Excerpts from Recipes For Reciprocity and my thoughts on divesting from the scarcity based economy to invest in Gift Economics to recognize and potentiate natural abundance
There are so many gems in here, Gavin. I need to delve back into your book this winter. I loved seeing the food forest in Atlanta! Imagine if all the city parks did this...minus the pesticides. I am an eternal optimist, thanks to my Sagittarian sun. I think we will see more and more of this in the coming years.
On the other side, my heart just caved reading about the level of deforestation that has happened where you live. One of the main reasons I ended up in New Hampshire was that it's second only to Maine regarding the amount of forest. That being said, not much of it is old growth. I always try to imagine what that would have been like back in the day. There are a few grandmother/grandfather White Pines and Hemlocks in the woods where I live. They take my breath away.
Thanks for all that you do to educate all of us, Gavin. Happy Solstice, from your Nature Sister to the south. 🌲🌲🌲XO
Yes, I think we should imagine all the city parks doing that, and beyond that those of us near or in cities should actively work to make it happen. I was just saying in a note how I like to covertly contribute to this in our local parks with guerilla gardening style food forest plantings :)
Ya the deforestation here can be really tough for me to live with sometimes. At the same time, given how extreme the "generational amnesia" is here (with as I mentioned in my Pine article, over 70% of the kids here have never seen an intact old growth forest, and they are more familiar with corporate logos than trees) I feel as though I have a moral responsibility to the trees and the Earth, to honestly look at this land and what it has endured with eyes wide open, to fully feel the pain of knowing that 99.9% of the forest has been chopped down here and do what Dana O'Driscoll describes as "acknowledgment, witnessing suffering and palliative care" in her Land Healing book. ( for reference, pics of those pages from her book https://archive.org/details/landhealing/IMG_2913.JPG and https://archive.org/details/landhealing/IMG_2914.JPG ). I want the memory of that forest to remain alive, so I hold it in my heart, even though it is hard to do so when I look out at the land here and see mostly a graveyard.
There will come a time when I move away from here to a place with more forest, but while I am here I want to honor the spirit of the forest (and the once magnificent forest that stretched from horizon to horizon here) by living in acknowledgement and baring witness with an open heart. Thank you for doing that along side of me sister, it makes the weight a little more bearable <3
One thing that spirit guided my way to help me cope this year was a customer at the nursery where I work asked me if I had ever been to a small forest conservation area about 20 min drive from our home (near a town called Kingsville) called the Kennedy Woods. I had not and when i zoomed over there after work one day to go on a little walk before it got dark I was astonished to discover that it is an intact forest! Full of 200-400 year old Tulip trees, Oak, Sugar Maple, Lindon, Hickory, Black Walnut, Butternut and American Beech (with groves of old growth Pawpaw trees underneath). I had thought that every last bit of that original Carolinian forest here in Ontario was chopped down about 150 years ago when the government encouraged people to clear the land (seeing forests as "obstacles") and offered them parcels of land if they would chop down all the old growth and sell it to the british navy for their ship masts, but thankfully I was mistaken! This last little gem of biodiversity remains thanks to a guy named Jack Miner (who loved birds and forests) buying the land in 1840 and setting it aside as a park.
Thus, along with baring witness and acknowledging the horrific deforestation that has occurred here, I am also re-directing my creative energy locally to the last patch of (never logged) primary old growth Carolinian Forest (it is only about 400 acres and represents one tenth of one percent of the landmass that used to be covered in that forest 200 years ago where I live but it is beautiful). I have been saving seeds from the elders, recording videos and I hope to write a series of article on that forest in the future.
Thank you for all that you do as well and thank you for the thoughtful comment.
The “ ripple” you created with this post, has made it to Seattle & has touched my soul. I plan to research this even more & share this with my family & friends. I have a son that has always possessed this “ gifting” quality. He naturally can give of himself in almost every situation he finds himself in. He never cared for the “ stuff” that most find essential. I call him my “ hippie kid “, but now after reading this, he may just be evolving back to what this world needs more of. I’d like to get him a few books that focus on this. I will reread your post for ideas, unless you can suggest a few for him?
( of course, yours!)
