I have often been accused of “having an agenda.” I plead guilty as charged. In our increasingly paranoid popular culture, the phrase “having an agenda” is often used to mean “having a (presumably nefarious) hidden agenda.” But my agenda is not hidden in the slightest; it is an open book. And there is nothing nefarious about it — unless, of course, you prefer slavery to freedom, tyranny to democracy, bigotry to tolerance, cruelty to kindness, greed to generosity, violence to civility, and environmental degradation to ecological healing.
So what is my agenda? It’s right there on my self-designed bumper sticker: “Grow Gardens, Grow Community, Grow Awareness.”
How So?
By catalyzing the formation of a network of neighborhood Garden Guilds, with the above slogan as their mission. A Garden Guild is a voluntary association of contiguous neighbors who meet periodically (for potluck dinners, barbecues, or other convivial gatherings) to share homegrown produce, skills, labor, or ideas about growing food in our own backyards (or in community gardens). That’s it. Every Garden Guild gathering, besides sharing produce and recipes, should also include an educational component related to growing our own food. This can be either a presentation by a participant, a guest presentation, or even an instructional YouTube clip on someone’s big screen. The idea is to “grow community” by sharing ideas, surplus produce, and skills on a regular basis.
Why am I doing this?
In case you hadn’t noticed, the infrastructures we all depend on are all becoming fragile and in danger of collapse, whether incremental or catastrophic. These run the gamut from physical (declining supplies of fossil fuel-based energy) to socioeconomic (inflation, supply chain disruptions, and social pathologies such as poverty, homelessness, upward concentration of wealth, drug addiction) to political (polarization and the spread of lies, bigotry, and hatred through social media)to global (threats of nuclear war, the climate crisis).
All these anxieties are exacerbated by our isolation from each other. But what might happen if we started meeting each other, chatting with each other, and joining each other monthly to learn gardening, teach gardening, heal our topsoil, and create vibrant, resilient communities that together generate an abundance of healthy organic fruits and vegetables to share with our neighbors and donate to those less fortunate than ourselves? If the Garden Guild initiative caught on and went viral, it might even save the planet for our children — and theirs as well!
Let’s do it!