A GARDENING BLOG? I THOUGHT IF YOU STARTED A BLOG YOU'D DO SOMETHING MORE POLITICAL?

I got this question from my cousin.  It was quite interesting to me and has stuck in my thoughts.  My immediate response to him was that it's so political.  I think I actually channeled the spirit of an old black woman and said something like, "Oh, it's all wrapped up in there honey.  It's all there.  It's much more than just putting a plant in the ground and tending to it while it grows."

I think it has stuck with me because I found it so, uhm... ironic?

Right now urban gardening integrates all my politics, all my life lessons and history, all my passions, joys, obsessions, dreams  -- It has become all of that condensed, focused and put at the tip of a needle ready to pierce a hole through the fabric of common conception about city gardening and how it's supposed to be done.  Don't get me wrong though.  I'm not unique in my perspective here.  There are many amazing urban gardening projects that continue to inspire me.  People who are acting my vision to feed their community.  What I'm excited about is nothing new.  But it's new to me and definitely new to my community.

The Dream
My neighborhood growing it's own food and preserving it's desirable characteristics.  It's that simple.  How we get there is kinda complex.  As I've been learning and practicing growing food and dreaming and thinking about community preservation I have some ideas for how to start.

In my community eight 3,000 sq. ft. lots  outfitted with a solar roofed shed and massive water storage systems (with compostable toilets) would be a good start.  One of the lots as the greenhouse - the other 7 on a yearly crop rotation cycle. Each garden would grow 1 "core" crop.

The programming associated would involve honor and purpose for our elders, youth mentorship, a reworking of what's valued as currency and challenging journeys to reconnect with power that is not an illusion.  I'd say it was my sci-fi utopian dream if I weren't so earthly serious about making it happen.  It's my path right now. That makes me very happy.

Articulating the political through this blog will be interesting.  I'm pretty over heady rants - though I'll always love a dramatic monologue!  At this point I'm more inclined to tell the right story of my dreams.   My garden, my ancestors, my spirits want that for me.  So this blog intends to chronicle what happens.  In the garden and in the community.  As I listen to my dreams and sew a new quilt.    A quilt that the community can snuggle up in for a big HUG!


From Sandy:
this post is a work in progress.  i'm not entirely sure how i feel about posting an incomplete thought.  darned perfectionist genes, blargh!  though i feel like i go way back in the soil biz, all this garden / urban agriculture business is quite new to me and i'm still working it out.  i'd love to hear other people's thoughts about urban agriculture and community work.