October 21, 2020 • 37 mins
Gardening has an incredibly diverse history rooted in indigenous cultures. Host Mangesh Hattikudur speaks with growers of color and together they shed light on the multicultural community and origins of modern gardening. In this episode, Mango calls up multi-dimensional artist, activist, grower and Program Director of Soul Fire Farm, Naima Penniman to learn about the the afro-indigenous history behind growing practices in America. Mango also talks with Black Girls with Gardens' Jasmine Jefferson and Botanical Black Girl Stephanie Horton about the importance of representation in gardening culture.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
I was thinking this week about American Gothic. You know
American Gothic, right, It's that Grantwood painting of farming couple
standing side by side, and it's what everyone thinks of
when we picture American farmers. It's a banding that gave
hope to people during the Great Depression, and because the
farmers are stern and virtuous and very Midwestern, it's been
(00:23):
held up as this romanticized vision of what growing is.
But it's funny what you see when you look a
little closer. Grant Wood wasn't much of a farmer. He
used to walk around town in overalls, but according to
his biography, he was grossed out by utters and fresh eggs.
The man of that painting, he isn't a farmer either.
(00:45):
It was Woods dentist who dressed up to play the part.
And while America loved the artwork is something that embodied
quote real farming, Iowan's pointed out that Grantwood couldn't even
get the pitchfork right. It only had three times instead
of four. I guess the reason I'm telling you all
(01:05):
this is because we all have this image of what
an American farmer is. But I'm not sure, that's right.
As I've talked with more and more people, I'm amazed
by how many different cultures have contributed to the growing
practices that we kind of just accept as American today.
(01:26):
Hey there, I'm Mongay Articular, a co host of Part
Time Genius, one of the co founders of Mental Flaws,
and this is Humans Growing Stuff, a collaboration from I
Heart Media and your friends at Miracle Grow. My goal
is to make this the most human show about plants
you'll ever listen to, and along the way, we'll share sweet,
(01:46):
inspiring stories, tips and tricks to nurture your plant addiction,
and just enough science to make you sound like an expert.
In today's episode, we're going to celebrate the diversity of growing,
the histories and realizations that have shaped today's culture of gardening,
and the underrepresentative communities that have deep roots in our soil.
(02:07):
Because it turns out growing is just as multicultural as
our country. Chapter five, Giving Thanks and Giving Shine. So
I am a huge fan of life hacks, and one
of the things I read is that if you're having
trouble keeping your plants alive September through October and maybe
(02:30):
even into November, you can play some rocks nearby. The
rocks will soak up the sunlight during the day and
continue to hold that heat overnight. It keeps the soil
warmer and protects the plants nearby from frost. It is brilliant,
but it's also old wisdom. According to Yes Magazine, various
(02:52):
American Indian tribes, including the Iroquois, used the practice as
a way to keep early frost at bay. But what
other ancient farming practices have we overlooked? I wanted to
hear more, so I called up our pal, Naima Pennyman.
She's the program director at soul Fire Farms. So Far
prides itself on using Afro Indigenous technical and spiritual farming practices,
(03:17):
and the farm has used those practices to regenerate eighty
acres of land. As program director, Naima coordinates farming immersions
and workshops for the local community. So I wanted to
ask her about the histories of growing and who we
should actually be thanking for so many of the techniques
we use today. Hi, Naima, thanks for joining me. I'm
(03:42):
so excited to be chatting with you because I want
to talk about soul Fire Farm and ask a sister
Gardner and the wisdom of ancestors. But before we do
any of that, would you want telling me a little
bit about how you got into farming. I've always been
deeply inspired by the natural world, but the place I
always fought the most at home was amongst the plants
(04:04):
and trees and waterways of western Massachusetts. My sister and
I from a young age would forage edible things from
the forest that we could eat and grow some food
in the garden behind our house, and that to me
always gave such a sense of connection, power and purpose.
Who taught you to to forage in these fests? You know,
(04:27):
we have some naturalist books and things we would refer to,
but some of it was our own instuition and exploration.
Like I remember finding this sapling that when we peeled
it's barked back, you know, smelled of cinnamon, and you know,
we would know how to identify that tree, and we
were the harvest would sorrel. And I don't remember how
(04:49):
we learned that was edible, but hopefully we verified it
before we tried it, but we a I love that
it's on so like fun and adventurous and romantic. So
tell me a little about so Far and how how
it came to be. So so Far is of Afro
Indigenous community farm and where training farm dedicated to uprooting
(05:10):
racism in the food system and also steating sovereignty in
our communities, creating more opportunities for engagement on every level
of the food system, from growing food to consuming food.
