Stand and Deliver

Is gardening a political act?

My last post seemed to open the floodgates to debate on my political affiliations and my philosophical standpoint, which I found mildly flattering, highly amusing and ultimately somewhat perplexing.

From ultra-conservative Rush Limbaugh on one end of the scale to founder of anarchist thought Prince Petr Kropotkin on the other, my desire to grow vegetables on my balcony seems to have struck an altogether more political chord.

The highly amused Brit in me wants to say: "What utter bollocks!", but I was too well brought-up for that so I did a bit of research into the subject and the results have been interesting, if not exactly surprising.

Generating food for ourselves is a political act.   We maintain sovereignty and sufficiency by doing so. ... (anonymous Mohawk/Algonquin farmer.)

I've touched on guerrilla gardening before and the history of the Diggers in Great Britain, and discussed the resurgence of so-called Victory gardening both in the US and the UK. It would seem that growing your own fruit and vegetables has some pretty radical roots, does it not?

The desire to "take back the land" and somehow cut out the middle man from the food chain, the goal of having some sort of control over your own destiny: it's pretty heady stuff. Mind you, I've noticed from trawling around the Internet and checking out various articles that there's something of a divide amongst the Brits and the Americans when it comes to the political side of things.

This is a sweeping generalisation, but the US side of blogging/articles seems to come down firmly on the "gardening as political act". In The Blog Generation Takes Up Its Trowels - The New York Times:

"I'm thinking about gardening as a radical political act," said Fritz Haeg, 34, an architect who teaches in the environmental design program at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Calif. "It means completely questioning the way we live, the way we get our food, the way we use and abuse natural resources, the way we occupy public space." Mr. Haeg plays host at a monthly salon that draws a young, flamboyant crowd. Events are themed "avant-garde knitting" was a recent topic.

I have no earthly idea what "avant-garde knitting" is. I'm not sure I even want to know, to be honest.

And again, from Victory gardens sprout up again - Los Angeles Times:

"For me, it's much more a political question than a gardening question," Young said, adding that when her family moved to the house 10 years ago, she asked: "What are we doing with all this grass?" Though she claimed she had too little time to be a top-notch gardener, last month beets, carrots, lettuces, basil and parsley were growing steps from her front door. Gardening, she said, is one thing she can do, "a step in the right direction."

Maybe it has something to do with the fact that people in the US are citizens, whereas the population of the UK are subjects. You take your rights very seriously indeed: it's written into your constitution. We put two fingers up at authority and say "Bollocks to you, Queenie."

Because I've noticed that the UK side of Victory gardening, Guerrilla gardening and so on has a very distinct air of mischief about it. It feels more like being a pirate and seeing how much you can get away with before the Lord of the Land takes your tools away.

So you can see why I'm amused at the discussion of my political affiliations. I don't really have any. The Lord of the Land annoys me, but I just get on with things and see how much I can get away with. I'm descended from pirates and peasants and I have very low expectations.

You landed on the Moon: our Hadron Collider fell over. You protested against Vietnam and burned draft cards: we put garden turf on Winston Churchill's head. We don't really complain much (we grumble but we don't actively complain) and we don't like to make a fuss.

I'm planting vegetables on my balcony because no one's told me I can't. Yet. And if they do, I'll just find somewhere else to plant them.

So, my pesky political affiliations? Probably nearer to Wavy Gravy with a dash of Vivian Stanshall. What I do matters to me and it's a nice thing to do, and it's a bit of a laugh.

Zen Brit: there you go. Have some fun with that.

Comments

[Listener #109577]

Well hooray for Wavy Gravy and Vivian Stanshall both!

Gardening is, above all, a human act -- it is something that only humans do. Politics, however, is something that many animals (especially primates) do.

[K]

Nonsense! Other creatures are known to garden; what comes immediately to mind are ants. Here's an extreme sample.

http://news.ncsu.edu/news/2008/01/dcelsapnas.php

More generally, ants garden fungi. See this for example.

http://herbarium.usu.edu/fungi/FunFacts/Ant_gard.htm

On an unrelated subject, this Easter weekend I celebrated in true gnostic fashion by laying out the body of the dead Christ for resurrection. I dug His body out of my composter and spread him upon the prepared beds. Truth to tell, he kind of stank, a little too much anaerobic bacteria there... But anyhoo, he sunk into the earth to do battle with the forces of the underworld. Soon enough, he'll resurrect in the form of delicious vegetables! Whatta champ!

