Albert Howard, Sir (1873–1947)

I didn’t really understand the details. It’s applied science, and very science-y, and the only thing like this at all really that I’d read was a more ‘practical’ consumer-type food book, about supermarkets and such, one of the Mike Pollan books. That was like a slightly snooty, if rather useful, general reader’s book, this was more like the accessible end of something you might read for a class.

Anyway, I had read about organic farming before—this book is kinda in the beginning of modern organic farming, using natural fertilizers instead of manufactured stuff—but reading this is what put me over to actually taking the trouble to buy organic potatoes, instead of just grabbing the first bag my hand found.

I guess I sorta get the idea of the book. For all our science, nature does things for a reason, because it lasts longer that way. And we should have science and trade based on nature and the idea of permanently inhabiting the world, for ever, and not inhabiting it today, like a puff of smoke, and the devil take the hindmost. If we were not collectively insane, it would not be at all impossible to see to it that we could ensure the survival of humankind and human civilization, you know. But we’re not sure that we’re having a good time now, and being responsible sounds hard, so sanity might have to wait until it becomes more convenient…. It’s not that we all have to become poor and hard asses without science and trade, you know. The earth can still yield up crops in a natural, sustainable way. It’s just a matter of respect, instead of looking upon everything as temporary.

…. Of course, in a sense it’s obviously a ‘science book’; but it’s also an analysis, in a social sense, of the problems created by the white people of Britain and other countries in their management of the agricultural systems of most of the world.

…. It’s not that nothing a chemist discovers will ever be legitimately useful for agriculture, since chemistry is certainly one of the branches of science and one of the things in the world that can be useful; but the Victorian/Wilhelmine guys lived almost exclusively for chemistry in their agriculture, because they lived in this entirely new, artificial world. Sometimes it remains mostly the same today, although today it is often more from habit than conviction, which I guess is a potential benefit.

…. I remember once in high school science class, we were so bad to teacher that she asked us to clarify things, you know: everyone who wants to learn go to this side of the room; but if not, the other side—and I was so bad then, I just sauntered over to the loser’s side, thinking I’d come back to my senses (such as they were) when it was time to study Kaiser Wilhelm the Video-Game Hero or something like that, you know. And of course, now that strikes me as rather fucking juvenile, you know; but even now, I’ll admit that sometimes my mind wanders when reading technical science…. I just have trouble imagining it sometimes, because it’s so abstract.

…. But, anyway: here’s to a permanent civilization, one that doesn’t inevitably and foolishly end in disaster, like most of the things our crazy kind of organism seems to do. 😜

…. Imagine if being a farmer, a sort of scientist-farmer-naturalist, were the way to be admired by people, you know—just meeting people’s basic needs, right. But to be a hero you’ve got to be a lout like Kaiser Wilhelm or a big headed freak like Captain Kirk, you know; you don’t go around quietly and unobtrusively seeing to it that there will be bread for as long as you’re around, you and people like you, unobtrusive as water or some Taoist master….

Yeah, we’re probably doomed. 🤷‍♂️

But it’s okay; you can go back to whatever you were doing before, lol. (Buy organic! Cut down on meat to make it work 👌). Thrashing won’t help. Just relax. This has all probably happened before, millions of years ago, somewhere or another….… (mais)