Nick Routledge@AgrarianSharing
Reply to @AgrarianSharing

A complex, holistic ethic powerfully shapes our cultivar choices too, underlying a visionary form of agro-ecological stewardship wedded to regenerative social-physicianship in the beauty twice-realized of bio-cultural combinations that functionally 'click'.m.youtube.com/watch?si=MChx3y1Wau04oPbR&t=110&v=rTUYzb7aOxc&feature=youtu.be

Copy of handwritten label attached to bunched scion of 'Ayers' pear.
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Copy of handwritten label attached to bunched scion of 'Ayers' pear.

With the inexorable march of global capitalism, the results have been dismally predictable. Large- scale agribusiness has narrowed its commercial seal of approval to a tiny handful of pears suitable to mono-cultural production, highly-technical and scientifically-sophisticated post-harvest storage protocols, and year-round global distribution. Wherever pears were traditionally farmed, a dizzying array of locally-available choices has now been reduced to a tiny, predictable cluster of supermarket-suited varieties. Bluntly put, we have experienced a greater loss of diversity in pear culture, than in any other tree fruit or nut crop and with it, the aesthetic cost to humankind, our gardens and farms has been staggering.
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With the inexorable march of global capitalism, the results have been dismally predictable. Large- scale agribusiness has narrowed its commercial seal of approval to a tiny handful of pears suitable to mono-cultural production, highly-technical and scientifically-sophisticated post-harvest storage protocols, and year-round global distribution. Wherever pears were traditionally farmed, a dizzying array of locally-available choices has now been reduced to a tiny, predictable cluster of supermarket-suited varieties. Bluntly put, we have experienced a greater loss of diversity in pear culture, than in any other tree fruit or nut crop and with it, the aesthetic cost to humankind, our gardens and farms has been staggering.

Meanwhile, grassroots fruit enthusiasts continue to press on with efforts to recover the light of beauty from the contagion of an economic-value system which demands the destruction of eco-cultural diversity as a central, evolutionary effect and requirement. In this regard, I sometimes wonder if our ready local access to the most globally-diverse collection of pears on this planet, and our clear sense of the palpable connection between beauty, biodiversity, and the deep sanity of an aesthetic approach to cultural stewardship which transcends the philistinic lunacy integral to the death cult of dollar zombiehood, positions us particularly well amidst larger efforts to return the world to beauty, sanity, health and true health. Where Bruce Sanguin suggests "The loss of diversity is a loss of divine radiance from the earth," then what does the rebirth of a rich and vital local pear culture fully imply?
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Meanwhile, grassroots fruit enthusiasts continue to press on with efforts to recover the light of beauty from the contagion of an economic-value system which demands the destruction of eco-cultural diversity as a central, evolutionary effect and requirement. In this regard, I sometimes wonder if our ready local access to the most globally-diverse collection of pears on this planet, and our clear sense of the palpable connection between beauty, biodiversity, and the deep sanity of an aesthetic approach to cultural stewardship which transcends the philistinic lunacy integral to the death cult of dollar zombiehood, positions us particularly well amidst larger efforts to return the world to beauty, sanity, health and true health. Where Bruce Sanguin suggests "The loss of diversity is a loss of divine radiance from the earth," then what does the rebirth of a rich and vital local pear culture fully imply?

Chris Homanics with the Agrarian Sharing Network stands at the back of his pickup with bags of processed scion for some 150 pear cultivars now headed toward a cooler for storage until our network of spring propagation fairs kick off in early March.
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Chris Homanics with the Agrarian Sharing Network stands at the back of his pickup with bags of processed scion for some 150 pear cultivars now headed toward a cooler for storage until our network of spring propagation fairs kick off in early March.