July 29, 2005 link
If you ask the average gardener why they do it, you’ll probably get a shrug and a mumbled reply about how they “just enjoy it”.
Or they might talk vaguely about “peacefulness” or “satisfaction”. If they’ve got a chip on their shoulder, they might lecture you about “locally grown produce” or “slow food”.
To me, none of these reasons can adequately summarize the myriad subconscious factors that influence the gardener’s mind. There isn’t one single reason; there are many reasons. Here are a few possible factors:
- Peacefulness? Lots of people talk about the peacefulness of being in the garden. Frankly, I don’t understand it. When I’m in the garden, I’m engaged in a constant battle to keep things watered, keep the weeds out, keep the mulch in its place, keep the vines contained, etc. When you understand the vigorous forces of nature, the idea of peace seems laughable. Perhaps it is not “peace” that people appreciate, but a sense of order. The seasonal forces of growth and decay are constant and unchanging, and there is great comfort in it.
- Rebellion! A food garden, in particular, is an act of rebellion against consumerism. A compost heap is a slap in its face.
- Discovery: For the scientifically curious, a garden is a laboratory. What combination of factors will produce the best results?
- Idealism: Gardeners have an ability to envision a better world. In their tiny way, they are working to bring their visions to reality. I’ll wager that you’ll never meet a pessimist gardener.
- Tradition: Gardening connects us to our agricultural roots. The scent of soil conjures the ancient memory of something sacred.
- Social Expectations: I suppose some people grow flowers in their yard because they hope to be admired by their neighbors.
- Satisfaction: Gardening is about creating something beautiful and wholesome from a handful of nondescript seeds and a pile of dirt. Like a sculptor, the gardener shapes clay into a work of art.
- Love: We establish trees because we are confident that someone in 50 or 100 years will appreciate them. We plant roses because they serve no other purpose than being beautiful.
What am I forgetting? There must be at least a hundred other reasons. Tell me why you do it.
July 27, 2005 link
Gallery updates have been posted. These are all from the front container garden.
July 23, 2005 link
Is “local food” an elitist idea? I recently got a subscription to Mother Earth News, which I originally thought was a hippie magazine. I have discovered that it is actually a glossy, attractive magazine with sunny, optimistic articles like “Enjoy the Real Food Revival” and “What is Green Building?”.
I honestly enjoy the magazine, and what follows is intended to raise questions, not to unfairly criticize a magazine which is trying its best.
The new issue (Aug/Sep 2005) has a long article by the best-selling author, Barbara Kingsolver, in which she describes how her family raises their own food on a farm in Virginia. She talks about their large vegetable gardens, their homemade breads and pastas, their local community of grass-based dairy farmers and winemakers. It sounds like paradise. Kingsolver then appeals to the consciences of her readers to make more responsible choices about their food.
But what about those who are not best-selling authors? Most ordinary folks cannot afford to own a beautiful farm in Virginia (which—as far as I can tell—is not a commercial enterprise, but a family hobby farm). Who has the time to bake all their own breads and pastas? Clearly, everybody could make better food choices—but it’s significantly harder when you’re not surrounded by organic dairies.
If you don’t have a steady stream of book royalty checks in your mailbox, how can your family afford anything close to the paradise that Kingsolver describes?
I don’t think she meant to make us feel guilty. She clearly appreciates her own good fortune, and she concludes the article by wishing “every family could share the grace of our table”. But we can’t.
It all boils down to land ownership. Without land, even the best-intentioned people must remain consumers, rather than producers. And organic, local food is often expensive and difficult to find. In certain urban neighborhoods, it is not available at all.
Paging through Mother Earth News, I also notice lots of articles about beautiful homes that have been customized with radiant heat and solar power or built with organic materials. They are certainly inspiring…but how many ordinary people are designing their own homes from scratch? And if they are, who can afford the additional costs of consultants and contractors who specialize in green building?
Mother Earth News calls itself “The Original Guide to Living Wisely”. But based on the contents of this issue, it seems that “living wisely” requires you to be wealthy. Maybe I’m just in a grumpy mood.
July 20, 2005 link
RAIN! We finally got our first rainfall since June 4, which I happened to mention on this site. Little did I know at the time that Northeast Illinois would face its greatest drought in decades.
You know things are bad when the Chicago TV news starts paying attention to the outlying farmers. For the past few weeks, they’ve been detailing the troubles faced by our farmers without rain. Normally the farmers are ignored by us city slickers.
Now if only the TV news would run some reports about the acres and acres of Illinois farmland (the most fertile soil in the world!) that gets paved each year or washes down the Mississippi River. That’s a serious story.