Thank you for this beautiful reminder that gifts of ourselves, are the best gifts to give. And thank you for incorporating the struggle we have with the fake green agenda. Rosa Koire & her book, “ Behind the Green Mask”, was my initiation into this corrupt shift of thinking. She was a brilliant “ giver”, by documenting her struggles with communitarianism. I learned about her just a few years ago, by a reader here on Substack. I’ve been very involved in getting the word out, locally, and pushing back against this agenda. ✌🏼💕
Thank you so much for the heartfelt comment and sharing about your son.
Sometimes children manage to hold onto that innate spark of wisdom, kindness and curiosity (that we all arrived with on Earth) despite modern industrial civilization's often abrasive, mechanistic and materialistic bombardment of artificial ideas, fear based worldviews and outdated dogmas. Some kids manage to keep fanning that flame despite what the ubiquity of what author Martín Prechtel describes as "the numbing monster of modernity". Those kids are very special indeed and I do think that they are what the world needs more of, providing a sort of medicine for the spirit, heart and mind through their living by example, reminding people what humans are capable of.
I would be honored to suggest some books.
Robin Wall Kimmerer's books are all great (Braiding Sweetgrass and her most recent one "The Serviceberry") and I also recommend "The Unlikely Peace at Cuchumaquic: The Parallel Lives of People as Plants: Keeping the Seeds Alive" by Martín Prechtel.
Then for the realm of Regenerative knowledge and perspectives, I share many books I recommend in this post:
Great post as always Gavin, though this one is a real stand out! A lot to reflect on in the holidays. The true gift of giving to those you love and surround yourself with is the best gift you can give yourself. Looking forward to more of your amazing work in the new year.
Thank you for the kind comment Nick and thank you very much for the gift of your donation in becoming a paid subscriber! Your support is appreciated and I look forward to engaging with you in the comments section in the new year.
Dear Gavin. Just thank you so much for such a generous piece of writing - generous in the time dedicated to procuring the piece, generous in spirit and generous toward others. Honestly your input has totally remodelled my own outlook on how to manifest hope and action alongside the practicalities of journeying through this life. I am so honoured to be numbered amongst those who have discovered the life blessing of your work. I will work my way back through this piece with a fine toothed comb, and have material to accompany me admirably into and through the next year, I am sure. May you and your family have a truly peaceful season, and be blessed. In deep gratitude and quiet joy.
Gavin, I also meant to mention that the seeds you sent me with recipes for reciprocity have already travelled well….. a few of them I passed on to other members of a community farm I am a member of. This is a sort of shared ownership venture where every member is offered a share of the community farm and therefore a share in it and it’s running. So those who cannot afford to own land can still “own land”’and have a part in the production of exclusively regeneratively farmed produce. Members are an active community, even at distance around the UK, and although I am some 200 miles distant from “my” farm, via veg deliveries grown on our land that we steward and an active signal group and real time consulting of each other about decisions for the land, and via sharing collectively the practical tasks of building and growing and caring for animals when anyone is near and for those who live near, I am truly a part of that community. So far this project farm seems to have avoided the crumbling to ego that I have witnessed elsewhere in similar set ups, and the farm is thriving - the objective is for food sovereignty for the families involved. It is a dedicated regenerative project. Beyond organic. I sent a few packs of YOUR beautiful seeds to members there who I know will grow amazing produce from them, and save seeds also. Your impact is greater than you can imagine. X
Thank you very much for the thoughtful comments, kind well wishes and for sharing updates on how the seeds of gift thinking are setting down roots in your life and rippling out into your community.
The fact the seeds have already found their way into a community project in your neck of the woods is so heartening to hear! Thank you for that :)
I hope to put a few new blips on that map here in the Eastern Woodlands of Turtle Island in the next couple years myself ;)
I will devote an entire chapter to creating community food forests in my next book as I feel it is one of the most potent ways to engage in gift economics.
I would love to see some pics of how the seeds do for your fellow community farm members next year! Thank you sincerely, for the message.
Wishing you and your family a peaceful, inspiring, joyful and hopeful beginning to winter and a holiday season filled with nourishing meals and good memories.
I did! I decided to leave the majority to see what happens….. however we just had some massive storms and some snow…. It seems to have slowed down 🤣 but it’s still alive! And my Saskatoon stood through the storms like a trooper and has buds! I’m so excited.
