Last week, WFMU.org reader Dale questioned my use of the term "ghetto germination station" in my post and I replied that:
There really is no other way of putting it - I live in Government assisted housing in an urban ghetto on a low wage. This blog is about making the most of that situation and empowering both myself and any readers who take up the gauntlet to transform their lives.
Dictionary.com defines the word "ghetto" as:
- a section of a city, esp. a thickly populated slum area, inhabited predominantly by members of an ethnic or other minority group, often as a result of social or economic restrictions, or hardships.
There's certainly a growing wealth of material on the Internet about so-called ghetto and white trash gardening, about the need to transform not only our surroundings and our circumstances, but also reduce our carbon footprint by reusing the amount of garbage we produce.
According to Zero Footprint, the average American produces a staggering 12.6 tonnes of CO2 per year in garbage and fuel consumption, and whilst recycling is both necessary and encouraged to try and reduce some of that carbon load, there are still concerns from environmental groups globally that the recycling process can use up to twice the amount of energy and produce twice the amount of pollution in the process.
So, the mantra "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" really comes into play here.
- REDUCE: fairly self-explanatory - try not to buy things which are heavily packaged in the first place. That can mean anything from going to a local greengrocer or farmers market rather than the supermarket, which is preferable and admirable, but not necessarily affordable, to growing as much of your own produce as possible. Both cost money, and this is where ghetto gardening comes in.
- REUSE: again, fairly self-explanatory - instead of throwing away the plastic and the glass and the metal, you make something else out of it, whether it's a house or a wind chime. Again, this is where ghetto gardening comes in.
- RECYCLE: really your last port of call, given the carbon footprint of washing, transportation to a depot, treatment, manufacture and transport back to a retail outlet. Don't stop recycling by any means, just don't make it the first thing you do with your waste.
So, we're back to that ghetto word again.
Ghetto was originally the name of an island in 16th century Venice where Jews were forced to live; here's an interesting passage from Jewish Topographies by Julia Brauch, Anna Liphardt and Alexandra Nocke about gardening in the wartime Jewish ghettos of Lodz:
The United Nations Development Programme declared the US to have the highest percentage rate in the developed world of persons living on less than 50% of the national median income. Figures in 2008 showed the US unemployment rate to be 7.20% and growing.
So, yes - the word ghetto does have negative historical and media associations, but a lot of us do live in them, and if the statistics are anything to go by then a lot more of us will be living in them sooner than we'd care to.
The point is, it doesn't have to be negative and nasty. It's fun to look at your garbage and figure out what you can do with it; potato peelings in the compost, plastic water bottle into a germinator, Styrofoam cup for some seedlings, old bent forks into a wind chime. It's a little weird too, I'll grant you that, but how much better to embrace your circumstances, hold your head up high and say: "I may be poor, but I'm not gonna let it get to me"?
Here are some great articles to check out:
How Does Your Ghetto Grow?
Greening the Ghetto
Guerrilla Gardening
Who Cares?
Posted by: Surfin' Bird | February 28, 2009 at 03:26 PM
I care. I think it's very interesting and more importantly, very helpful. I'm a student in one of the cheapest rented houses on one of the slummiest streets of my city, and buying vegetables from the supermarket eats up a large amount of my loan. I'm looking at ways I can do some guerrilla gardening myself.
Besides which, Surfin' Bird, if you're not interested why comment? No need to be an asshat.
Posted by: Richard | February 28, 2009 at 04:05 PM
we're all going to need guerrilla gardening soon.
if you have hardly any space and a black thumb, start out with wheat grass.
Posted by: zom-bot | February 28, 2009 at 06:50 PM
You all need it now, but you don't yet know it.
The real deal with outdoor plot and hand tools is the thing to aim at. Community gardens are a good resource; sadly the NYCity ones have been slowly destroyed to make way for those all important condos. It's a great stress reliever. There's a visceral appeal to digging out those big clots of quackgrass/etc and preparing a rich warm earth for seed. Are their Freudian overtones here? You betcha! Plus a big endorphine rush when you flop exhausted onto the futon from the intense physical activity.
Was it as good for you as it was for me? We'll know when we eat the children.
The indoor gardening thing is more cerebral; but the end product still gets the tastebuds singing. The real challenge to be met in making this work is getting enough light. Some kind of grow light is usually necessary unless you have terrific southern exposure. Getting out on the fire escape helps here, but now you have the problem of everything being high off the ground and prone to freezing or just wind damage. Consider a wind break.
Posted by: K | February 28, 2009 at 07:57 PM
Ideas for human scale, high yield, limited space gardening can be found in the John Jeavons Book "How To Grow More Vegetables*, (*than you ever thought possible on less land than you can possibly imagine)". I think it's got some great ideas, many of which I have used to grow food and make compost.
Posted by: Jeffersonic | March 01, 2009 at 05:33 AM
GeorgyGirl, did I offend you? I just thought calling an upside down plastic milk jug or whatever a cloche was a bit cheeky (and saying 'ghetto' in NYC can get you dirty looks in some circles). I plant tomato and pepper plants in old drywall buckets. I have a rather large compost heap in the backyard. I'm far from elitist.
Posted by: Dale | March 01, 2009 at 05:45 PM
Dale!! No offense at all, sweetie! :)
I thought that your comment was an interesting one, and a good starting point to address the negative connotations that "ghetto" has. Consider yourself this week's muse! :)
Posted by: GeorgyGirl | March 02, 2009 at 05:19 AM
Growing Your Garden the Earth Friendly Way by Peter Tonge is a great resource for growing your own food. He gives some wonderful overviews esp. on French-intensive (high yield low space)and no dig gardening. No dig is awesome for small space growing.
He also gives good composting tips.
Posted by: EPC | March 02, 2009 at 07:09 PM