot to awe of material abundance, even if it doesn't respect Earth's parameters and seasons? Does our awe turn to hubris?

Four, true abundance is regenerative. This plant will continue to flourish and provide. I didn’t plant, water, feed or do anything to make this abundance happen. Maybe I just did the most important thing there is to do when wild abundance shows up: I expressed awe and gratitude. Stood in the knowing that I am completely dependent on Earth and her astonishing systems. Stood in the knowing that these systems are cyclical. And guess what, so am I. And I want to lean more into that because without a cyclical understanding of myself, I tend to think I can go all day every day and wonder why I have a scarcity of energy and focus.

Five, Earth’s wild abundance serves community. Scarcity mindset has us thinking we need domestication, to be contained, tamped down and palatable to be ‘of service.’ But that’s in service to supremacy and capitalism. It doesn’t serve us or our souls in nourishing, deep rooted, regenerative ways.

In fact, the deep roots of lamb’s quarters are so good for soil! That’s why they can grow and flourish anywhere—they show up and make soil better. Sciencey people call it ecosystem services. But to do so, deprives us from the soul lesson here about abundance: when we thrive and flourish, when we are big and bushy and have space to be articulate as ourselves, we are of transformative service to our communities.