With even a quick glance at the way our culture discusses creativity, we see verbs like unleash, spark, rekindle, and unblock.

Is creativity some ferocious, wild thing which we, or others, have found the need to shackle and tether? What makes us decide to ‘unleash’ such a dangerous force?

Is it a flame, extinguished? Or a potential flame, not yet started? Why did it go out? Did we fear it would consume us?

Others put creativity in terms closer to the heart: that we are blocked and need to be unblocked, as though the only solution is some kind of mental angioplasty that will clear the way for us to express ourselves again.

I wouldn’t deny that some of these metaphors are sometimes useful, but they all seem too limited in scope, and too tangled up in negative connotations.

I’m drawn to the idea of creativity as a kind of agriculture of the mind. It seems a more positive, even fertile way of understanding the process, the role it can play in our life, and the yields we might expect from it.

In agriculture, there are nuanced and potent verbs:

• plow
• till
• cultivate
• fertilize
• prune

And possible insights into technique and process:

• crop rotation
• pollination services
• intercropping
• harvesting
• composting

It can help us understand what we hope to produce: What are growing? For whom? Why?

Are we just trying to feed ourselves, taking our crop to a farmer’s market, or growing a commodity?

What is our ultimate product?

• Iceberg lettuce or arugula?
• Fresh blueberries or blueberry jam?
• Organic corn for handmade tamales or commodity corn to feed cattle?
• Are we devoted to heirloom tomatoes, even if those around us don’t appreciate the distinction?

And reconsidering creativity as agriculture uncovers dozens of useful questions, such as:

• How do we protect our fields from blight and pestilence?
• What role do machines play?
• Do we clear our fields by hand, or burn them into the ground?
• What is the best way to prune for the kind of growth we desire?
• What are the essential daily chores?
• How do we ensure our crops are as nutritious as we’d like them to be?
• What’s the right mix of plants? What needs shade, what needs sun, and how much space does each need?
• Just how patient will we need to be?
• Are we planting the right things for this soil, for this season, and this climate?
• How do we prepare for the next season? What should we do during the winter?

This is rich soil, and this is the territory I’ll be exploring on this site.

You can follow the latest blog posts on the topic here.

I hope you join me in this exploration, and share your thoughts along the way.

Happy farming!