In our lineages, there's so much trauma of land based oppression,
having land stolen from us or um being stolen from
(05:30):
land and our ancestry, and that our food system is
really built on this legacy of stolen land and stolen
labor that hasn't been repaired. Those who grow our food
continue to be extremely devalued. We're trying to change that story.
So a big part of our work is also about
training in African and Indigenous heritage ways of growing food,
(05:51):
inspiring the next generation of farmers and food sovereignty activists,
and also helping to build a movement on regional and
national levels. You know, I'd watched a few of these
videos and my producer Molly pointed out this reference of
braiding seeds into one's hair. Yes, it's such a powerful story.
So homage and deep reverence to our grandma's grandma's grandma
(06:13):
Enthusie Boyd, who was one of many people in the
Dahomy region of West Africa during the horrific Transatlantic slave trade,
who had the courage in the face of this perilous
and uncertain journey of the Middle Passage to think of
what would be social security for the uncertain future. And
(06:35):
she and others braided seeds into each other's hair before
boarding those ships to the America's where they face bondage
in the face of not knowing what would happen, trusting
that they would be land on the other side and
that this would be social security for the descendants. You know,
(06:56):
so many of the seeds that are indigenous to the
continent of Africa, black rice, coffee, cola, nut, okra, black
app peace, sesame, eggplant, many melons, and more were seeds
that came with our ancestors on those ships. And not
only did they pass on that seed, but also the
(07:16):
knowledge of the indigenous ways of knowing land and how
to grow food and right relationship with the land. You
know that that's such a such a powerful and incredible
story and facing what these people were facing to to
have that sort of foresight is is just remarkable. You know,
I'm curious in what you're saying. Is there a growing
practice that you know, some people who are listening might
be surprised. Originated in these Afro indigenous cultures, and in
(07:39):
this history, the Obambo people of northern Namibia and southern
Angola have incredible soil fertility practices by mounding and creating
raised beds. Shout out to Cleopatra, who, during her reign
in ancient Egypt really understood the power of the earth
worms create the most rich fertile soil and had cadres
(08:04):
of priests who are dedicated to studying the habits of
the earthworms. She literally had a rule that you could
be put to death for harming an earthworm because she
understood not I did not expect Cleopatra to get a
shout out on the show. Um and so many more
also rememberers who have many who are remembering these ancestral
(08:26):
ways and helping to proliferate these teachings in the new world.
Right so here at soul Fire, the land we are
on was originally steward by the Stockbridge Munci Mohican bands,
and they were forcibly displaced to a reservation in Wisconsin
in the eighteen hundreds. We have been forming an intentional
(08:48):
relationship over the last decade. I've been so inspired by
our relationship with a Mohican seedkeeper named Warren, who passed
on to us the sacred black and White munthsly maze
this beautiful corn that we are growing now at soul
Fire to honor that these seeds have come home to
(09:10):
their land. We're planting them in the Mohican style as
he requested, in two foot mounds, with twelve seeds each
beginning at the bottom of the mountain in spiraling up
towards the center and planting them along with winter squash
to provide a carpet over the soil and beans that
(09:30):
grow up the corn to complete the three sisters, the
symbiotic relationship. We are honored to be growing this seed
native to the land that we're on, and every seed
that we plant, you know, is really a kernel of
commitment to and the erasure and displacement of our indigenous
relatives who continue to struggle for recognition and basic rights
(09:52):
and dignity. Um, are you discovering new techniques and and
getting excited for new things along the way to absolutely
It's an endless gift, you know, to be in partnership
with the land, and the land herself is such a teacher.
I feel like I'm learning every day. So yeah, like
(10:13):
learning new varieties to plant, and we call it companion plants,
like crops that are friends with each other and help
you know, one helps ward off the pest of the other,
So growing chives around the collared bed to help ward
off the moth that like steak the collards and learning
more about like the friendships between plants and helping us
support that thriving. So I I definitely know from history
(10:36):
books and stuff all about George Washington Carver, but I've
never really heard the name Booker T. Watley before, and
I was wondering if you could tell us a little
bit about his contributions to agriculture. So book of s.
Whatley was also a professor at Tuskegee University. And in
a time where black farmers were having a really hard
time making a living, harshly due to you d a
(11:00):
discrimination like discriminatory lending, BOOKNT Watley had this wild idea.
