Much to the chagrin of stereotypes everywhere about mid-westerners, I can’t remember ever stepping foot on a crop farm. Farming has always bored me, and I maintained a mindset that farming was outdated, unimportant, and entirely irrelevant to my life. Sure, I’d be more likely to pick up the “Farm Fresh” produce at my convenient neighborhood grocery store, but that was as close as I’d get to actually caring about farming.
But in Africa, farming is livelihood. For a vast majority of the continent, without planting, growing, and harvesting your own food, your family will not eat. Although there are grocery stores in most major cities, the people in Lesotho still rely heavily on their small family farms.
The colonization of Lesotho brought people and missionaries dying to help a group of poor, starving Africans. The answer to their “problem” of lack of food was a simple piece of technology: the plow. An easier, faster, more efficient way to farm which would lead to more food for the people. I have no doubt that the intentions of these people long ago were pure and stemmed from a good heart. Who knows, maybe bringing the plow to Lesotho saved the country for a time being. But now, the ground is literally falling apart from erosion because the land has been plowed for so many years. Every time it rains, good soil is washed away and the scars in the land get deeper. Don’t get me wrong, the effects from the erosion create beautiful trenches to contrast the awesome mountains… but my smarter friends tell me this kind of landscape is very, very bad.
The soil is rock hard, dry, and unusable in many places. Though the country has probably moved forward in farming technology in the past hundred years, the land is moving backwards. There is a desperate need for change.
Growing Nations is seeking to bring that change. I am so excited about partnering with this organization because their vision is big, but their methods are simple. So simple, in fact, that even I can understand them (Yes, mom and dad, you should be proud)! Their approach to farming is Biblical, using a technique called Farming God’s Way. The project is focused on teaching local farmers to step away from the methods they’ve been taught, and start using a more simple, organic, conservation-minded way of farming. The results are incredible.
Here’s where the folks at home might have a heart attack… when I heard and saw the results, I found myself accidentally getting excited about farming. It’s just so cool! Anyway, farmers that adopt the Farming God’s Way method see their fields produce tenfold what they did in previous years. Even during years of drought or too much rain, the fields are still successful.
The idea is simple: look to nature and model farming after creation, which is God’s farm. Instead of using a plow, they teach people to use hoes (something you’ll find in every home) and to disturb the soil as little as possible. In a forest, you will see trees and plants flourishing, even though the soil is untouched by human hands. When we think about who controls the forests growth, it makes sense. Since God is in control of the soil, everything is in perfect balance. We’ve been tricked into thinking that we can somehow make what is already working even better… but it’s completely unnecessary. Other principles that come into play are using a cover for the soil (that can be old maize stocks, fallen leaves, pulled weeds, really any plant material) in order to lock in nutrients and moisture, and wasting as little as possible. Minimal wastage in one instance means not covering an entire field with fertilizer, but rather putting fertilizer in each individual hole. Although it might seem tedious and time consuming, it ensures that fertilizer gets to each plant and eliminates waste. By just using these 3 principles, a farm is changed. After a year or two, the soil is darker and holds more moisture, which results in crops growing even better. It is honestly incredible.
But what has caused the most excitement for me from learning about all this farming stuff is my new view of creation. Yes, I’ve always loved oceans and mountains and stars and all that jazz. They’re beautiful and big and incredible. But getting on my hands and knees and digging through the dirt has made me appreciate the small. The dirt that now covers every piece of clothing I own, the bugs crawling around the plants, the blades of grass just barely peeking out of the soil… they are beautiful and precious and intricately designed by God.
There’s a song by Gungor that I love even more now. It’s called “The Earth is Yours” (Listen to it. Right now!) and the chorus just says “Holy, holy, holy, holy Lord! The Earth is Yours and singing.” I love thinking of the Earth singing and crying out to God. I love that as a seed is planted, God knows exactly when it will crack and the very moment that it will break through the surface of the soil. I love to think that as the trees grow they are singing out to God and worshiping Him.
And of course, I can’t just think about creation crying out without thinking of whales singing (thank you to Louie Giglio for that one), or birds chirping, or the sheepbaa-ing. I can’t help but think of Romans 8:22-23 which says, “For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” Creation is crying out, longing to be reunited with God! The world spins as it should because of his word.
Paul describes our nature as having the same desire, to be reunited with God and to be adopted as his sons. I feel myself crying to God more and more the closer I am to His creation. I see the mountains, and I tremble to think that there’s a God bigger than that who cares about me. I look at the stars, and I fail to comprehend how a God who’s fingers could dust such beauty across the sky would choose me to be his daughter. Then I see myself, created in the image of Christ, and all I can think is someday, I will be reunited with him. And that is the most beautiful thing I’ve seen in all of Africa.
Leave a comment