More than 40 years ago, Wes Jackson saw all too clearly that modern agriculture was destroying native soils and was compelled to take action.
He co-founded The Land Institute in Salina, Kansas, in 1976 to raise awareness on how the ecosphere is self-regulating, that a more sustainable agriculture model needed to be developed and that one of the solutions to the dilemma lied in developing a perennial grain.
After four decades of testing and breeding, Wes and The Land Institute have done just that, trademarking the first new grain in more than 4,000 years. It’s called Kernza, a domesticated wild grass that resembles wheat seeds.
Now recognized as a leader in the international movement for a more sustainable agriculture, Wes, who is also the author of New Roots for Agriculture, Consulting the Genius of the Place, and Nature as Measure, will be joined by Aubrey Streit Krug of The Land Institute, in an upcoming workshop that invites us to explore what can be done, individually and collectively, to usher in a more interconnected era on planet Earth.
“It’s my hope that people realize that we really have to do something about climate change, that we have to save our soils, and that we have to recognize that this is not a problem that needs to be solved and then we move on,” says Wes, who shares more with Esalen News.
Esalen News: Were you aware of the importance of agriculture, soil and seeds when you were a child?
Wes: I was born into the height of the Great Depression, the year of the Great Dust Bowl and the era before World War II, which started when I was five. I grew up on a farm in the Kansas River Valley near Topeka and when you’re growing up on the farm, you’re involved in plants and animals and the food supply.
We had good soils, but it was a world in great transition as we moved into the increasingly industrial economy. When you’re a kid, you don’t have a consciousness of something like agriculture yet. I’m over 80 now and along the way, I’ve been reflecting and making connections so that we can improve agriculture.
Esalen News: When did it become clear to you that you were going to be shepherding this kind of work?
Wes: I had an epiphany a few weeks after we started The Land Institute that rather than solve problems in agriculture, we need to solve the problem of agriculture. Civilizations are built on soils, forests, and the servants of the soil. Grain is about 70 percent of our calories — wheat, corn and so on.
After visiting the Prairielands, where there was no soil erosion beyond natural replacement levels, no fossil fuel dependency, no chemical contamination of the land or in the water, I got an idea to build an agriculture based on nature’s perennial mixtures. Part of my education was in genetics, so we took off into breeding to develop perennial grains to be developed as polycultures.
Esalen News: Why are perennial grains so vital?
Wes: Implementing perennial crops can protect soil and work directly with ecosystems. If you look at the Periodical Chart of Elements, you see that there are more than 20 elements that go into life and only four of those that come out of the atmospheric commons: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen.
The other 20 or so come from the soil. We have to save our soils. We need perennial grains so that we’re not tearing up the ground every year as we do with the annuals, leaving it subject to the forces of wind and rain. We have to save them.
Now, we have the first perennial grain ever and the first new grain in 4,200 years. When I first published on this, decades ago, I said, developing perennial grains was going to take 50 to 100 years. It’s no quick-fix. But now, we are a little ahead of the original predictions.
Esalen News: That seems like it would require patience. Do you consider yourself patient by nature?
Wes: No, I wouldn’t consider myself to be very patient. But there’s a simple reality: humans tend to reward enterprise; nature tends to reward patience. If you’re going to be engaged with nature, you’re going to have to be ready to be patient.
Esalen News: What key things might individuals do now as we move into a new decade?
Wes: We have to look at our consumption patterns. We have to look at our ways of being in the world. I am imagining that we are going to rely on a sufficiency of people to get our food supply rather than a sufficiency of capital.
Mindfulness and hard thinking are key now — and not being in denial about our climate. We’re talking now about the end of economic growth as we’ve understood it and having to live within limits. That is something we’ve never had to live with.
Esalen News: What makes Esalen a unique for these kind of discussions?
Wes: Esalen is a beautiful setting with an impressive history for holding forums. Products of the engagement stand a good chance of being taken seriously here.