People would laugh at him, like, Okay, I feel like
city folks are yearning for the country we could create
an opportunity for them to actually pay us to come
at harvest. This was the idea of pick your own,
if people will come to the farm and pick their
(11:21):
own pumpkins and apples and cabbage. And again people thought
this was a city idea, but it caught on. This
was one of many of BOOKA. T. Watley's ideas of
direct farm to consumer, the idea of having a newsletter
to let your customers know about what's going on in
the farm, you know, name your animals, and create a
relationship so that people are inspired. Also this idea of
(11:45):
the community supported agriculture program, which he called the clientele
membership club, where people at the beginning of the season
would pay for a share of the harvest so that
you would be able to have your upfront costs to
plant your sea ease and have your equipment and schools ready.
Knowing that you had that customer base. Um so that
(12:06):
some of fat Watley's gene yes, that continues to be
what supports many small diversified farms like ours to be
able to survive. Is there one thing that you'd love
for our listeners to walk away from this interview knowing
or hearing so all of us who are listening. We
all eat food every day, right, I feel we all
(12:26):
have a responsibility to help to heal the broken food
system that we've inherited. I want to encourage us to
get engaged. There's so many levels around upholding everyone's right
to land on, honoring the people who grow our food,
working to eliminate food apartheid, and support farmers of color.
(12:49):
But I want to urge us all to find our
role and take up responsibility in this movement. This is
really really lovely. Thank you, Thank you so much for
making the time for this. Thank you so much to
spend such up pleasure. It's talking to you. Naima talked
about ancestors braiding seeds into their hair and bringing crops
(13:12):
over to America. So here are four plants you might
not have realized came from Africa. Watermelon, the predecessor to
the watermelon, the bitter melon, was grown widely in Egypt
and was valued for being an easy way to hydrate
yourself in dry climates. According to National Geographic melons were
(13:33):
actually placed in pyramids to quote provide hydration to Pharaohs
for their journeys to the afterlife. Black eyed peas also
known as cow peas. These plants weren't just an easy
way to get protein. The nutrient rich crop can actually
suppress weeds and help other plants around it grow. Okra
(13:56):
Today it's a Southern staple, but okra made its way
over through West Africa. The plant is actually closely related
to cotton, and one of the reasons American farmers took
such a shine to it is because they knew how
to grow cotton coffee. If you consider coffee's impact on
the world, from the Beethovens of the world who guzzled
it for inspiration, to college students who use it to
(14:19):
pull all nighters, to the truckers who use that extra
cup to go that extra mile, you realize the world
owes a great debt to Africa, and specifically Ethiopia, where
legend says that a goat herder named Caldy watched his
goats eat some coffee berries and suddenly get all emped up,
so we decided to turn into a beverage. Of course,
(14:43):
that just scratches the surface, but it's fun to look
inside your fridge and realize how interconnected this world really is.
Humans growing stuff will be right back After a short
break after I chat with Naima, I decided to run
a little image search. I typed in America and Farmers,
(15:08):
and then America and Gardeners, and then a bunch of
other variations. It's strange how far I had to scroll
before I found images of people of color. We live
in this great, big country filled with so many different
types of Americans, and yet there's this persistent reminder of
who belongs when the truth is, gardening can and should
(15:30):
be for everybody. So I wanted to talk to Jasmine Jefferson,
who found the online resource black Girls with Gardens, and
Stephanie Horton, the plant fluencer behind the Instagram account Botanical
black Girl, to talk about their impact on the gardening
community and to get us all into a conversation about
the culture of gardening. Hey, Stephanie, Hey, Jasmine, you there, Hey, hey, Hi.
(15:56):
It's so nice to hear your voices. So the first
I'm curious about, how did you fall in love with
gardening and growing? Well, I guess I go first. I've
always been around growing. My grandparents have been growers, but
I just was not interested in it at the time.
As a child. I can remember vividly. They used to
(16:19):
travel with like a shovel and bag in their trunk,
so we pulled over we see something and it did.
They'll just pull it up if they wanted it. So
that I've always been around it. It's been, it's been
a thing. It just wasn't until I got Older's when
I started appreciate growing and I became slightly obsessed with it.
Was that was that embarrassing to you as a kid,
(16:40):
Like it was just kind of normal. I think one
time a friend of mine said something. They were like,
are they really gonna pull over? I was like, yeah,
other people who was to me? And Stephanie, can you
tell me a little bit about your plant story? Sure?
