“While a sharp shovel would make digging more efficient, the truth is that it makes the work too fast. If I could get all the leeks I needed in five minutes, I’d lose that time on my knees watching the ginger poke up and listening to the oriole that has just returned home. This is truly a choice for “slow food.” Besides, that simple shift in technology would also make it easy to slice through neighboring plants and take too much. Woods throughout the country are losing their leeks to harvesters who love them to extinction. The difficulty of digging is an important constraint.
Not everything should be convenient.”
-Robin Wall Kimmerer
CONDUCTING AN HONORABLE HARVEST
Ask permission and honor the response.
Never take the first or the last.
Take only what you need, leave some for others.
Use everything you harvest.
Share.
Show gratitude.
Reciprocate the gift.
Sustain the ones who sustain you, and the Earth will last forever.