“Remembering to be as self compassionate as I can and praying to the divine that we're all a part of.”
–Aaron
“Prayer, reading, meditation, walking.”
–Karen
“Erratically — which is an ongoing stream of practice to find peace.”
–Charles
“Try on a daily basis to be kind to myself and to realize that making mistakes is a part of the human condition. Learning from our mistakes is a journey. But it starts with compassion and caring. First for oneself.”
–Steve
“Physically: aerobic exercise, volleyball, ice hockey, cycling, sailing. Emotionally: unfortunately I have to work to ‘not care’ about people or situations which may end painfully. Along the lines of ‘attachment is the source of suffering’, so best to avoid it or limit its scope. Sad though because it could also be the source of great joy. Is it worth the risk?“
–Rainer
“It's time for my heart to be nurtured on one level yet contained on another. To go easy on me and to allow my feelings to be validated, not judged harshly. On the other hand, to let the heart rule with equanimity and not lead the mind and body around like a master.”
–Suzanne
“I spend time thinking of everything I am grateful for, and I try to develop my ability to express compassion for myself and others without reservation. I take time to do the things I need to do to keep myself healthy and happy. This includes taking experiential workshops, fostering relationships, and participating within groups which have a similar interest to become a more compassionate and fulfilled being.“
–Peter
“Self-forgiveness for my own judgments. And oh yeah, coming to Esalen.”
–David B.
“Hmm, this is a tough one! I guess I take care of my heart through fostering relationships with people I feel connected to. Spending quality time with them (whether we're on the phone, through messages/letters, on Zoom, or in-person). Being there for them, listening to them, sharing what's going on with me, my struggles and my successes... like we do in the Esalen weekly Friends of Esalen Zoom sessions!”
–Lori
“I remind myself in many ways of the fact that " Love is all there is!" LOVE is the prize and this one precious life is the stage we get to learn our lessons. I get out into nature, hike, camp, river kayak, fly fish, garden, I create, I dance (not enough!), and I remain grateful for each day, each breath, each moment. Being in the moment, awake, and remembering the gift of life and my feeling of gratitude for all of creation.”
–Steven
“My physical heart by limiting stress and eating a heart-healthy diet. My emotional heart by staying in love with the world and by knowing that all disappointment and loss will pass.“
–David Z.
Today, September 29, is World Heart Day. Strike up a conversation with your own heart and as you feel comfortable, encourage others to do the same. As part of our own transformations and self-care, we sometimes ask for others to illuminate and enliven our hearts or speak our love language.
What if we could do this for ourselves too, even if just for today… or to start a heart practice, forever?
More than 40 years ago, Wes Jackson saw all too clearly that modern agriculture was destroying native soils and was compelled to take action.
He co-founded The Land Institute in Salina, Kansas, in 1976 to raise awareness on how the ecosphere is self-regulating, that a more sustainable agriculture model needed to be developed and that one of the solutions to the dilemma lied in developing a perennial grain.
After four decades of testing and breeding, Wes and The Land Institute have done just that, trademarking the first new grain in more than 4,000 years. It’s called Kernza, a domesticated wild grass that resembles wheat seeds.
Now recognized as a leader in the international movement for a more sustainable agriculture, Wes, who is also the author of New Roots for Agriculture, Consulting the Genius of the Place, and Nature as Measure, will be joined by Aubrey Streit Krug of The Land Institute, in an upcoming workshop that invites us to explore what can be done, individually and collectively, to usher in a more interconnected era on planet Earth.
“It’s my hope that people realize that we really have to do something about climate change, that we have to save our soils, and that we have to recognize that this is not a problem that needs to be solved and then we move on,” says Wes, who shares more with Esalen News.
Esalen News: Were you aware of the importance of agriculture, soil and seeds when you were a child?