And for me it was very recently, Um when I
(17:02):
started falling in love with it. My dad he would always,
you know, at least make an effort to plant tomatoes
and cucumbers as far as edible gardening. You know, that
curiosity within me came from my dad's side. His side
being from Mississippi. We would always travel down um to
the country and I would see them, you know, with
(17:22):
their fruit trees and their own farms and stuff, and
it was just commonplace. And I love that, and I
think that's kind of what started the idea that that
is something that I can tangibly do as an adult.
And then I started learning more about it and actually
going into it and trying to figure out how can
I do that on a smaller scale, you know. But
(17:43):
I've been looking at Jasmine Ford, I would say the
last two and a half years, like she's the resources.
I love her. So let's talk about Black Girls with
gardens because I'd love to hear a little bit more
about how that started. Jasmine. What was it that really
inspired you to start this website? Was okay, so social
media is a thing. Let me see who I can
connect with in reference to you know, growing. My background
(18:07):
is in psychology, clinical psychology, so I love to research.
I want to know more about things and understand it.
So that was the whole purpose of trying to find
something like that. And there were tons of people out
there growing, especially people of color, but I didn't see
anything where I can just have a holes like a
resource of or a collective by where people like myself
(18:29):
we can get together and we can talk about plants culturally.
So I decided in July of seventeen that Okay, I'm
gonna start this thing and we'll just hang out and
talk about plants. And that's how Blackbirds with Gardens got started.
It has been just an amazing ride seeing how this
flourished in the past three years. How about you, Stephanie,
(18:50):
how did you end up starting this plant fluencer account?
And I'm still really weird about that? Do you want
to know what's what's a better term for you? I
don't know. I'm affecting it now, but it's just so
odd to hear sometimes. But that's not something I ever
sought out to do, but yeah, to really to kind
(19:13):
of like mirror some of Jasmine's experience. You know, I
started Botanical Black Girl simply because my friends were like
joning on me all the whole time, like, girl, about
your plants? Nobody cares what are you doing? So I
was like, okay, here, you know, I've created some hashtags
to hopefully assist in that, because it would have been
(19:36):
something that I would have appreciated this time last year.
You know, Yeah, well, well what do you talk about that? Like,
what are some of the hashtags you've created? And and uh,
what have you seen in terms of response? Oh, it's lovely? Um,
so I made a couple of hashtags versus botanical black
girl because it's me, but um, I figured that there
are other botanical black girls out there who would like
(20:00):
to showcase themselves and find communities. So that's one, and the
the other is black hands green thumb. Now that one
I actually took some time with because there was a
moment where everybody was either using their hands for comparison,
to size for leaves, or just look at my manicure
with my green rings, and I couldn't find any black folks.
(20:21):
I'm like, okay. And then when I did it, it
really did just kind of shake something and me. It
stirred something up, and I had no idea what that was.
And it sounds frivolous how affected I could feel when
I saw a black hand doing the things that I
like to do. You know, that really did resonate with
me in a very real way, and I had no
(20:42):
idea what that was, but I was like, hey, we
need to quickly see this because I'm sure somebody else
is going to feel the same way, because representation matters,
you know, you know, doing what I mean it's simple,
but it's to the point, you know, And that's what
I hope to do is just kind of you know,
flying other folks so we can find one another and
create community. That's the biggest thing. That's it. It's you know,
(21:06):
in this world right now, there's so much toxicity, you
forget that there's like joy and kindness and and just
the joy of knowledge, you know, on the internet and
to dip into your site and Stephanie's account and these hashtags,
it's just like this really nice reminder of what the
world can be exactly. Judgmine, you mentioned that you are
(21:28):
a therapist, and do you think that caring for plants
and constantly thinking about plants needs makes people more empathetic?
I think so it's a practice. It's type of a
method that requires you to care about something else, something
else that's living. So if you repeat that in which
something we do as we care for clean, you can't
(21:51):
help but apply that to life. But they'll begin to
apply it to themselves. So they'll begin to apply it
to their closest family members, brands, and before you know,
hopefully will have a better world. If everyone get a plan,
I know, I love I've been thinking about that, like
if we give more plans to people when we have
a kinder world. Um, I think I heard you say
that you've actually turned down opportunities because they didn't feel
(22:14):
authentic or right for your site, Jasmine. Is that true?
Very much? So? I pride myself with blacks with gardens
being very authentic. There have been tons of opportunities for
blackbirds with gardens to do certain things, but it just
didn't align with the type of growing that I support,
and I just turned it down. Obviously, it could have
(22:37):
been very lucrative and things of that sort, but that's
not what I value the most in reference to our
community is what's most sustainable for black people in green spaces.
