Art Farm: Agtelier and Regenerative Farming
agtelier (n) an intertwining of the creative process while actively engaging in agricultural activities, where creativity is visible somehow in the output of the farming process.
atelier (n.) "workshop," especially the workroom or studio of a sculptor or painter, 1840, from French atelier "workshop," from Old French astelier "(carpenter's) workshop, woodpile" (14c.), from astele "piece of wood, a shaving, splinter,"
agriculture (n.) mid-15c., "tillage, cultivation of large areas of land to provide food," from Late Latin agricultura "cultivation of the land," a contraction of agri cultura "cultivation of land," from agri, genitive of ager "a field" (from PIE root *agro- "field") + cultura "cultivation" (see culture (n.)). In Old English, the idea could be expressed by eorðtilþ.
Creativity is a phenomenon whereby something new and valuable is formed. The created item may be intangible (such as an idea, a scientific theory, a musical composition, or a joke) or a physical object (such as an invention, a printed literary work, or a painting).
How are agriculture and creativity connected?
Although over the last century agriculture has outwardly morphed into an industry resembling industrial manufacturing, it hadn't always been that way.
The act of farming is inherently a creative process. All aspects if agriculture is engaging with the natural world. Looking back into humanity's past, each leap forward made by hominids was due to creativity. Whether it was using a stick as a digging tool and a spear, or recognizing that if the largest seeds were kept and grown the next year, making it easier to harvest, or that a hollow log made a pleasing sound when rhythmically hit, creativity was a key factor in each one.
During the 19th and 20th centuries agriculture was distilled down to it's most basic components, in part due to the industrial revolution. Modern day life is dominated by repetitive actions involving inanimate and inert objects. The biggest mistake modern agriculture has made is failing to recognize that the living world isn't a series of actions and reactions, but of patterns that have an inherent variability and randomness to them. Creativity enables us to recognize those random moments and see if we can somehow use them to our advantage.
Modern disconnection and the inability to truly recognize ourselves as being a part of that natural world is where the climate crisis begins. Human creativity, when divorced from nature, becomes exploitatively instead of cooperative.