Wild Food Manifesto
Systems thinking is holistic thinking which indicates that our planet is a self-organizing living system with inherent ability to sustain life, also, human beings are an interconnected and inseparable part of this living system. Mansoor Vakili, Systems Philosophy
Planet earth's beauty and pleasure is everyone’s birthright. Wild salmon, ripe berries, and sunsets for all!
Harvesting wild food requires that you enter into nature’s systems. It is an unscripted, authentic experience for anyone who chooses to venture out. You have to go by nature’s ancient laws – of tides and seasons, rain and dry spells. We have been trying to force our economics, law, justice, and other systems onto nature. We would do better to learn nature’s systems and adapt them to our own.
In nature we encounter uncertainty. The fear and wonder that are available in not knowing. We have limited knowledge on how ecosystems work, let alone intersect, and we often don’t know our places are in them. Nature invites us to enter uncertainty and to expand our capacity for navigating it, along with greeting and exploring fear and wonder as they appear in our lives.
You might get wet, or muddy, or scratched, or scared. Usually, you will get tired. You may find nothing, or so much you can barely carry it home. But it’s in these dark hollows, amidst bushwhacking, or escaping waves in the impact zone you will meet yourself, and even discover new parts of you. Sharing the wild food you find with others is also sharing these newly discovered aspects of you.
The more time you spend in nature, the more you will recognize yourself, refracted back to you from a thousand different places – rays of light filtering through branches, tufts of tundra, wax cap mushrooms, ferns unfurling, the carcass of deer left by a predator, the sting of a bee, a modest flower, the hush of sunrise. No aspect is bad or good, they just are parts of a whole.
Everyone is equal in nature. Nature does not shame, reward monetary wealth or have narrow notions of beauty. It’s inclusive, expansive, and unconditional in how it treats you. A storm is a storm regardless of your virtues or vices. A flower doesn’t smell any sweeter to someone else. This can initially be unnerving. But it’s not indifference, rather, it’s pure acceptance. You are home.
Nature is love. Tough love at times. But love.
Food fresh from source is delicious.