I can honestly say I've turned down anywhere close to
twenty opportunities that's just sit in align with us. So
do you think gardening gives people of color a sense
(23:00):
of liberation that maybe they're not feeling in other areas
of their life. Honestly I do. Um, gardening allows you
to take control of what you're going to consume. That's
just straight up what what it does, if we're gonna
look at it as is it provides us the opportunity
to grow what we want to grow, provide the nutrients
(23:22):
that we want to provide and that's what our family
is going to consume. In other lenses, I definitely think
it allows us to decide where we're gonna put our
money economically. Do we want to support a business or
something to that effect, do we want to support that
if they do not support us. I would also add
(23:43):
seeing people that I've known through the years from different
walks of life, so black folks primarily though, seeing them
happy about Look what I was able to do on
my own. Again, it's going back to that ownership. I
did this myself, and yes, I get to consume this um,
but also I can grow this. I can teach my
(24:06):
children to grow UM. I can teach the children in
my community to grow, and I can help them sustain
their family. So often, I think for black people particularly,
we don't just think about our own nuclear family. We
think about everyone else in the community, you know. We
(24:27):
we do try to evoke some sort of thought of
longevity and how this can benefit us long term, right right,
And that's the whole purpose. What we consider a group
of people like even within you know, black and brown people,
we wouldn't consider this type of people hanging with each other,
this type of people were all connected in reference, so
(24:47):
we like to grow things, and it's it's so inefficial
to see, like plants or just having a garden, how
it affects us all together or how it connects us.
And um, that's one of the things that just keeps
me going in reference to you know, black oirs with
garden because obviously it does get some pushback, and it's
in reference to just people who's just not you know
(25:08):
who who tries to not see color. So definitely black
girds with garden daily. As much as we get good stuff,
we get bad stuff. It can be very taxing on
mental health itself. But I honestly feel like you have
to deal with the fact that racism exists. You know,
we have been intentionally kept out of certain spaces. Creating
(25:28):
a thrive in space means that you have to deal
with that back. It's heartbreaking that anyone would come after
you for for building something. Yeah, they definitely daily, but
obviously the good feedback always outweighs the bad. Yeah, I mean,
it's it's clear that you know, you have a real
connection to readers. Before you found this community and founded
(25:51):
this community, did you feel like an outsider when you
went to nurseries or when you walked into garden spaces.
Most definitely so when I went into actually when I
started looking out looking at nurseries here, but I really
didn't get much attention or and I still don't, beyond
quite honest with you, I still don't. I have to
actually inquire and you have to show some type of
(26:13):
knowledge or injured or just show them. You know, Hey,
I have this instagram and that's when I get That's
when I get attention, and it's quite frankly, it's ridiculous.
But Black Girls of Garden is one of the spaces
where I feel comfortable. You know, as we're seeing more
representation in gardening and hopefully how it's affecting perceptions of gardening.
(26:35):
Do you think that spreads into other parts of culture.
Do you do you think that that the way we
view gardening as as more multicultural will impact how we
we view the world. I think it certainly can. I
can see like even now in our in in the
black plant community specifically because I know black people are
(26:56):
not a mount modelis um and we all come from
different walks of life. One thing that I love is
the then diagram if you will of you know, being
a black person being in the plant community and seeing
everything in the middle that kind of has these offshoots, right,
And that's not really a ven diagram, but you get
what I'm saying. I'm seeing like the sneaker sneaker heads
(27:21):
coming in, you know, like sneaker culture with plant culture
and black culture, and you know, it's seeing everything overlap.
Is what I love because I think as we do
bring everything together and like a melting pot if you will, um,
we can still identify the differences and appreciate them um.
(27:46):
And I hope that that would bleed over into the
mass culture where they can also identify, hey, they're doing
something different, but it's still within something that we appreciate
in the larger plant community, you know, just kind of
seeing appreciate it versus see it and try to assimilate
or change it or say that this isn't the norm.
(28:06):
Just see it for what it is and let it
be amazing. I think that that could help fingers crossed. Uh,
that's my hopes. Well. Number one, it's the right thing
to do. If you want to represent guardening, you have
to appreciate everything that goes with it. And that's the
roots of it or you have to include everyone. That's
(28:26):
just the right thing to do. I think the exposure
to how great this community is and will help people
just be better people honestly and appreciate our culture and appreciate,
you know, the contributions we've made in reference to gardening
and agriculture. Stephanie Jasmine, thank you so much for being here.
