It’s Talk About Tough Things Tuesday! (Or it was, anyways, when I first wrote this. Who knows what day it is now that you’re reading it here.)
Today we’re going to talk through one of my all-time favorite comments. It hits all the highlights of the critique we receive, so it’s easy to unpack many of our basic philosophies in one go.
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The below screenshot was taken from the comments section on our Facebook page. It reads as follows:
That’s Irrelevant, if you cant afford a green house to place in your own backyard or you cant grow out in your own back yard, you dont need a garden, my love. My other advice is consider moving out of the suburbs and into a more open area like the trailer parks. Those places dont require such etiquette you need in a suburban area. Be mindful about critters, bugs, and how you’re in close vicinity to everyone else.
Classism. “If you can’t afford a greenhouse you don’t deserve to garden.”
No. Absolutely not. Gardening and food sovereignty are revolutionary, and they should be accessible to everyone that wishes to give them a go in some way. Unfortunately, we’re not really in a world where that’s the case yet. However, programs like public library seed banks and the ability to use SNAP benefits at farmers’ markets for local food or gardening supplies are getting us closer to more equitable gardening.
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“If you don’t like it then leave” mentalities.
We get this a lot. “I don’t mind what you’re doing, but do it in the country.” Or “We support what you’re doing, but don’t be so critical of people with more traditional lawns.” Ya’ll – there’s too much to unpack in this one little paragraph, but let’s just sum it up with this. Suburban history is UGLY and the norms that exist here exist for pretty terrible reasons. To pretend that we can create new norms without unpacking the old ones is naive. Comments online and in person that tell us to go live in a trailer park are common, and it also goes to show the mindset that exists that folks who live in less affluent areas are “less than” and dirty. That’s a big ol’ NOPE from us as well.
Animal paranoia in the garden
And on that note, the perception that critters and bugs are somehow a negative thing? Urban wildlife is very rarely harmful, ya’ll. The best pest control is usually very simple – a thriving local ecosystem! Insects support all life on earth, and suburban norms that keep our lawns ecologically dead due to misplaced fear are far more harmful than most urban wildlife. The idea that this space is for people, and that space is for insects is just not sustainable. Ecologists, biologists, climatologists, and a whole host of other -ologists ALL agree that the idea that we can have human spaces completely separate and sanitized from wildlife spaces just cannot go on as it has.
And thus concludes Talk About Tough Things Tuesday!
I know it can be discouraging to start gardening when our culture views gardening as a privilege afforded only to those who live in the right areas and can afford the right accessories. The only way this norm will change is if we push back against it! If you wish to have a garden, I encourage you to create one in whatever way works for your home and budget. Whether you garden with a few jars of herbs on a windowsill, make an investment into an Aerogarden, or go with raised beds or gardening plots outdoors…
Gardening is for everyone!