July 17, 2005 link
The garden in mid-July is an endless cycle of daily watering, and a dependable stream of minor harvests. Each day sees the ripening of another tomato, pepper, bean or raspberry. Thankfully, it’s not a flood of food, but a manageable flow that accumulates over time.
I originally planned to tackle some major projects this Summer, such as finishing all the paths and planting a forest garden in the back section of the yard. After hearing that my apartment building will be sold, these ideas have been shelved. Now my focus has switched from big projects to simply enjoying the daily tasks of what might be my final season at this location.
In this context it might look foolish to see me reach down and pull a weed. Why bother caring for a place when it might be bulldozed soon? But this question misses the point and purpose of my entire growing experiment.
I feel that I’ve been placed in this particular place in order to nurture it. In return, this place has given me great joy and taught me some difficult lessons. One of the most important lessons is that the care invested in a 24x152' lot extends far beyond its boundaries. By caring for your own tiny patch of earth, you are contributing to the greater good of your regional ecosystem and beyond.
This type of care is not about landscaping or managing the place by investing money in it. It’s not about planning and excecuting big ideas. Truly caring for a place is just about being there. It’s about the little daily tasks like pulling a weed or pruning a watersprout from a tree. By doing so, you are making a contribution to the world which is small, yet real.
I made a commitment to this place when I moved in. I plan to continue looking after it until the day I leave.
July 12, 2005 link
Farm Aid is returning to Illinois, the state where it began 20 years ago. Before the big concert, events in Chicago will showcase the city’s efforts to link rural and urban communities.
I never knew much about Farm Aid before, but I must admit I’m excited to see what happens around here. What sort of events is Chicago planning, and how much press coverage will they get?
Farm Aid’s web site also has a great Q&A column, which answers such questions as: “How Can I Find a Farm Near Me?” and “What Questions Can I Ask My Grocer?”
July 10, 2005 link
More than words. I see this in newspapers and magazines all the time, and it really annoys me.
Somehow, our vocabulary has been twisted when it comes to agricultural terminology. The corruption of language is so deeply entrenched that even so-called progressive publications quietly enforce the myths with their word choices.
I’m talking about the words “conventional agriculture”. How can we use the word “conventional” to describe factory farms, chemically-dependent monocultures and genetic experiments? How can the controversial techniques of the past 60 years be described as conventional, when traditional farming practices have remained basically unchanged for thousands of years? It’s ludicrous.
Conventional is a synonym for normal. But our currently popular farming techniques are anything but normal. In fact, when compared to nature’s realities, they are downright bizarre. Our entire agricultural system is based on petroleum products. These practices cannot be, and will not be, “normal” for more than a few generations.
Meanwhile, the truly “conventional” form of agriculture, as practiced since ancient times, is labeled as an “alternative”. They put an “organic” label on it, jack up the price, and sell it as a luxury product. Truly normal practices—such as diversification, closed loop systems, pasture grazing and crop rotation—are seen as outside the mainstream. But when viewed in a historical context, gigantic air-conditioned tractors and chemically-fed corn are outside the mainstream.
So let’s tell it like it is. Modern farming practices are not conventional, in any sense of the word. Organic farming is not the wave of the future; it is the way of the past. It is tradition.
If you are a writer, please examine your word choices. Let’s not promote the myth that today’s agriculture is conventional. At the same time, let’s not pretend that organic methods are a promising new trend.
Maybe we should start promoting some new terminology. How about “true farming” and “oil-based farming”? Somehow, I don’t think the Department of Agriculture would go for that…
July 8, 2005 link
Raspberries! Over the past few years, the raspberry batch has expanded from a few twiggy canes to an enormous
focal point. Each year, the patch edges expand about 6 feet outward in every direction. And they show no signs of slowing down until they take over completely.
As a result, I am picking big bowls of raspberries every day. I eat raspberries for breakfast, on cereal. I eat raspberries for lunch. I eat raspberries on ice cream. I freeze them for later. I offer them to guests. Still they come.
July 1, 2005 link
The apartment building where I live is for sale. This makes me a bit nervous because it jeopardizes the
work I’ve done over the past few years.
Of course, my fears might be unfounded. The new owners could be perfectly great people who let me continue my growing experiment in the backyard. Maybe they even offer some help.
The worst case scenario would be that they decide to knock down the building and build some giant ass-condos. During this process, they would probably also turn the yard into a wasteland.
For the time being, all I can do is continue taking care of what I have. Keep on picking raspberries, keep on pruning tomato vines. My goal when I moved in here was to leave the place in better shape than it was at the beginning. I think I’ve done that. Now my home is in somebody else’s hands.
So…um…anybody want to buy an old house? Three recently-renovated rental units in Chicago’s beautiful Bucktown neighborhood. E-mail me for the details.