As regards politics; what's the point of feeding trolls like Rags? He'll never put a seed in the ground, or do much of anything else productive, without someone paying him to. Such people are basically slaves, and their opinions aren't of much worth.

[illlich]

You know. . . it's not necessarily unhealthy or unpatriotic for a citizen to ask that their country do some things for them; we pay taxes, we should get some some modicum of service for that money. In a democracy it's OUR government, not the property of some royal family. I'm not talking about a "nanny-state" (as conservatives love to harp on about), I'm not asking Obama to come wipe my ass for me (as some conservatives would love to ask him to do, ironically), but face it-- what can you or I or any nameless average citizen do about massive bank failures, international terrorism/piracy, infectious diseases, public transportation/sanitation, police/fire, etc.

A great faux headline in The Onion: "Libertarian Reluctantly Calls Fire Department."

Is gardening a selfish thing (because you're not supporting a supermarket conglomerate, thus adding another strain on the economy), or a good community thing (because you're helping drive down the cost of vegetables by reducing demand at the supermarket)?

Anything can be a "political act" if you treat it as such: wearing a pink ribbon, getting a tattoo, buying a certain brand of coffee or cheese or car, watering your lawn or not watering your lawn, etc etc etc.

Gardening is just a nice thing to do. You get to watch the plants grow, fruit, and then reap the rewards. If I thought of it as a political act I would probably enjoy it a lot less.

[GeorgyGirl]

Listener #109577 - "Gardening is, above all, a human act -- it is something that only humans do."

Absolutely, and it makes you connect back with all that lovely soil. And with your family. And your neighbours. Proper visceral connections that make life worthwhile. It's not about telephones and tax returns: it's just about digging and growing and having a cup of tea out in the sun when you've finished.

[GeorgyGirl]

K - "As regards politics; what's the point of feeding trolls like Rags? He'll never put a seed in the ground, or do much of anything else productive, without someone paying him to. Such people are basically slaves, and their opinions aren't of much worth."

Maybe not - but they're a potential springboard for debate. Even trolls have their uses, albeit rather narrow ones. I've noticed the Obamas coming under criticism for gardening organically, and although that seems like an utterly ludicrous criticism it *has* also sparked debate on the Internet as to the merits of chemicals vs. non-chemicals. It's made people think a bit more, which is always a good thing. Trolls may not think, but we do. :)

[GeorgyGirl]

illlich - I realise that Governments have a duty to deal with things that as faceless, nameless individuals we don't have the resources or power to deal with. I just think it becomes unhealthy when we expect them not only to deal with everything, but to not step up to the plate ourselves and ask what we can do to help. That was the point of my last post, albeit in a roundabout way! :)

"Gardening is just a nice thing to do. You get to watch the plants grow, fruit, and then reap the rewards. If I thought of it as a political act I would probably enjoy it a lot less."

Yep. In a nutshell. ;)

[trouble]

The sentiment of gardening being a political act, or knitting for that matter, stems more from an anti-market strategy than a "we can take over the white house" tone. Unfortunately in the US we have a very mixed message that comes across from on high. That is that the market economy is supposed to be viewed as 'good for one, good for all". As in we are supposed to do our patriotic duty at present and shop to get ourselves out of financial crisis. As if we were the powers that got us into this mess... Ours is a modern age that is a step away from being a robot to the "new and improved" and we don't even see how we, the voting public, is being duped into shopping versus voting.

[GeorgyGirl]

trouble - "we don't even see how we, the voting public, is being duped into shopping versus voting"

I seem to be doing less of either as time goes on.

[Smuj]

Um... I planted some tomatoes this afternoon. I did it 'cos they'll taste nice.

[K]

"There seems to be but three ways for a nation to acquire wealth. The first is by war, as the Romans did, in plundering their conquered neighbors. This is robbery. The second is by commerce, which is generally cheating. The third by agriculture, the only honest way; wherein man receives a real increase of the seed thrown into the ground in a kind of continual miracle"
-Ben Franklin-

[GeorgyGirl]

Smuj - Good for you! What kind?

[GeorgyGirl]

K - Ben Franklin. Ya gotta love him. :)

[faulty basil]

Darling!
The Arugula is wilting! Can you step away from the Intertube Interlocutor and water the fuckers?

Stop with all the wankin' and show us some pitchers of your progress - if there is any.

[K]

A pic of the 1 square foot cover crop please! That's a piece of farm performance art.

[GeorgyGirl]

faulty basil - Patience, darling, patience... all will be revealed, I promise.