Wes: I was born into the height of the Great Depression, the year of the Great Dust Bowl and the era before World War II, which started when I was five. I grew up on a farm in the Kansas River Valley near Topeka and when you’re growing up on the farm, you’re involved in plants and animals and the food supply.
We had good soils, but it was a world in great transition as we moved into the increasingly industrial economy. When you’re a kid, you don’t have a consciousness of something like agriculture yet. I’m over 80 now and along the way, I’ve been reflecting and making connections so that we can improve agriculture.
Esalen News: When did it become clear to you that you were going to be shepherding this kind of work?
Wes: I had an epiphany a few weeks after we started The Land Institute that rather than solve problems in agriculture, we need to solve the problem of agriculture. Civilizations are built on soils, forests, and the servants of the soil. Grain is about 70 percent of our calories — wheat, corn and so on.
After visiting the Prairielands, where there was no soil erosion beyond natural replacement levels, no fossil fuel dependency, no chemical contamination of the land or in the water, I got an idea to build an agriculture based on nature’s perennial mixtures. Part of my education was in genetics, so we took off into breeding to develop perennial grains to be developed as polycultures.
Esalen News: Why are perennial grains so vital?
Wes: Implementing perennial crops can protect soil and work directly with ecosystems. If you look at the Periodical Chart of Elements, you see that there are more than 20 elements that go into life and only four of those that come out of the atmospheric commons: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen.
The other 20 or so come from the soil. We have to save our soils. We need perennial grains so that we’re not tearing up the ground every year as we do with the annuals, leaving it subject to the forces of wind and rain. We have to save them.
Now, we have the first perennial grain ever and the first new grain in 4,200 years. When I first published on this, decades ago, I said, developing perennial grains was going to take 50 to 100 years. It’s no quick-fix. But now, we are a little ahead of the original predictions.
Esalen News: That seems like it would require patience. Do you consider yourself patient by nature?
Wes: No, I wouldn’t consider myself to be very patient. But there’s a simple reality: humans tend to reward enterprise; nature tends to reward patience. If you’re going to be engaged with nature, you’re going to have to be ready to be patient.
Esalen News: What key things might individuals do now as we move into a new decade?
Wes: We have to look at our consumption patterns. We have to look at our ways of being in the world. I am imagining that we are going to rely on a sufficiency of people to get our food supply rather than a sufficiency of capital.
Mindfulness and hard thinking are key now — and not being in denial about our climate. We’re talking now about the end of economic growth as we’ve understood it and having to live within limits. That is something we’ve never had to live with.
Esalen News: What makes Esalen a unique for these kind of discussions?
Wes: Esalen is a beautiful setting with an impressive history for holding forums. Products of the engagement stand a good chance of being taken seriously here.
“Remembering to be as self compassionate as I can and praying to the divine that we're all a part of.”
–Aaron
“Prayer, reading, meditation, walking.”
–Karen
“Erratically — which is an ongoing stream of practice to find peace.”
–Charles
“Try on a daily basis to be kind to myself and to realize that making mistakes is a part of the human condition. Learning from our mistakes is a journey. But it starts with compassion and caring. First for oneself.”
–Steve
“Physically: aerobic exercise, volleyball, ice hockey, cycling, sailing. Emotionally: unfortunately I have to work to ‘not care’ about people or situations which may end painfully. Along the lines of ‘attachment is the source of suffering’, so best to avoid it or limit its scope. Sad though because it could also be the source of great joy. Is it worth the risk?“
–Rainer
“It's time for my heart to be nurtured on one level yet contained on another. To go easy on me and to allow my feelings to be validated, not judged harshly. On the other hand, to let the heart rule with equanimity and not lead the mind and body around like a master.”
–Suzanne
“I spend time thinking of everything I am grateful for, and I try to develop my ability to express compassion for myself and others without reservation. I take time to do the things I need to do to keep myself healthy and happy. This includes taking experiential workshops, fostering relationships, and participating within groups which have a similar interest to become a more compassionate and fulfilled being.“
–Peter
“Self-forgiveness for my own judgments. And oh yeah, coming to Esalen.”