That is so awesome about the walking onions and service berry. Both of those plants are tough for cold so even if they go totally dormant during winter they should wake up again in spring.
I often notice walking onion bulbs that have fallen on the soil surface in fall in my garden sitting out totally exposed all winter (facing minus 15-20C some winters and getting buried in snow) and then spring comes along and they root and sprout greens and grow vigorously.
I am excited for you and look forward to more updates in the spring :)
Gavin. I am so humbled to see my name mentioned in your piece (a few times). I want you to know ho much it means to me.....truly!!! I agree with Mary. You are an inspiration. You motivated me to start a garden this year, ferment food, read and learn, consider things I haven't considered before, and truly look at who I am and how I envision the very best version of myself. My garden was a success. We had more than we could use and shared when people were will to be shared with. I had no idea people were so resistant to being given things. It still has me baffled. We shared with several different restaurants, friends, neighbors and herbalists. I saved some seeds and saw wildlife in my garden I've never seen before. The Runner beans brought in the hummingbirds by the dozens and the sunflowers, goldfinch. I learned about the bugs and watched my little ecosystem flourish. I felt a connection and a sense of satisfaction I havent felt in a long time. My family just wants to say thank you. I'm so happy our paths intersected. I do have seeds for YOU. They're all dried and ready to be sent. I just need an address. I'll email you soon and get then on the way. Be well my friend.
Thank so much for the thoughtful comment my friend. Really made my day to read about how you shared the abundance that resulted from the seeds I sent you guys with people in your community. It also means the world to me knowing that you are not only planting the physical seeds I shared but also giving the figurative seeds of ideas and perspectives that I shared with you in my book a fertile space to set down roots. Knowing that you are getting the kids involved in the garden and having discussions at the dinner table (as you told me about another time) asking the hard questions and also opening the imagination to discover previously unseen possibilities, so meaningful brother, truly worth more to me more than any amount of money. And yet you also have helped and continue to help support the aspects of my work that require fiat currency, and, while I sometimes wish I could close out all my bank accounts and just invest it all in the living economy, printing books, shipping seeds and acquiring resources necessary to create community food forests requires money, so thank you very much for that gift as well Steve.
I know what you mean about people being reluctant to accept gifts from "strangers" in today's modern western world, there is a prevailing thinking that has been drilled into people that "there must be a catch" (as they have been conditioned to think that this world is about everybody being out for themselves). I have worked through artificially imposed phycological barriers like that myself on a number of occasions. I wanted to help some people at a place where addicts were recovering from addiction and given housing to connect with nature for healing one time so I reached out to their building manager and helped build raised beds in the vacant grass area behind the building , planted a diversity of crops and invited the residents to tend and harvest. They were very weary to engage with the gardens at first, thinking I set them up for some kind of selfish gain, but after I talked to some of the people, told them stories about the seeds I had planted, how they had helped feed and define cultures that used to call this land home, and how I just wanted them to be able to know the joy of being able to grow their own food, connect with that history and build community, many of them began tending, watering, harvesting and hanging out in the garden. It can be a process in some situations. Thankfully my neighbors are less weary and regularly receive my various fermented preserves, seeds and seedlings (though we are in a relatively small town and they are Mennonite so it is a specific demographic).
I loved your description of the wildlife that visited, such a powerful expression of the potential of gift economics (when paired with regenerative gardening) to ripple out (not just for humans, but for the hummingbirds, insects and goldfinch too).
I will gratefully accept your gift of seeds and will send you my mailing address in an email.
Thanks for reading and for the great comment my friend.
There are so many gems in here, Gavin. I need to delve back into your book this winter. I loved seeing the food forest in Atlanta! Imagine if all the city parks did this...minus the pesticides. I am an eternal optimist, thanks to my Sagittarian sun. I think we will see more and more of this in the coming years.
On the other side, my heart just caved reading about the level of deforestation that has happened where you live. One of the main reasons I ended up in New Hampshire was that it's second only to Maine regarding the amount of forest. That being said, not much of it is old growth. I always try to imagine what that would have been like back in the day. There are a few grandmother/grandfather White Pines and Hemlocks in the woods where I live. They take my breath away.