(28:50):
It's really been a pleasure chatting with you both. Same here.
Thank you so much. Thanks for having me making me
feel all warm and fuzzy again. In so many ways,
my life has been easy. My parents raised us in
a loving and supporting home. I've been blessed with incredible
(29:13):
friends and teachers and family. But every once in a
while I get reminded that I don't belong. Sometimes it's
subtle when you walk into a diner and the first
question is where are you from, because the implication is
you're not from here, Or when you walk up to
a counter and the shopkeeper has served your friends but
(29:34):
tells you we don't take roopies. When you're in a
drug store and a mom pulls her kid close to
her when she sees you as if you're a threat
because you're wearing Indian clothes. How before a flight you
get pulled out a line, stopped and padded down. A
comical number of times, your shoes and bags get taken
away for inspection by different people, one after another, even
(29:56):
though you were born in New Jersey and you've never
even gotten a speeding ticket and you love this country
so much. Or the day after the last presidential election,
when you're walking down an empty street in midtown Manhattan,
middle of the day, and this tall, well dressed guy
goes out of his way to lower his shoulder and
(30:16):
plow into you, knocking you off the sidewalk, and you
try to think, why would anyone do that? And the
only thing you can think of is maybe it's because
of the color of my skin, or maybe it was
because I was talking to my mom, slipping in and
out of English the way we do, And you wonder,
what is it about our differences that could possibly have
(30:37):
offended him. I'm not complaining, and I'm not equating my
experience with anyone else's, because I haven't really suffered. But
there's certain things you just notice. And when my guests
told me how they had walk into a nursery or
a garden store and get ignored because they don't look
(30:58):
like quote garden Earth. I know that feeling. When Jasmine
talked about how she's worked so hard to create this
positive sight, but every week she gets some racist comments
from people outside the community, just antagonizing her. It's heartbreaking.
But I know that too, and maybe that's part of
why I admire what the work she and Naima and
(31:20):
Stephanie do so much. The way Naima is working to
preserve and honor of cultural history, the way Jasmine provides
knowledge and inspiration to this community and encourages girls who
are like her, who are curious. The way Stephanie is
creating hashtags and building community to tell people you belong,
(31:41):
Because shouldn't we all be able to hear those words
and believe them. This entire series, I've been thinking about
gardens as a refuge, how growing is good for your
mental health, and it is, but I've been thinking a
lot about gardens as identity, to a way to be
proud and show off who you are. After starting this podcast,
(32:06):
my aunt sent me a photo of my grandfather's garden,
my other grandfather. The photo shows this little waterfall near
his bedroom window. It's kind of amazing. He redirected a
nearby stream to pass by his window and it created
a little waterfall. As a kid, I just thought it
was neat, but now I actually see it as him
(32:26):
expressing himself. He was a self taught engineer, someone who
mailed away for a correspondence course in the US that
would teach him electrical engineering, and from there he figured
out how to wire a town and bring electricity to
all these places and go off. So of course it
only makes sense that his garden displayed that same ingenuity.
(32:47):
His garden wasn't just the safe space from the world,
it was where he could be the most himself. And
when you think about gardens that way, they're basically these canvasses.
All the plants and flowers you choose to grow, and
the way you choose to arrange them. They're just that choices,
and every garden ends up as unique is the people
(33:09):
who grow them. I don't read as widely as I should,
but this week I was chatting with my producer Molly,
and she pointed me to an Alice Walker essay in
Search of Our Mother's Gardens. It's about all of these things,
race and identity, and of course gardens too. In the text,
(33:30):
Walker lays out how people attempted to rob slaves of
their creativity, stamp out those instincts, and yet over time
that creative spirit persisted, passed down from generation to generation,
almost in secret. The women Walker describes didn't write poems
or stories. They poured their creativity where they could, letting
(33:52):
it seep into the spaces all around their lives. For
Walker's mother, it was her garden, so we asked Stephanie
if she would read a short passage from it. My
mother adorned with flowers, whatever shabby house we were forced
to live in, whatever she planted grew as if by magic,
(34:16):
and her fame as a grower of flowers spread over
three counties because of her creativity with her flowers. Even
my memories of poverty are seen through a screen of blooms, sunflowers, petunias, roses, dahlias,
for Scythia, delphiniums, verbania, and on and on. And I
(34:40):
remember people coming to my mother's yard to be given
cuttings from her flowers. I hear again the praises showered
on her, because whatever rocky soil she landed on, she
turned into a garden, a garden so brilliant with colors,
so original in its design, so magna neificent with life
(35:01):
and creativity, that to this day people drive by our
house in Georgia, perfect strangers and imperfect strangers, and asked
to stand or walk among my mother's art. I noticed
that it is only when my mother is working in
her flowers that she is radiant, almost to the point
(35:22):
of being invisible, except as creator, hand and eye. She
is involved in work, her soul must have ordering the
universe and the image of her personal conception of beauty.
