Sharon Fagan McDermott: Meditation on a Sanctuary
And still there is shelter in shade
and pummeling rain, in the produce aisle
with its mounds of lemons, nectarines.
Carla Bell: Black Communities Are Reclaiming Space Outdoors, From Backyard Gardening to Mountain Climbing
The program is designed to teach children their role in nature, to respect and care for the land and its creatures; and to grow, preserve, and cook the food made available by the land.
Vandana Shiva: Everything I Need to Know I Learned in the Forest
The war against the Earth began with this idea of separateness. Its contemporary seeds were sown when the living Earth was transformed into dead matter to facilitate the industrial revolution. Monocultures replaced diversity. “Raw materials” and “dead matter” replaced a vibrant Earth.
Shanna B. Tiayon: Serotonin and the Garden of Good Eating
The garden was literally healing me. The low to mild depression I had been cycling in and out of started to break, and I felt lighter, happier, and more self-accepting.
Linda Ingroia: What Is Mud’s Dirty Little Secret?
It’s a double-edged sword. … The more we put up barriers, the more we reduce our human microbiomes.
Miguel Altieri: How urban agriculture can improve food security in US cities
Many organizations see urban agriculture as a way to enhance food security. It also offers environmental, health and social benefits.
Judith A. Brice: Prolepsis of Emerald
On the calendar we see the bold square, marking the number 21 in March, marking our hope, our deep breath— 21, our emerald prolepsis, our brain’s fast synapse between withdrawal … Continue reading
Leah Penniman: By Reconnecting With Soil, We Heal the Planet and Ourselves
Enslavement and sharecropping cannot erase thousands of years of Black people’s sacred relationship with the land.
Susan Sonde: Kinesis with Garden Implements
Shallow the trough of words between us, the grammar of inchoate usage. I am here and you aren’t saying much. Be complicit with me, inhabit my wherefore so apprehensive. I … Continue reading
Korsha Wilson: Cooking Stirs the Pot for Social Change
Preparing food—and letting others cook for us—is a way to become good citizens who engage with the communities around us. . My arms hurt as I walked through Brooklyn on … Continue reading
Carolyne Whelan: Compost
First Earth wept, fell thirsty. I talked to my mother the other day she said don’t worry. She said shut down the internet. First Earth groans in summer. My legs … Continue reading
Richard St. John: December, New Millennium
So warm, the hedges almost bloom, though the jagged skeletons of fake, electric icicles are twined along a front-yard chain-link fence. In the windows, faded Steelers signs, tribal gear still … Continue reading
Molly Fisk: Wealth Measured in Persimmons
Despite my best efforts, I’m a pioneer-woman-manque: I want to be Laura Ingalls Wilder, but I don’t have the stamina for it. I let kale and beet greens get fuzzy … Continue reading
Video: Amid crime and blight, Natalie Thomas plants peace and community
. Since 2011, Natalie Thomas has been the caretaker of the Unified Positive Effect Community Garden at the corner of Climax Street and Estella Avenue in the Beltzhoover neighborhood of … Continue reading
