Renewing the Land culture

Melissa Marshall

EDFN-4000: Food Justice

Paper 1

10-9-14

Introduction:

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“Food is no less a weapon than tanks, guns, and planes” (Bassett)

Issues of lack of access to healthy food options including fresh produce affects a

proportion of the US population (and larger world). All people have a right to food security, food

justice, and in the fuller sense, food sovereignty. Food sovereignty posits that all people have a

right to continuous access to affordable, healthy food choices that are culturally relevant. Food

sovereignty takes a more eco-centric view where the environmental impact of the food choices

and the impact of agriculture on the whole system are considered. Food sovereignty seeks to

balance the inequality in the current social, political, and economic system by using a wide lens

to bring levels of healing to root issues of food access disparities.

Historical patterns show that the interest in subsidizing urban agriculture wanes with

recovering economies (Bassett). History also illustrates that food justice issues

disproportionately impact African American and Latino communities. The lack of appropriate

food access highlights the uneven distribution of health, well-being, and opportunity for

marginalized populations. Just as tanks, guns, and planes, food can be protective and destructive

depending on who asserts control over the situation.

Giving back the individual’s right to control their food cycle brings us steps closer to

achieving sovereignty. One tangible way of initiating motion towards food justice is to initiate

urban gardens and urban agriculture programs that furnish education and empowerment within

the affected communities. Despite the critique of urban gardens as a palliative measure to control

the masses in times of economic distress (backed up by the historic patterning of retraction of

funding and land and urban garden movements with economic rebound) there are measureable

benefits gardens bring to the community.

Grass roots, agriculture related organizations across the US, facilitate movement towards

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food sovereignty. Denver’s Greenleaf urban farm, Detroit’s D-Town Farm, Seattle’s P-Patch

Gardens, and the South Central Farm, usurped from the people of LA, are all case studies of

community organizing facilitated on a local level, enabling systemic change to help balance the

needs of their locale. Changes are multifaceted including physical renewal of the land,

reconnecting humans to nature, community building and empowerment, as well as economic and

political structural change. Through a variety of changes and restructuring of relationships, the

nation can come closer to balance.

Healthy Earth + Healthy Humans + Healthy Relationships =

Balance

Physical structure:

Native flora and fauna once populated all areas of urban development.

Preserving culture of the land can be accomplished to some extent by replanting some of the

native plants that have been removed. Indigenous plants are generally better environmentally,

given they are adapted to the features of the local climate (such as plants local to an arid

environment having the capacity to use less water). Reintegration of native floraculture can aid

in reviving the spirit of the place by reintegrating healthy ecosystems that put less pressure on the

natural resources (water, minerals). Renewing the culture increases biodiversity of the land,

strengthening and nourishing the soil structure. Increasing diversity at specific trophic levels

absolutely affects all other levels.

At Greenleaf, the physical landscape is being reshaped by the efforts of the students. As

the students plant the seeds and tend the plants, renewed space occurs and the ecosystem

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redevelops. Greenleaf maintains a patch of life and vitality amidst the impermeable, static urban

environment (shown in all of the urban gardens, but a tangible, local example). In the

permeability, there is exchange, which is essential for life and growth.

Urban gardening gives pores to the city, where impermeable surfaces rein king. The

pores allow for more exchange of the natural cycle, letting water drain through, sustaining plant

life, and fauna as well.  Infiltration occurs instead of increased runoff, allowing more time for

pollutants to be filtered before reaching ground water. As the lungs of the earth are her plants,

producing the life sustaining gas exchange, humans need the O2 and the plants need the CO2:

another aspect of our inherent symbiosis with plants. 

The SCF used heirloom seeds, reconnecting plants to an aspect of lineage. The heirloom

seeds lack the human propagation component. Their state has been preserved by natural

pollination. There is a more natural cycle preserved; traits have not been intentionally altered by

human interaction. Generally, there is not outside governance, which connects to the idea of the

renewal of a self-governance and recentralizing of power.

Reconnecting humanity to the natural cycle:

The revitalization of the physical land’s culture leads to the reweaving in of the human

ecology. Former agrarian society relied on their cultural heritage to tend the land and support

their community. It is so that before there were stores and mass production, every individual was

more closely linked to the land for survival. In my own family, we are all gardeners. I grew up

with a family that valued tending the land for aesthetics, peace, and on a small level, food. The

disconnection from the land is less physical, but the land story was still disjointed. For many,

despite gardening and understanding the environmental impact and the nutritional benefits of

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growing one’s own food while tending the earth, there is a gap.