Her face as she prepares the art that is her
gift is a legacy of respect she leaves to me
for all that illuminates and cherishes life. She is handed
(35:45):
down respect for the possibilities and the will to grasp them.
For her, so hindered and intruded upon in so many ways,
being an artist has still been a daily part of
her life. This ability to hold on, even in very
simple ways, is work black women have done for a
(36:09):
very long time. That's it for today's episode. Don't forget
whether you're a beginner like me, a pro trying something new,
or someone in between. Enjoying your backyard garden. There are
(36:29):
incredible resources waiting for you on the Miracle Grow website.
Next time on our show, we'll be focusing on food
deserts in America and the people and organizations who are
creating gardening solutions to this widespread issue. If you like
what you heard, don't forget to rate and review the
show on Apple Podcast. Also, we want to hear from you.
(36:50):
What are your inspiring plant stories, relatable struggles or growing
questions taggers in your post or tweet using the hashtag
Humans Growing Stuff, and don't be surprised if you hear
your story featured on an upcoming episode. Humans Growing Stuff
is a collaboration from I Heart Radio and your friends
at Miracle Grow. Our show was written and produced by
Molly Sosha and me Mangy Chatigler in partnership with Ryan Ovadia,
(37:14):
Daniel Ainsworth, Hayley Ericsson, and Garrett Shannon of Banter Until
next time, Thanks so much for listening.
I was thinking this week about American Gothic. You know
American Gothic, right, It's that Grantwood painting of farming couple
standing side by side, and it's what everyone thinks of
when we picture American farmers. It's a banding that gave
hope to people during the Great Depression, and because the
farmers are stern and virtuous and very Midwestern, it's been
(00:23):
held up as this romanticized vision of what growing is.
But it's funny what you see when you look a
little closer. Grant Wood wasn't much of a farmer. He
used to walk around town in overalls, but according to
his biography, he was grossed out by utters and fresh eggs.
The man of that painting, he isn't a farmer either.
(00:45):
It was Woods dentist who dressed up to play the part.
And while America loved the artwork is something that embodied
quote real farming, Iowan's pointed out that Grantwood couldn't even
get the pitchfork right. It only had three times instead
of four. I guess the reason I'm telling you all
(01:05):
this is because we all have this image of what
an American farmer is. But I'm not sure, that's right.
As I've talked with more and more people, I'm amazed
by how many different cultures have contributed to the growing
practices that we kind of just accept as American today.
(01:26):
Hey there, I'm Mongay Articular, a co host of Part
Time Genius, one of the co founders of Mental Flaws,
and this is Humans Growing Stuff, a collaboration from I
Heart Media and your friends at Miracle Grow. My goal
is to make this the most human show about plants
you'll ever listen to, and along the way, we'll share sweet,
(01:46):
inspiring stories, tips and tricks to nurture your plant addiction,
and just enough science to make you sound like an expert.
In today's episode, we're going to celebrate the diversity of growing,
the histories and realizations that have shaped today's culture of gardening,
and the underrepresentative communities that have deep roots in our soil.
(02:07):
Because it turns out growing is just as multicultural as
our country. Chapter five, Giving Thanks and Giving Shine. So
I am a huge fan of life hacks, and one
of the things I read is that if you're having
trouble keeping your plants alive September through October and maybe
(02:30):
even into November, you can play some rocks nearby. The
rocks will soak up the sunlight during the day and
continue to hold that heat overnight. It keeps the soil
warmer and protects the plants nearby from frost. It is brilliant,
but it's also old wisdom. According to Yes Magazine, various
(02:52):
American Indian tribes, including the Iroquois, used the practice as
a way to keep early frost at bay. But what
other ancient farming practices have we overlooked? I wanted to
hear more, so I called up our pal, Naima Pennyman.
