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reserve your ad hereThis article appears in the April/May 2016 issue of SKUNK Magazine.
MEDICINE. It comes in so many forms. In some instances, medicine comes in orange bottles with white screw tops cleverly designed so that small young hands cannot access the pressed tabs and powder filled capsules. Tiny sugar pellets diluted tens if not hundreds of times homeopathically introducing your body to dis-eases so that it may naturally form a response in defense of one’s compromised system. Fresh and dried botanicals intuitively wild harvested, farmed and prepared utilizing the ‘spirits’ of the plant world seemingly crafted by the Gods and Goddess up above, down below and intertwined into all we see, touch, taste and smell. Drenched in the sounds and vibrations of music some report the therapeutic benefits of using their auditory senses and being soothed by the transmissions of the lyres and muses through time immemorial. Mathematically engineered compositions of musicians through the ages that have scientifically figured out the right proportions of notes to create divine sounds that only the angelic realms could have surmised while removing the stresses of the daily routines and political workings. Reggae riddims that move you to a place of complete disillusion of life’s hardships that are referred to as ‘murder’ when they space out your head to a place of being ‘hit’ and yet feeling no pain. Driving bass lines and floating treble waves of EDM surrounded by crowds of people lost in the tribal dance of ‘now-ness’ moving and grooving up and down the dance floor. Needles systematically placed through different energy points within the body. Varying degrees of pressure moved along our muscles and ‘trigger points’ work to move chi, prana, mana and tensions through and out of the body so that the intelligence of our physical and energetic systems can reset to a state of homeostasis.
Allopathic, herbal, touch and vibrational medicines work on so many levels within our systems to create recognizable healing effects in our compromised beings as we trod through the roads of creation. A more micro look into the impacts on our systems from these different treatments reveal more about how they truly treat the issues at hand. Relief does not always mean healing and band-aids don’t always fix the problems. When we look at different forms of medicine we can see that they can be degenerative, sustainable or even regenerative for our bodies. In fact, we can take this same approach with the way that we impact the planet and our natural environments with our farming practices. With so much talk about natural, organic and even sustainable agriculture we can, and should, take a closer look as to what and how these practices might possibly be doing when we consider our impacts as we affect the planet and their respective results and effects on the current conditions as well as how they ripple out for generations to come.
For anyone that watches a Big Pharma commercial about the new miracle cure they have synthesized and creatively managed to market to the masses they know what a degenerative medicine looks like. Families gaily trotting through fields of flowers filled with pollen and yet the participant’s allergies are not impacting the sunny picnic that all have come to enjoy due to the new multi colored pill that allows one to enjoy their time off with the kids while not being inhibited by teary eyes, runny noses or uncontrollable sneezing. However, as this glorious day unfolds we are shown how many potential negative side effects we may incur from this temporary fix to our inconvenient interaction to the natural nuances of Spring time. These ‘side effects’ are the degenerative aspect of synthesized medicine. Sustainable medicines are the types of foods, herbs or treatments we ingest or receive that relieve us from our current state of imbalance without decreasing any other systems within our body. Massaging out a kink in our neck, drinking water to help relieve the effects of dehydration, a cup of Chamomile tea to calm the nerves or doses of Echinacea to trigger the immune system to fight off unwelcomed bacterias and viruses. Sustaining means its not getting any worse than it was when we started treating the problem. It is not until we get into regeneration that we start taking the approach of leaving things better than when we found it. Probiotics, adaptogens and reactors to systems such as the EndoCannabinoid system of the body that begin to heal what is ailing and recreating a system of health and well being is what this path of medicine embarks on to create.
Once again we can take the same approach to agriculture when we speak to degeneration, sustainability and regenerative farming practices. Let’s take Cannabis cultivation for instance because, well, I like to talk about Cannabis and it seems to be the hottest conversation when speaking about agriculture these days. Today’s practices of Cannabis cultivation span the entire gamut of all of these approaches to production ranging from personal use to large scale commercial cultivation. Synthetic fertilizers laden with heavy salts and components that sterilize the medium in which they are being grown in fall into the category of degenerative practices. When grown in soil continued use of these inputs will render the medium dead and unable to support healthy life with the need for constant flushing and replacement of ‘organic’ matter. Hydroponically grown plants with recirculating reservoirs of heavy salt nutrient products are very difficult to dispose of in environmentally sound ways and more than often are released into public sanitation systems or septic systems and result in water ways laden with high levels of Nitrogen, Phosphorous and the like having severe impacts on the environment. Sterile manures, liquid guanos and mined minerals intended to create a more sustainable approach to cultivation have become the norm for farmers looking to ‘do their part’ and be part of what is considered today as organic agriculture. These practices though potentially devastating the point of origin of the products are seemingly not degenerating the farm, whether indoors or out, and are looked upon favorably in today’s world of Cannabis production. Once we start looking at regenerative farming practices we start looking at how do we not only grow healthy abundant plants but also increase the soil biology, the quality of the water and in turn create a vibrant thriving environment. When we look at farming microbes we take a whole different approach to agriculture. Instead of actually concentrating our efforts on growing plants we turn our focus to creating a healthy and diverse micro biology and the result is an abundant disease-free plant that is the side effect of this beyond organic method of cultivation. Bio diversity creates resilience to molds, mildews, pests and diseases and affords the cultivator the ability to grow plants that can be truly consumed as medicine whether recreationally or in times of real physical, mental or spiritual need. Medicine for the the people, planet and mindset of all humanity.