017 - Nick Mahmood
Righting the Wrongs: Ecological Responsibility
Nick Mahmood and family run Green Source Gardens, which is a legal cannabis farm in Southern Oregon. They are committed to creating rich diversity in their soils, and growing the highest quality medicine possible. They promote agricultural practices that not only provide results, but also heal and build soil.
They commit to not disturbing the soil in order to achieve a healthy and thriving biological soil ecosystem. They focus on poly-culture gardens where diverse plant species work in collaboration with one another.
Their methods are rooted in experience and influenced by research, including but not limited to the growing styles dictated by Bio-dynamics, Permaculture, indigenous agriculture, and love.
Join us as Nick shares some of his story and philosophy of how the earth and cosmos create everlasting abundance. We talk about bio-remediation and ecological responsibility.
Green Source Gardens
https://greensourcegardens.com/
NOTES
Green Source Gardens
- legal commercial cannabis garden in Southern Oregon
- exemplifying biological remediation practices
- Living Soil Symposium - check it out here https://www.livingsoilssymposium.com/
Nick’s background & mindset
- felt a lifelong connection to the natural world
- attended alternate school that nourished the desire to be outside
- mother gave him freedom to explore and to find out who he was a person, gave him responsibility without micromanaging
- went walkabout after graduating college, explored the world
- these experiences fuelled his passion for his love of nature
Cannabis discussion
- Nick believes we ascribe too much power to it, both negative and positive
- he sees it as a plant like any other, part of the entire bigger work on planet earth
- part of the bio-remediation team, helpful with water filtration
Agricultural remediation
- building systems for our planet to function in the future
- empowering people to know they don’t need the shops to grow things
On Nick’s Farm
- Nick finds “farm” a loaded word, as it’s associated with a monocultural crop growing, production-based model
- farms of the future will be a much more integrated model
- focus on cleaning the water & replenishing the water table
- their gardens are giant digestion chambers, keep feeding organic matter back to the ground to break down
- build carbon in the ground, create space for biological diversity to flourish
- practice with the intention to become regenerative, right the wrongs to the earth
Ecological responsibility
- encourages people discern between companies when buying, don’t choose those who are damaging the environment
- do research before you buy
- if we treat financial gain as more important than ecological responsibility, we end up making a lot of sacrifices that damage our future
What does regenerative living look like for Nick?
- virtual walkthrough of Nick’s farm
- completely dependent on the organic matter (mostly from animals) that they gather
- building bio-swales
- “Hugel culture” or hill culture
- working towards a system that doesn’t require a lot of people to manage
- less energy-intensive growing practices, working with the existing climate, instead of trying to control the climate
Advice to buyers
- look for markers that this grower’s practices resonate with your values
- is there evidence of biodiversity?
- are they working with the existing ecology or against it?
- living and buying with mindfulness
Reflections on regeneration
- Japanese idea of “shinrin yoku”: going into nature and using all the senses to imbibe the microbes, the air, the freshness, be present and mindful
- reflection on indigenous ideas of natural world and returning to “earth worship”
- learning to look at the landscape, see what’s not working and find remediative solutions
- maintaining integrity until business practices surrounding crop growth become ecologically sustainable
- putting money into businesses that are ecologically oriented
- making whatever sacrifices that means so the next generations don’t suffer
Creating life wherever you are
- understanding that the earth IS us
- if you want to look after yourself, look after our environment
- abundant life happens when we start to honour the earth
- how things are going to play out depends on the choices we make now
- wake up and do good things!