An Ode to the Living Microbiome
November 18, 2050
xučyun, Lisjan Ohlone Territory
The soil smells joyful, fertile, happy. The living microbiome has been regenerated through collective human practices that have finally transcended cultures of dominance and extraction. My generation is witness to the revival of communal land stewardship. It was a struggle earlier on— often clouded with a collective feeling of impending apocalypse as millions of human beings perceived what seemed to be the ‘end of everything’... Only to realize that it was simply the end of dominance, of monocultural thinking and the zombification of our soil. The soil’s microbiome is now a beloved community again.
Human beings act as midwives to the growth of nourishment by cultivating seeds and a regenerative biodynamicism that fuels life on earth. The elders, such as myself, now tell the stories of the power of tens of millions of people, who freed their imaginations; restoring their relationship to the land and to the future. Finally unafraid of a world in which capitalism, corporations, and monocultural food systems were no longer the benchmarks of [so-called] “progress.” The result of letting go of that fear? Reverence. Human beings have now collectively re-remembered that the soil microbiome and our internal microbiome are symbiotically connected to the future of nourishment for all. The soil smells joyful, fertile, and happy again. It is alive. We are alive.
With reverence,
Breeze
This postcard from 2050 was written by Black feminist scholar and Afrofuturist writer Dr. A Breeze Harper for Food Culture Collective’s 2023 Capacity Campaign. If you enjoyed reading this, consider giving to our campaign:
Collective visioning is a process of collective transformation. We all have a role to play in growing a food culture rooted in radical reciprocity. So, we invite you to play with us! To join this campaign by creating your own Postcard From 2050 or to learn more, email natasha@foodculture.org
