Those Amazing Neighbors

[Cindee, my wife, and I live in a bioshelter, and have set up our home as a learning center for sustainable building and living.  Our land is slowly being adapted according to the principles of permaculture.    With that in mind, I have begun a blog on living in a bioshelter.  This article comes from that blog.]
 

Life has been busy and full this summer.  Between working on the various projects that go along with life in our Bioshelter Home, the subsistence fishing and gathering that go along with life in Alaska, and various family activities, we have been busy.  As a result, this blog has fallen on the back burner for some time.  Today, however, I feel moved to write.

One of the great joys this summer has been experimenting with growing things in a greenhouse.  Our neighbor took a job in Oregon and had to vacate her house, at least temporarily. She knew that we wanted a greenhouse eventually, but did not have the time to build one, yet.  She therefore suggested that we use her greenhouse this year.  What a gift!

Our friends might have said that it was predictable that one of the problems Cindee and I ran into with this amazing opportunity was a desire to try EVERYTHING in the greenhouse at once.  Indeed, we decided to try three different types of tomatoes, and tried growing them as close together as we could possibly get away with.  We planted several varieties of peppers, both sweet and hot, but at opposite ends of a 15 ft. greenhouse.  We planted two different varieties of cucumbers, two types of beans (bush and runner), and one variety of squash.  The greenhouse was full, maybe too full, but it has been a rush to watch everything grow, and to  begin, just now, to see the produce emerge.

The thing I want to especially point out in today’s blog, though, is our gratitude to Patty, our neighbor, for making this possible.  We simply had too many projects this summer to begin working on a greenhouse.  Patty’s great belief in the value of sharing, and her naturally generous heart, made the greenhouse a possibility this year.  We are, indeed, grateful.

One of the key principles of permaculture is the absolute necessity of building community.  For instance, as we work with the land we have been given, we take advantage of the existing water flow and enhance it for best drainage and poolage.  Similarly, we take pains to develop the soil and to nurture the combinations and series of plants that grow on it.  As we do all of this we are developing a set of relationships—a community, if you will—of people, water, plants and animals that work together in a sort of harmony.  

Besides the gardening aspect, permaculture also understands how important it is to build sustainable and enduring human communities.  Humans are one species that needs good community to live well and sustainably.  Humans are also a species uniquely capable of either nurturing the whole of life across the planet, or of living so as to threaten life across the planet. We followers of permaculture principles must therefore work to develop healthy and sustainable human communities with the same passion, and the same diligence as we work to develop life on our land.  

In much of America these days people do not get to know their neighbors, nor even think about the values one needs to be a good neighbor.  In these times when our economies are stretched and the need for the radical reform of our social systems stares us in the face, it is essential that we go beyond the comfort zones of what is normal or comfortable to claim ways of living that nurture abundant and sustainable life.  Naming and nurturing the values necessary to be a good neighbor are a part of that.  It helps build local communities, where people care for one another in ways that go way beyond institutional systems.

In this blog I have named two of the qualities behind being a good a good neighbor—the importance of being intentional in reaching out to those around us, and the important value of sharing and generosity.  Indeed, in this example e are so grateful to Patty for her neighborliness.  Besides the greenhouse, we are richer for knowing her.

Since this is a Christian blog, I would add one more thought. As I said above, humans are created to need human community to live well and sustainably.  In previous blogs (May 14, March 6, Nov 16) sI wrote about how the Bible describes the human relationship with the land as one of caring for, protecting and gaining sustenance from the land.  Actually, the Bible often describes God as the gardener, and all creation as the garden.  It is our task to participate with God as both part of the garden, and as a unique part, empowered to help God in the nurturing work.

It should therefore not be a surprise that for Christians, faithfulness to God includes participating in the building of sustaining, nurturing human communities.  Indeed, knowing God is primarily about learning and practicing the values of the kind of relationships that cause humans, and all creation, to thrive well into the future.  For Christians, knowing and caring for one’s neighbor is a primary value.

Matthew 22:36-38:
³⁶ [They asked Jesus,] “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
³⁷ Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind [Deuteronomy 6:5].’^{[ 38} This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself [Leviticus 19:18].’ ⁴⁰ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

1 Corinthians 3:10-17:  (The Apostle Paul on Building Christian Community)

⁵ What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. ⁶ I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. ⁷ So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. ⁸ The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. ⁹ For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.

Luke 10:25-27

²⁵ On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
²⁶ “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
²⁷ He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’^[c]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’^[d]”
²⁸ “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
²⁹ But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
³⁰ In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. ³¹ A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. ³² So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. ³³ But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. ³⁴ He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. ³⁵ The next day he took out two denarii^[e] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
³⁶ “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
³⁷ The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”