–David B.
“Hmm, this is a tough one! I guess I take care of my heart through fostering relationships with people I feel connected to. Spending quality time with them (whether we're on the phone, through messages/letters, on Zoom, or in-person). Being there for them, listening to them, sharing what's going on with me, my struggles and my successes... like we do in the Esalen weekly Friends of Esalen Zoom sessions!”
–Lori
“I remind myself in many ways of the fact that " Love is all there is!" LOVE is the prize and this one precious life is the stage we get to learn our lessons. I get out into nature, hike, camp, river kayak, fly fish, garden, I create, I dance (not enough!), and I remain grateful for each day, each breath, each moment. Being in the moment, awake, and remembering the gift of life and my feeling of gratitude for all of creation.”
–Steven
“My physical heart by limiting stress and eating a heart-healthy diet. My emotional heart by staying in love with the world and by knowing that all disappointment and loss will pass.“
–David Z.
Today, September 29, is World Heart Day. Strike up a conversation with your own heart and as you feel comfortable, encourage others to do the same. As part of our own transformations and self-care, we sometimes ask for others to illuminate and enliven our hearts or speak our love language.
What if we could do this for ourselves too, even if just for today… or to start a heart practice, forever?
More than 40 years ago, Wes Jackson saw all too clearly that modern agriculture was destroying native soils and was compelled to take action.
He co-founded The Land Institute in Salina, Kansas, in 1976 to raise awareness on how the ecosphere is self-regulating, that a more sustainable agriculture model needed to be developed and that one of the solutions to the dilemma lied in developing a perennial grain.
After four decades of testing and breeding, Wes and The Land Institute have done just that, trademarking the first new grain in more than 4,000 years. It’s called Kernza, a domesticated wild grass that resembles wheat seeds.
Now recognized as a leader in the international movement for a more sustainable agriculture, Wes, who is also the author of New Roots for Agriculture, Consulting the Genius of the Place, and Nature as Measure, will be joined by Aubrey Streit Krug of The Land Institute, in an upcoming workshop that invites us to explore what can be done, individually and collectively, to usher in a more interconnected era on planet Earth.
“It’s my hope that people realize that we really have to do something about climate change, that we have to save our soils, and that we have to recognize that this is not a problem that needs to be solved and then we move on,” says Wes, who shares more with Esalen News.
Esalen News: Were you aware of the importance of agriculture, soil and seeds when you were a child?
Wes: I was born into the height of the Great Depression, the year of the Great Dust Bowl and the era before World War II, which started when I was five. I grew up on a farm in the Kansas River Valley near Topeka and when you’re growing up on the farm, you’re involved in plants and animals and the food supply.
We had good soils, but it was a world in great transition as we moved into the increasingly industrial economy. When you’re a kid, you don’t have a consciousness of something like agriculture yet. I’m over 80 now and along the way, I’ve been reflecting and making connections so that we can improve agriculture.
Esalen News: When did it become clear to you that you were going to be shepherding this kind of work?
Wes: I had an epiphany a few weeks after we started The Land Institute that rather than solve problems in agriculture, we need to solve the problem of agriculture. Civilizations are built on soils, forests, and the servants of the soil. Grain is about 70 percent of our calories — wheat, corn and so on.
After visiting the Prairielands, where there was no soil erosion beyond natural replacement levels, no fossil fuel dependency, no chemical contamination of the land or in the water, I got an idea to build an agriculture based on nature’s perennial mixtures. Part of my education was in genetics, so we took off into breeding to develop perennial grains to be developed as polycultures.
Esalen News: Why are perennial grains so vital?
Wes: Implementing perennial crops can protect soil and work directly with ecosystems. If you look at the Periodical Chart of Elements, you see that there are more than 20 elements that go into life and only four of those that come out of the atmospheric commons: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen.