Thanks for all that you do to educate all of us, Gavin. Happy Solstice, from your Nature Sister to the south. 🌲🌲🌲XO
Yes, I think we should imagine all the city parks doing that, and beyond that those of us near or in cities should actively work to make it happen. I was just saying in a note how I like to covertly contribute to this in our local parks with guerilla gardening style food forest plantings :)
There are more and more community food forests popping up all over (check out this map: https://communityfoodforests.com/community-food-forests-map/ )
Ya the deforestation here can be really tough for me to live with sometimes. At the same time, given how extreme the "generational amnesia" is here (with as I mentioned in my Pine article, over 70% of the kids here have never seen an intact old growth forest, and they are more familiar with corporate logos than trees) I feel as though I have a moral responsibility to the trees and the Earth, to honestly look at this land and what it has endured with eyes wide open, to fully feel the pain of knowing that 99.9% of the forest has been chopped down here and do what Dana O'Driscoll describes as "acknowledgment, witnessing suffering and palliative care" in her Land Healing book. ( for reference, pics of those pages from her book https://archive.org/details/landhealing/IMG_2913.JPG and https://archive.org/details/landhealing/IMG_2914.JPG ). I want the memory of that forest to remain alive, so I hold it in my heart, even though it is hard to do so when I look out at the land here and see mostly a graveyard.
There will come a time when I move away from here to a place with more forest, but while I am here I want to honor the spirit of the forest (and the once magnificent forest that stretched from horizon to horizon here) by living in acknowledgement and baring witness with an open heart. Thank you for doing that along side of me sister, it makes the weight a little more bearable <3
One thing that spirit guided my way to help me cope this year was a customer at the nursery where I work asked me if I had ever been to a small forest conservation area about 20 min drive from our home (near a town called Kingsville) called the Kennedy Woods. I had not and when i zoomed over there after work one day to go on a little walk before it got dark I was astonished to discover that it is an intact forest! Full of 200-400 year old Tulip trees, Oak, Sugar Maple, Lindon, Hickory, Black Walnut, Butternut and American Beech (with groves of old growth Pawpaw trees underneath). I had thought that every last bit of that original Carolinian forest here in Ontario was chopped down about 150 years ago when the government encouraged people to clear the land (seeing forests as "obstacles") and offered them parcels of land if they would chop down all the old growth and sell it to the british navy for their ship masts, but thankfully I was mistaken! This last little gem of biodiversity remains thanks to a guy named Jack Miner (who loved birds and forests) buying the land in 1840 and setting it aside as a park.
Thus, along with baring witness and acknowledging the horrific deforestation that has occurred here, I am also re-directing my creative energy locally to the last patch of (never logged) primary old growth Carolinian Forest (it is only about 400 acres and represents one tenth of one percent of the landmass that used to be covered in that forest 200 years ago where I live but it is beautiful). I have been saving seeds from the elders, recording videos and I hope to write a series of article on that forest in the future.
Thank you for all that you do as well and thank you for the thoughtful comment.
Happy Solstice to you as well Sister.
You are amazing, Gavin! And believe me, the Trees KNOW you are their brother. 🌲🌲💚
The “ ripple” you created with this post, has made it to Seattle & has touched my soul. I plan to research this even more & share this with my family & friends. I have a son that has always possessed this “ gifting” quality. He naturally can give of himself in almost every situation he finds himself in. He never cared for the “ stuff” that most find essential. I call him my “ hippie kid “, but now after reading this, he may just be evolving back to what this world needs more of. I’d like to get him a few books that focus on this. I will reread your post for ideas, unless you can suggest a few for him?
( of course, yours!)
Thank you for this beautiful reminder that gifts of ourselves, are the best gifts to give. And thank you for incorporating the struggle we have with the fake green agenda. Rosa Koire & her book, “ Behind the Green Mask”, was my initiation into this corrupt shift of thinking. She was a brilliant “ giver”, by documenting her struggles with communitarianism. I learned about her just a few years ago, by a reader here on Substack. I’ve been very involved in getting the word out, locally, and pushing back against this agenda. ✌🏼💕
Warm Greetings from the East!
Thank you so much for the heartfelt comment and sharing about your son.
Sometimes children manage to hold onto that innate spark of wisdom, kindness and curiosity (that we all arrived with on Earth) despite modern industrial civilization's often abrasive, mechanistic and materialistic bombardment of artificial ideas, fear based worldviews and outdated dogmas. Some kids manage to keep fanning that flame despite what the ubiquity of what author Martín Prechtel describes as "the numbing monster of modernity". Those kids are very special indeed and I do think that they are what the world needs more of, providing a sort of medicine for the spirit, heart and mind through their living by example, reminding people what humans are capable of.
I would be honored to suggest some books.
Robin Wall Kimmerer's books are all great (Braiding Sweetgrass and her most recent one "The Serviceberry") and I also recommend "The Unlikely Peace at Cuchumaquic: The Parallel Lives of People as Plants: Keeping the Seeds Alive" by Martín Prechtel.
Then for the realm of Regenerative knowledge and perspectives, I share many books I recommend in this post:
https://gavinmounsey.substack.com/p/regenerative-resources-a-recommended
Thank you for speaking the truth and sharing the seeds of gift thinking where you live, I am honored to walk this path along side of you.
Great post as always Gavin, though this one is a real stand out! A lot to reflect on in the holidays. The true gift of giving to those you love and surround yourself with is the best gift you can give yourself. Looking forward to more of your amazing work in the new year.
Thank you for the kind comment Nick and thank you very much for the gift of your donation in becoming a paid subscriber! Your support is appreciated and I look forward to engaging with you in the comments section in the new year.
Dear Gavin. Just thank you so much for such a generous piece of writing - generous in the time dedicated to procuring the piece, generous in spirit and generous toward others. Honestly your input has totally remodelled my own outlook on how to manifest hope and action alongside the practicalities of journeying through this life. I am so honoured to be numbered amongst those who have discovered the life blessing of your work. I will work my way back through this piece with a fine toothed comb, and have material to accompany me admirably into and through the next year, I am sure. May you and your family have a truly peaceful season, and be blessed. In deep gratitude and quiet joy.
Gavin, I also meant to mention that the seeds you sent me with recipes for reciprocity have already travelled well….. a few of them I passed on to other members of a community farm I am a member of. This is a sort of shared ownership venture where every member is offered a share of the community farm and therefore a share in it and it’s running. So those who cannot afford to own land can still “own land”’and have a part in the production of exclusively regeneratively farmed produce. Members are an active community, even at distance around the UK, and although I am some 200 miles distant from “my” farm, via veg deliveries grown on our land that we steward and an active signal group and real time consulting of each other about decisions for the land, and via sharing collectively the practical tasks of building and growing and caring for animals when anyone is near and for those who live near, I am truly a part of that community. So far this project farm seems to have avoided the crumbling to ego that I have witnessed elsewhere in similar set ups, and the farm is thriving - the objective is for food sovereignty for the families involved. It is a dedicated regenerative project. Beyond organic. I sent a few packs of YOUR beautiful seeds to members there who I know will grow amazing produce from them, and save seeds also. Your impact is greater than you can imagine. X
Hey Abi!
Thank you very much for the thoughtful comments, kind well wishes and for sharing updates on how the seeds of gift thinking are setting down roots in your life and rippling out into your community.
The fact the seeds have already found their way into a community project in your neck of the woods is so heartening to hear! Thank you for that :)
I was just looking at this map ( https://communityfoodforests.com/community-food-forests-map/ ) and marvelling at how community food forests are popping up all over the place here on Turtle Island. And I see that similar efforts are beginning in your neck of the woods with projects like this: https://www.theorchardproject.org.uk/news/establishing-urban-food-forests/ and this https://www.goodtogrowuk.org/map/?o=12617
I hope to put a few new blips on that map here in the Eastern Woodlands of Turtle Island in the next couple years myself ;)
I will devote an entire chapter to creating community food forests in my next book as I feel it is one of the most potent ways to engage in gift economics.
I would love to see some pics of how the seeds do for your fellow community farm members next year! Thank you sincerely, for the message.
Wishing you and your family a peaceful, inspiring, joyful and hopeful beginning to winter and a holiday season filled with nourishing meals and good memories.
And here we are, quietly changing the world, without so much as a fanfare. Blessings and gratitude.
:) I love it!
by the way, how is that Egyptian walking onion experiment going? Did you harvest any greens yet?
I did! I decided to leave the majority to see what happens….. however we just had some massive storms and some snow…. It seems to have slowed down 🤣 but it’s still alive! And my Saskatoon stood through the storms like a trooper and has buds! I’m so excited.
That is so awesome about the walking onions and service berry. Both of those plants are tough for cold so even if they go totally dormant during winter they should wake up again in spring.
I often notice walking onion bulbs that have fallen on the soil surface in fall in my garden sitting out totally exposed all winter (facing minus 15-20C some winters and getting buried in snow) and then spring comes along and they root and sprout greens and grow vigorously.
I am excited for you and look forward to more updates in the spring :)
I will send pictures once all my growing is more established. I am a late bloomer and I reckon my garden might also be!
Gavin. I am so humbled to see my name mentioned in your piece (a few times). I want you to know ho much it means to me.....truly!!! I agree with Mary. You are an inspiration. You motivated me to start a garden this year, ferment food, read and learn, consider things I haven't considered before, and truly look at who I am and how I envision the very best version of myself. My garden was a success. We had more than we could use and shared when people were will to be shared with. I had no idea people were so resistant to being given things. It still has me baffled. We shared with several different restaurants, friends, neighbors and herbalists. I saved some seeds and saw wildlife in my garden I've never seen before. The Runner beans brought in the hummingbirds by the dozens and the sunflowers, goldfinch. I learned about the bugs and watched my little ecosystem flourish. I felt a connection and a sense of satisfaction I havent felt in a long time. My family just wants to say thank you. I'm so happy our paths intersected. I do have seeds for YOU. They're all dried and ready to be sent. I just need an address. I'll email you soon and get then on the way. Be well my friend.
Thank so much for the thoughtful comment my friend. Really made my day to read about how you shared the abundance that resulted from the seeds I sent you guys with people in your community. It also means the world to me knowing that you are not only planting the physical seeds I shared but also giving the figurative seeds of ideas and perspectives that I shared with you in my book a fertile space to set down roots. Knowing that you are getting the kids involved in the garden and having discussions at the dinner table (as you told me about another time) asking the hard questions and also opening the imagination to discover previously unseen possibilities, so meaningful brother, truly worth more to me more than any amount of money. And yet you also have helped and continue to help support the aspects of my work that require fiat currency, and, while I sometimes wish I could close out all my bank accounts and just invest it all in the living economy, printing books, shipping seeds and acquiring resources necessary to create community food forests requires money, so thank you very much for that gift as well Steve.
I know what you mean about people being reluctant to accept gifts from "strangers" in today's modern western world, there is a prevailing thinking that has been drilled into people that "there must be a catch" (as they have been conditioned to think that this world is about everybody being out for themselves). I have worked through artificially imposed phycological barriers like that myself on a number of occasions. I wanted to help some people at a place where addicts were recovering from addiction and given housing to connect with nature for healing one time so I reached out to their building manager and helped build raised beds in the vacant grass area behind the building , planted a diversity of crops and invited the residents to tend and harvest. They were very weary to engage with the gardens at first, thinking I set them up for some kind of selfish gain, but after I talked to some of the people, told them stories about the seeds I had planted, how they had helped feed and define cultures that used to call this land home, and how I just wanted them to be able to know the joy of being able to grow their own food, connect with that history and build community, many of them began tending, watering, harvesting and hanging out in the garden. It can be a process in some situations. Thankfully my neighbors are less weary and regularly receive my various fermented preserves, seeds and seedlings (though we are in a relatively small town and they are Mennonite so it is a specific demographic).
I loved your description of the wildlife that visited, such a powerful expression of the potential of gift economics (when paired with regenerative gardening) to ripple out (not just for humans, but for the hummingbirds, insects and goldfinch too).
I will gratefully accept your gift of seeds and will send you my mailing address in an email.
Thanks for reading and for the great comment my friend.
Thanks Gavin. Always a fantastic response full of goodness and examples of spreading that goodness. Be well my friend.
So beautiful, Steve!
Thank you
Gavin, this is an EPIC post, and I'm honored to play my teeny tiny part. You're an inspiration. 🙏🏼
Thank you Mary, I appreciate the gift of your attention and time in reading what I put together and the gift of your kind comment.