Releasing ideas of what food looks like and what is grown for food is immensely

beneficial. Re-finding the earth wisdom by accessing indigenous people and their knowledge of

the land and people heritage, of the areas in the US (and beyond), could enable more personal

connection to the stories and alternative land practices of each locality. People can then learn

from the past and make better decisions for the future health of the land and communities in

relationship with the land.

The fields of Eco-psychology, wilderness therapy, deep ecology, and counseling

psychology directly acknowledge the importance of a connection to nature in the wellness of an

individual. Reconnecting to the land is commonly understood to decrease stress and reintroduce

curiosity and awe in life. Disconnection from nature is likened to separation of parts of oneself or

as disconnection from God (however one perceives their God) amongst other metaphors for

reconnection.

An evolution towards a more ethnobotanical relationship with urban gardening (and

gardening in general) would evolve, imbuing the land with cultural significance through the

recreation of personal relationships with the natural environment, as in the context of the South

Central Farmers. Reviving knowledge of indigenous plants, their special properties and cultural

significance can foster respect by increasing awareness of the integral nature of plants and

humans in historical context. This combined with the more common knowledge of gardening and

nutrition makes the urban garden relationship endure. Fostering respect and reconnection are a

result of working in the gardens and are cohesions relevant to developing community.

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Community Building:

"In a collective fashion, the farmers now democratically manage a landscapethat is filled not just with native row crops, fruit‐bearing trees and vines, and medicinal

herbs, but is a vibrant space filled with social life and buzzing with the moral density that comes with sustained conviviality." (Pena)

The sharing of space, information, and energy within the urban garden context shows

great possibility for community building. Within the communal space, there is an ability to learn

from peers, respect each other for the effort of working to accomplish common goals, and the

pride (in the most positive sense) of accomplishment.

Many of the ways people comment within the pop culture mainframe of US society

include spending money. The individual manifestation of commercialism the main spirit of the

US, is consumerism. In more marginalized socioeconomic groups, consumerism, as a way of

connection (through ways of materialism such as shopping and dining out, etc) is not an option.

In a society where capitalism reins and there is a stratified class system, there are entire

communities disabled from the popular culture’s manifestation of what it is to be in this world.

Urban gardens offer an alternative. This is a transitional space of allowing community to

form around different values and concerns. The garden is an alternate space for new community

to form and establish their own connecting “norms.” Humans are inherently social beings.

Without the ability to fully connect and engage (feeling like a part of a larger

community/family), there is often emotional suffering experienced. Imbalance is inevitable in a

system where people are left outside of the system, unable to fully participate.

There is something greater that comes out of the urban gardening communities than the

sum of the parts, and that is indefinitely the communality and stewardship. This is the “sustained

conviviality” Pena addresses, which is exemplified in the P-Patch gardens of Seattle where the

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garden space is consciously set up to help integrate new immigrants into the larger social

structure. There is intention to give people space to commune and create opportunity together

and to cocreate the garden reality.

Both D-Town and SCF express the intergenerational aspect of community; within the

gardening context, elders and youth coexist and the elders’ knowledge is respected. The

importance of reintegrating the elder population into society is that often the elderly are alienated

in mainstream Western culture. Through the garden space, a new community develops to include

what the members define as important and what was once outside (the marginalized of the

marginalized). The creation of a counterculture occurs and thus “…community building through

farming as a form of resistance”(White) is born.

Political agency and economics:

"Urban community gardens embody a pattern of resistant use and the re‐codifying of

space wherein local neighborhoods assert control of places for communal uses that lie outside the

purview or control of the market." (Pena) The idea of counterculture explaining urban gardening

community seems paradoxical if after all, society on the whole’s roots are in this practice

(thinking of all ancient civilizations and the necessity of working the local land to support the

populace).

Recodification is a key component to maintaining the land for future cultivation; there is

a need to redefine the system to make it work for everyone. The creation of a system that can

exist outside of the normal avenues of commerce is a form of subversion as it is outside the

surveillance of the government, not itemized, labeled, and taxed, or pulled apart and categorized

in Cartesian fashion. The new system is in opposition to the norm, an organic, altruistic endeavor

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not rooted in financial benefits, with the potential to iterate on its own accord. Urban community

gardens control their own market.