The other 20 or so come from the soil. We have to save our soils. We need perennial grains so that we’re not tearing up the ground every year as we do with the annuals, leaving it subject to the forces of wind and rain. We have to save them.
Now, we have the first perennial grain ever and the first new grain in 4,200 years. When I first published on this, decades ago, I said, developing perennial grains was going to take 50 to 100 years. It’s no quick-fix. But now, we are a little ahead of the original predictions.
Esalen News: That seems like it would require patience. Do you consider yourself patient by nature?
Wes: No, I wouldn’t consider myself to be very patient. But there’s a simple reality: humans tend to reward enterprise; nature tends to reward patience. If you’re going to be engaged with nature, you’re going to have to be ready to be patient.
Esalen News: What key things might individuals do now as we move into a new decade?
Wes: We have to look at our consumption patterns. We have to look at our ways of being in the world. I am imagining that we are going to rely on a sufficiency of people to get our food supply rather than a sufficiency of capital.
Mindfulness and hard thinking are key now — and not being in denial about our climate. We’re talking now about the end of economic growth as we’ve understood it and having to live within limits. That is something we’ve never had to live with.
Esalen News: What makes Esalen a unique for these kind of discussions?
Wes: Esalen is a beautiful setting with an impressive history for holding forums. Products of the engagement stand a good chance of being taken seriously here.
“Remembering to be as self compassionate as I can and praying to the divine that we're all a part of.”
–Aaron
“Prayer, reading, meditation, walking.”
–Karen
“Erratically — which is an ongoing stream of practice to find peace.”
–Charles
“Try on a daily basis to be kind to myself and to realize that making mistakes is a part of the human condition. Learning from our mistakes is a journey. But it starts with compassion and caring. First for oneself.”
–Steve
“Physically: aerobic exercise, volleyball, ice hockey, cycling, sailing. Emotionally: unfortunately I have to work to ‘not care’ about people or situations which may end painfully. Along the lines of ‘attachment is the source of suffering’, so best to avoid it or limit its scope. Sad though because it could also be the source of great joy. Is it worth the risk?“
–Rainer
“It's time for my heart to be nurtured on one level yet contained on another. To go easy on me and to allow my feelings to be validated, not judged harshly. On the other hand, to let the heart rule with equanimity and not lead the mind and body around like a master.”
–Suzanne
“I spend time thinking of everything I am grateful for, and I try to develop my ability to express compassion for myself and others without reservation. I take time to do the things I need to do to keep myself healthy and happy. This includes taking experiential workshops, fostering relationships, and participating within groups which have a similar interest to become a more compassionate and fulfilled being.“
–Peter
“Self-forgiveness for my own judgments. And oh yeah, coming to Esalen.”
–David B.
“Hmm, this is a tough one! I guess I take care of my heart through fostering relationships with people I feel connected to. Spending quality time with them (whether we're on the phone, through messages/letters, on Zoom, or in-person). Being there for them, listening to them, sharing what's going on with me, my struggles and my successes... like we do in the Esalen weekly Friends of Esalen Zoom sessions!”
–Lori
“I remind myself in many ways of the fact that " Love is all there is!" LOVE is the prize and this one precious life is the stage we get to learn our lessons. I get out into nature, hike, camp, river kayak, fly fish, garden, I create, I dance (not enough!), and I remain grateful for each day, each breath, each moment. Being in the moment, awake, and remembering the gift of life and my feeling of gratitude for all of creation.”
–Steven
“My physical heart by limiting stress and eating a heart-healthy diet. My emotional heart by staying in love with the world and by knowing that all disappointment and loss will pass.“
–David Z.
Today, September 29, is World Heart Day. Strike up a conversation with your own heart and as you feel comfortable, encourage others to do the same. As part of our own transformations and self-care, we sometimes ask for others to illuminate and enliven our hearts or speak our love language.
What if we could do this for ourselves too, even if just for today… or to start a heart practice, forever?
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