People who like growing things tend to be the least "zero sum" people I've ever met. I meet activists who act like sharing their time will inevitably lead to their death, but gardeners are always sharing.

We give each other seed, baby plants, cuttings, vegetables, greens, eggs - sometimes even before we know each other. If I say to someone "I wish I could grow tomatoes better" they'll jump in and offer last generation's regionally adapted seed without hesitation.

Because perhaps there's something to the experience of planting a bean and watching it turn into hundreds of beans, all from one bean. Or a single squash seed and seeing it produce dozens of squash and thousands of seeds. Or watching an enormous tree grow from a tiny seed and then a little sprout, and bring owls back where there weren't any before. And realizing that sharing only spreads the abundance, and never takes it away. If my tomatoes grow better, and hers fail, she knows I'll probably offer her that even better performing seed right back, and some extra tomatoes.

One of our friends on the border said he realized capitalism is bullshit the first time he grew tepary beans and watched a single bean turn into pounds of food and plenty of seed to save for next time. Why would anyone control your access to food when it's just that simple?

And the homesteading folks seem to like to make it seem really difficult, but they'll plant 10 acres to grain instead of oak trees and lament having to rent a harvester combine instead of having food literally fall out of the trees (and have a forest of other food and habitat for game, to boot), which is a failure of planning rather than the reality of what growing food is actually like.

#Gardening #Food #Agriculture #Permaculture #FoodJustice #Community