Is Your Gardening Revolutionary?

The card from my sister has hung on our fridge for nearly a decade. The poem had both Colby and I nodding. Yes! This is how we see our garden—as a way to make the world a bit better.  Have you ever thought of your garden as a way to change the world? In many ways, putting on your gardening gloves and pulling out your seed packs are revolutionary acts. No status quo for you! You’re growing food, flowers, and a better future!

Here’s the poem from the card (emphasis mine):

“To laugh often and much, to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children, to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends, to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch…to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.”

The card attributes the quote to Ralph Waldo Emerson (a favorite poet around our house), and the words have also been attributed to Bessie A. Stanley. No matter the author, the sentiment rings true for me. I wonder if it does for you, too.

Our garden is a place of change making.

Along with the seasonal changes intrinsic in a garden, here are a few of the ways I see our gardening as a force for good change in the world:

• We’re growing food in a regenerative way. Through organic methods and a permaculture approach, we aim to leave the soil and our local ecosystem better than when we started.
• Growing food means we’re also opting out of most processed, industrial food. An act of revolution for our health and taste buds!
• With all the fresh, whole food available, we’re learning to be better cooks. I laughed as I read my friend Stephanie’s toungue-in-cheek collection of Ten Reasons You Should NOT Learn to Cook. Spoiler alert…you should learn to cook. 🙂
• We’re teaching our children where their food comes from and how they are part of nature. My hope is that they grow up to be stewards of the Earth. I want them to experience and understand the resources they can grow and joy they can find in their gardens.
• Through our business and in our community, I want to find more and more ways to share gardening with others as a way to combat hunger and health issues and a way to help people connect with each other. More on those ideas to come!

The list goes on, and I’m curious to hear your thoughts…

What kind of garden activist are you?

I’d love to hear from you in the comments. Do you see your gardening as a revolutionary act? How does it embody the things you believe and the change you want to make in the world?