Celebrating a regenerative new reality

“Nature is the antidote to humanity’s wounds.”—Zach Bush

Happy 222!! I’m so excited to announce this year’s Taz Grout 222 Foundation grants. Our mission, as you know, is to create a new normal so, as Buckminster Fuller said, the old normal will become obsolete.

We don’t seek to change things per se (that, my friends, is counterproductive and only creates resistance), but to celebrate a more nourishing way of life, a bigger possibility. We intend that our new vision will be SO compelling, SO alluring that people CAN’T WAIT to jump on board.  

Rather than railing about injustice, we honor people and projects that bring health, wholeness and big love to the world. We showcase restorative stories, new ways of approaching life with joy and creativity. We celebrate all efforts to move our world from a consumption model to a production model. After all, each of us has so much to give!!!!  

After seeing the excellent movie, Common Ground, (go see it if you can), we decided to focus our grants this year on regenerative agriculture. Like the Taz Grout 222 Foundation, regenerative agriculture celebrates the web of life that connects us all.

It restores soil, sequesters carbon, creates beauty, boosts health, brings people together and basically relies on Mother Nature to do her glorious thing.

So with no further adieu, here are the honorees of this year’s Taz Grout 222 Foundation:

Gilliard Farms. Jupiter Gilliard bought 457 acres of farmland in coastal Brunswick, Georgia in 1874 soon after being freed from slavery. Today, his great-great-great grandchildren, Matthew and Althea Raiford and Matthew’s wife, Tia, are restoring the land, growing medicinal gardens and promoting the Gullah/Geechee culture from which they hail.

Tia and Matthew are both professional chefs. In fact, they first met at the Culinary Institute of America and have worked at some pretty impressive venues—from the House of Representative to the Olympics. Their mission is to awaken the soil, awaken people and as Tia says, create ever more opportunities for abundance and inner-connections.

I first learned about the Raifords from Farmer’s Footprint, an innovative nonprofit working “to accelerate regenerative food systems as a way to restore human and planetary health.” It was co-founded by Dr. Zach Bush who noticed the link between industrialized agriculture practices and plummeting health. Bush, who also happens to be a Course in Miracles student, continuously inspires me with this beautiful vision for humanity’s future.

2. The second honoree is AGILE International, a program in Mali, Africa, that secures farmland for rural women who have been pushed out by large-scale industrial farms. Started by Fatou Doumbia, who moved to the States in the 90’s, Agile International gives women the opportunity to own their own land and therefore control their own destiny. Agile’s motto is “Growing Food, Nourishing Minds and Flourishing Culture.”  And, yes, they use regenerative farming methods that restore their ancient lands and ancient wisdom.

3. The Sunrise Project. This project, right here in my hometown, is not only growing food, but it brings people together with free community meals, weekly gatherings and what I call “Show and Tell,” a monthly forum letting people stand and brag about their creative gifts. As I said in Art and Soul, Reloaded, “Why is this not a normal thing?”

We are sponsoring the Taz Grout 222 Community Orchard, a free food park where anyone can pick ripe fruit. Located near the William S. Burroughs Trail (Yes, the famous beat poet spent the last 16 years of his life in Lawrence, Kansas), the orchard is part of Sunrise Project’s mission to build an equitable community for people of all ages and experience to live self-determined, healthy and meaningful lives.  

Thank you to everyone who has supported our mission over the years—from sending hedgehogs and 222’s to lavishing me with non-stop love.

Here’s to Taz who always stood for loving fiercely, creating relentlessly and doing quiet, kind things for the underdog.

She also just reminded me to add this little bit: “Hug a tree, plant a seed and walk barefoot whenever you can. Nature will take it from there.”

So as always, #222 Forever!

Pam Grout is the author of 20 books including E-Squared, E-Cubed, Thank & Grow Rich and her latest book, The Course in Miracles Experiment: A Starter Kit for Rewiring Your Mind (And Therefore Your World)