Not supporting the available, unhealthy food offered by the area businesses and growing

new choices asserts power over the market and can incite necessary change. Futures do not have

to depend on the commercial market and convention. Detroit exemplifies the reinventing and

reshaping “from the bottom-up” and they are transforming their “space into place” as Pena spoke

about the reinvention of the urban environment in his Keynote speech. The Detroit Black Com-

munity Food Security Network (DBCFSN) enables their members to create an existence outside

of the social, political, and economic inequalities embedded in the current US construct.

Detroit’s urban farming movement, born out of government abandonment, is a model of

determination, self-sufficiency and empowerment. The organizational structure is impressive.

The reimagining and reutilization of space to benefit the common good is occurring across the

US in the guise of urban agriculture and can reclaim food as the individual’s buffer against the

imbalance of restricted access that has been utilized as a mechanism for control. The former

language of the victory gardens of self-reliance is reclaimed as an expression of surviving and

thriving despite government abandonment.

Closing:

A major obstacle for the longevity of the urban garden movement, in the lens of food

sovereignty, is maintaining philanthropic relationships between those with the time and financial

resources the communities that need assistance to build stable foundations. Maintaining project

support despite a recovering economy is a vital aspect. It appears, and the idea is supported in the

piece on the history of urban gardening, that there is a historical pattern that in times of economic

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strife, there is support in the movement, and in recovery, the support wanes. As a community, we

must find the relationship between the earth and gardening more fruitful than the instant

gratification of materialistic culture. The urban agriculture movement has waxed and waned

before.

The idea of land tenure resurfaces and it’s link in the system of sustaining the urban

agriculture. Expressed by Bassett, the attitude of the gardeners did not change, their support

system disinvested. A system of stability could be maintained within the community if the

gardeners continuously cultivated all the lands. With their attitudes towards gardening, growing

instead of becoming stunted by losing the land and practice, the learning, and fruits of the

cultivation process. Enabling farmers to own land is a foundational change needing support and

follow through.

There is always a need for the voice of the ones directly affected and there has to be

further leadership development in affected populations. Rezoning to enable urban agriculture

needs to be initiated, and we know it can from a grass roots level, as demonstrated by Ron

Finley. Some claim we are moving out of the 2008 recession. Referencing historical patterns, it

seems likely there will again be disinvestment in the urban agriculture movement (as well as

food subsidies) that supports a food justice mission. The whole system needs to be addressed to

provide food sovereignty.

The public is enamored with the urban garden movement and relocalization of food

sources. Now is the “window of opportunity” for mitigation measures, before the economy

revives just enough to allow more citizens to retreat from the harsh edge of food insecurity. Once

these issues directly affect less of the majority and further retreat to the fringes, the issue will feel

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less weighty to the majority. To lose the momentum of the movement again would be a great

disservice to the American public. Everyone deserves continuous access to healthy food and the

ability to produce and maintain their desired food sources to provide stability and health for their

families.

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References:

Bassett, T. (1981) “Reaping on the Margins: A Century of Community Gardening in America” Landscape Vol. 25, No. 2

Galindo, R. PhD Professor at the University of Colorado, Denver, EDFN 4000: Food Justice Class Discussions (8/2014-10/2014)

(9/2014) “Greenleaf” Urban Farm, Sustainability Park at 25th and Lawrence Street, Denver, CO

Kennedy, S. (2008) “The Garden” documentary, Black Valley Films

Laffey, S. (2009) “South Central Farm: Oasis in a Concrete Desert” documentary, Green Planet Films

Miewald and McCann (2014) “Foodscapes and the Geographies of Poverty: Sustenance, Strategy, and Politics in an Urban Neighborhood” Antipode Vol. 26, No.2

Opalka, A. (2012) “Cultivating an Opportunity: Access and Inclusion in Seattle's Community Gardens” Scripps Senior Theses. Paper 26.(http://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses/26)

Pena, D. (3/2006) “Farmers Feeding Families: Agroecology in South Central Los Angeles” Keynote Address presented to the National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies Washington State University, Pullman, WA

White, M. (12/2011) “D-Town Farm: African American Resistance to Food Insecurity and the Transformation of Detroit” Environmental Practice. Vol. 13 (4)

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