By Jesse Greist

September 17, 2023

Growing up on an organic vegetable farm in North Haven, the “sermon” I heard most from my father was about the dangers of monoculture:  The way it depleted the soil of nutrients.  The way it contributed to erosion and led farmers to depend on ever more copious amounts of fertilizer and pesticides.
I listened, deeply and absorbed his teachings.  However, what my dad didn’t know was that he wasn’t teaching this important lesson to a future farmer, rather he was raising a storyteller who naturally thinks and even dreams in metaphor.

My Unitarian Universalist journey runs parallel to, and at times completely merged with a deep desire to understand and enmesh myself in the fabric of polyculture.  The songs that are sung, the way food is prepared and shared, the arc of humor, the expectations of friends, family, teachers, neighbors, the way a birth is celebrated and a departed elder is remembered.  Understanding and respecting all of that is, in my view, essential to culture.  And culture is essential to faith development. My greatest spiritual lessons have arrived, for example, hidden within the heartbeat rhythm of mortar and pestle as casava transformed into fufu in West Ghana.  Other lessons have unfolded in the humble, open armed hospitality offered while doing home visits along East Baseline rd. in South Phoenix. 
Now, don’t get me wrong. I realize that a polyculture approach can have its drawbacks.  The shofar we heard today in celebration of Rosh Hashana, the djembe and didgeridoo I will play in chapel all produce overtones that gently remind me I’m a tourist. As such, I cannot and should not claim ownership of culture that does not authentically flow through me.
Back in my father’s garden, I’m keenly aware that polyculture planting does not automatically or magically create a harmonious Eden. Throwing a handful of mixed seeds to the ground, likely will result in rows of beautiful individuals that compete for space, for water, throwing shade every chance they get.  Cultural competence and harmonious living is far too important to simply impose on populations through random arrangement.  We must be mindful of history, of power dynamics.  We must carefully, lovingly and humbly explore and sow with thoughtful intention.  In the garden, the 3 sisters of maize, beans and squash have proven to be a wonderful example of polyculture.  The corn supports the beans, beans supply the nitrogen that the corn and squash both need, and the squash’s wide leaves keep weeds at bay.
In my spiritual life, it’s the three sisters of music, free interchange of ideas
and social justice action, that are busy co-creating the polyculture of this place. So, let us plant and harvest in abundance, my friends and as we sing the children on to this morning’s chapel, let’s try a simple repeated melody that goes like this: