Learning to Grow, Learning to Grieve: Ferment Collective Resilience

Building on this approach, Michelle Teran will lead a curriculum of four interconnected gatherings at the Regenerative Garden of the Spore Initiative. Each meeting is structured around a practical technique and introduces participants to fermentation and composting methods used in natural farming. Working with locally available ingredients—plants harvested at different stages of their growth cycles, organic matter, rainwater, soil, and indigenous microorganisms—participants will collectively produce soil amendments that enhance microbial activity and support healthy plant growth. At the same time, these shared practices create space to name ecological grief and attend to the emotions that arise through close engagement with damaged and changing environments. 

The series continues on July 5 with Ferment Collective Resilience, a soft score in which harvested garlic will be used to prepare Oriental Herbal Nutrient (OHN). OHN is a vital input in Natural Farming. Made from herbs such as garlic, ginger, Angelica acutiloba, licorice, and cinnamon, OHN cultivates resilience in plants and revitalizes and activates their growth. This soft score will also be a meditation on cultivating collective resilience in the face of climate and environmental crises. 

Each session in this series emphasizes ways of listening and responding that are informed by care—both for the land and for one another. Attendees will be invited to observe what is growing, what is ready for harvest, what needs support, and what is dying away. Engagement with materials and their transformation, harvesting and cooking, recipes for people and soil, co-regulation with daily news, questions for reflection, exploratory walks, and other forms of collective action are to be expected. 

The insights and practices developed through these gatherings will be documented as soft scores: flexible sets of instructions or guidelines for collective action. These scores will be included in the Times in Common participatory space. These soft scores are designed to be responsive to the evolving dynamics of those involved, including people, plants, and other more-than-human participants.    

In our third session in September, the focus will be on cultivating and cooking—but–not–overcooking—Indigenous microorganisms. In October, after the ground is moist from rainfall, the series will end with a public gathering and presentation. Visitors will spread soil amendments throughout the Spore's garden. These amendments will boost microbial activity in preparation for the next growing season.

This workshop is part of the series Planting Communities – Learning to Grow, Learning to Grieve.