Gardening, the First Profession

One often hears it said that prostitution is or was the first profession. I have no idea where that opinion originates. I see no truth in it. In fact, I find it annoying, as it almost seems to want to give credibility to something that should not even exist.

Whether you believe that God created the earth, as I do, as taught in the Judeo-Christian and Islamic traditions, or in the theory (yes, my friends, it is still only a theory) of evolution, neither of these would place prostitution as the first profession. The Jewish-Christian Scripture clearly states in the beginning of Genesis, the first book in The Bible, that God gave the first humans he created the task of looking after the garden (Eden) they were placed in. To this was added the double duty of being allowed to have dominion over the earth along with being responsible for replenishing it. Parenthetically, mankind, especially as the human race has become more industrialized, has kept the first part of this commission, but hasn't done so well on the 2nd part. Those who believe in evolution would see the first humans as hunter-gatherers, although I'm not sure they would call that a profession. I think they would call the transition to an agrarian society the change that brought on the first profession of gardener/farmer.

Gardening, and from that the outgrowth of farming and other forms of horticulture including keeping vineyards and orchards, is a somewhat unique profession. In the first place, it helped keep up the food supply when man may have initially been more vegetarian. We don't know much about the carnivorous side of man from the Judeo-Christian or Islamic scriptures, but it wasn't until after The Flood that God is recorded as giving Noah, the head of the household that survived the flood, the go-ahead to eat meat. That may have been a matter of expediency, as it may have been some time after this terrible flood before vegetable growth could provide food.

The other unique thing about this whole occupational field is that almost anyone who begins to take part in it remains “hooked.” There is just something about seeing things grow, blossom and bring forth vegetables or fruit that captivates those involved in this. In fact, in our urban society, with its increasing numbers of troubled children and youth, it is interesting to see how many groups, agencies and programs incorporate gardening into working with the young, and with good results.

Nowadays, there is increased interest in this area with the dawning of the realization that our fossil fuel-assisted food transportation systems, which had evolved to a global scale, bringing us exotic produce from all corners of the globe, was an unrealistic venture, and is not sustainable. Some of the byproducts of this have been the inappropriate use of the resource of water and land. We thus have areas of the United States of America, for example, where deserts were irrigated to grow produce now not having enough water for their citizens' use. On the other hand, we have untold hectares of land around the world that have been deforested, with the results often that this land becomes denuded of any vegetation. This leads to more flooding with further erosion and loss of soil, further reducing the amount of arable land available and in some places turning areas into desert.

With increasing urbanization of the population over the past couple of centuries, many lost touch with the land and where their food came from. However, with the rise of suburbs in the last century, many homeowners were able to have their own garden plots in their backyards. Then, even this became threatened again though with the decrease in size of property lots and increase in size of homes on the lots, and a renewed move to building of apartment complexes of various types.

Again, there were those who, perhaps having come directly from a background where they were involved in gardening and farming, persisted in growing things wherever they could. Thus, you have people creating garden spaces on balconies, rooftop decks and in vacant urban lots. Now, urban areas are increasingly seeing the value of setting aside the last for food production, with the increasing costs of bringing food from a distance. A variety of methods of more mass gardening are also being tried in various cities. In Vancouver we have the example of a car park being turned into a greenhouse. In Montréal, greenhouses are being built on top of large industrial buildings.

Much of this can be referred to by the new catchphrase when it comes to gardening and farming, that of  "sustainable food production." Part of this involves looking at food production that does not involve the continued and excessive use of herbicides, pesticides and other chemicals including artificially made fertilizers. Increasing attention is being paid to natural means of dealing with weeds, pests and soil enrichment. Some of this comes under the umbrella of "organic."

All of this creates some hope that we may be able to once again grow enough food for ourselves much nearer to home, and in much less industrialized ways. Indeed, the first profession shows promise of living on, and with it the human race. Of course, as our Scriptures tell us, the God who first gave us our marching orders, because of our failures, has also told us that this world will come to an end, despite our best efforts. However, that is another story, and certainly not a reason to give up on what we are doing. Indeed, I do not believe God would want us to do that, as that would be submitting to the same evil that spelled the doom of this planet. That evil has been overcome, but the consequences of its influence will still ensue.