Ediculture promotes an agro-ecological practice…
The quality of our food correlates directly to our health, both mentally and physically, as both an individual and as a culture.
Fresh food grown naturally using biologically available nutrients supplied through a soil diverse in micro and macro-organsisms, without synthetic inputs and hand picked and harvested is food that is good for our health.
It is also food that our bodies are able to fully recognise and utilise; our ancestors have been eating such food for millennia. Within our modern world, growing our own food often functions as remedial activity, with a huge host of health benefits.
“Organically grown produce is an aspiration for many different people in the widest possible range of circumstances, in response to a huge range of needs…. In addition to meeting personal aspirations, access to organic production could go some way in contributing positively to larger social and environmental issues…. Whilst wishing to encourage organic and ecological practice in ornamental gardening, food production should be considered as a priority for the use of organic inputs, which are by their nature often only available in limited amounts.”
Extracts taken from SOFI – its formation
Ediculture promotes a colaborative practice …
By working together we can achieve far more than we could ever achieve working as individuals towards our own self-sufficiency. The large amounts of time taken to grow and forage agro-ecological food can be managed much easier if we work as a collective, sharing tasks.
Eating food is as much a social activity as a survival one. Self-sufficiency is a rare aspiration, in part because of the isolation that it can bring living in a modern culture.
So our general focus is on interdependent relative sufficiency, seeing ourselves as a part of a wider community that is resilient and sustainable.
In addition our focus is on the wider benefits of developing a rich social network and the health benefits that accompany agro-ecological food culture.
Ediculture promotes education…
Education of the theory and method of growing your own produce is the starting point in creating a new culture around food.
Ediculture evolved from the establishment of SOFI (The Sheffield Organic Food Initiative) in 1995. SOFI is a charitable trust set up to promote organic food growing, biodynamics and permaculture for education, health and the alleviation of poverty.
The late Richard Clare (1964 – 2013) the founder of Ediculture, had a strong commitment to education, and taught classes in the theory and practice of organic horticulture for 20 years, as well as establishing and supporting dozens of food growing projects over the years, mentoring students to not only learn how to grow their own but also to teach others.
Ediculture holds a wealth of information about food culture and initiatives over the past 20 years in the UK. We aim to make this information accessible to people in order to learn from the patterns of past practices so being able to build upon what has already been established, learn from the mistakes of others, and avoid reinvnting the wheel.
Education is important in helping new growers to get linked in with the wider picture of food culture, locally, nationally and internationally. Education about Ediculture can also be of benefit to larger organizations (e.g. NHS) and businesses (e.g. wholefood co-operatives), which are connected with the means of production, or for health or alleviation of poverty or sustainability. Ediculture can act as an advice service to these larger projects.
“Throughout the history of man there has never been enough to go around for everyone – there has always been scarcity. Therefore, the basic problem was: who gets what? Who survives and who doesn’t? Every society has had a different system for deciding that question, and which group survived was usually decided by war.
But just because it has always been that way doesn’t mean that it always has to be that way in the future. Just because there was scarcity in the past, does that mean that there has to be scarcity in the future?
Mankind now has enough knowledge to be able to invent our way into a future of plenty..
We produce more than enough food for everyone, but much of it rots or is eaten by rodents because we don’t have the means of storing, preserving, and transporting it. But, with adequate energy we could grow, preserve, and distribute plenty of food for everyone. In fact, if needed, we could probably grow two or three times as much as we do now…..
…But most of all, if people no longer have to fight each other over limited resources, then the basic reason for war will be gone and war will become obsolete. The oldest dreams of mankind–peace, prosperity–will have come true.
People living now, for the first time in history, have the opportunity, privilege, and responsibility to help to make all these things come true. All of humanity has struggled, dreamed, hoped, worked, and prayed for this moment in history. It is up to us to help make it happen.”
– Buckminster Fuller