She's the program director at soul Fire Farms. So Far
prides itself on using Afro Indigenous technical and spiritual farming practices,
(03:17):
and the farm has used those practices to regenerate eighty
acres of land. As program director, Naima coordinates farming immersions
and workshops for the local community. So I wanted to
ask her about the histories of growing and who we
should actually be thanking for so many of the techniques
we use today. Hi, Naima, thanks for joining me. I'm
(03:42):
so excited to be chatting with you because I want
to talk about soul Fire Farm and ask a sister
Gardner and the wisdom of ancestors. But before we do
any of that, would you want telling me a little
bit about how you got into farming. I've always been
deeply inspired by the natural world, but the place I
always fought the most at home was amongst the plants
(04:04):
and trees and waterways of western Massachusetts. My sister and
I from a young age would forage edible things from
the forest that we could eat and grow some food
in the garden behind our house, and that to me
always gave such a sense of connection, power and purpose.
Who taught you to to forage in these fests? You know,
(04:27):
we have some naturalist books and things we would refer to,
but some of it was our own instuition and exploration.
Like I remember finding this sapling that when we peeled
it's barked back, you know, smelled of cinnamon, and you know,
we would know how to identify that tree, and we
were the harvest would sorrel. And I don't remember how
(04:49):
we learned that was edible, but hopefully we verified it
before we tried it, but we a I love that
it's on so like fun and adventurous and romantic. So
tell me a little about so Far and how how
it came to be. So so Far is of Afro
Indigenous community farm and where training farm dedicated to uprooting
(05:10):
racism in the food system and also steating sovereignty in
our communities, creating more opportunities for engagement on every level
of the food system, from growing food to consuming food.
In our lineages, there's so much trauma of land based oppression,
having land stolen from us or um being stolen from
(05:30):
land and our ancestry, and that our food system is
really built on this legacy of stolen land and stolen
labor that hasn't been repaired. Those who grow our food
continue to be extremely devalued. We're trying to change that story.
So a big part of our work is also about
training in African and Indigenous heritage ways of growing food,
(05:51):
inspiring the next generation of farmers and food sovereignty activists,
and also helping to build a movement on regional and
national levels. You know, I'd watched a few of these
videos and my producer Molly pointed out this reference of
braiding seeds into one's hair. Yes, it's such a powerful story.
So homage and deep reverence to our grandma's grandma's grandma
(06:13):
Enthusie Boyd, who was one of many people in the
Dahomy region of West Africa during the horrific Transatlantic slave trade,
who had the courage in the face of this perilous
and uncertain journey of the Middle Passage to think of
what would be social security for the uncertain future. And
(06:35):
she and others braided seeds into each other's hair before
boarding those ships to the America's where they face bondage
in the face of not knowing what would happen, trusting
that they would be land on the other side and
that this would be social security for the descendants. You know,
(06:56):
so many of the seeds that are indigenous to the
continent of Africa, black rice, coffee, cola, nut, okra, black
app peace, sesame, eggplant, many melons, and more were seeds
that came with our ancestors on those ships. And not
only did they pass on that seed, but also the
(07:16):
knowledge of the indigenous ways of knowing land and how
to grow food and right relationship with the land. You
know that that's such a such a powerful and incredible
story and facing what these people were facing to to
have that sort of foresight is is just remarkable. You know,
I'm curious in what you're saying. Is there a growing
practice that you know, some people who are listening might
be surprised. Originated in these Afro indigenous cultures, and in
(07:39):
this history, the Obambo people of northern Namibia and southern
Angola have incredible soil fertility practices by mounding and creating
raised beds. Shout out to Cleopatra, who, during her reign
in ancient Egypt really understood the power of the earth
worms create the most rich fertile soil and had cadres
(08:04):
of priests who are dedicated to studying the habits of
the earthworms. She literally had a rule that you could
be put to death for harming an earthworm because she
understood not I did not expect Cleopatra to get a
shout out on the show. Um and so many more
also rememberers who have many who are remembering these ancestral
(08:26):
ways and helping to proliferate these teachings in the new world.
Right so here at soul Fire, the land we are
on was originally steward by the Stockbridge Munci Mohican bands,
and they were forcibly displaced to a reservation in Wisconsin
in the eighteen hundreds. We have been forming an intentional
(08:48):
relationship over the last decade. I've been so inspired by
our relationship with a Mohican seedkeeper named Warren, who passed
on to us the sacred black and White munthsly maze
this beautiful corn that we are growing now at soul
Fire to honor that these seeds have come home to
(09:10):
their land. We're planting them in the Mohican style as
he requested, in two foot mounds, with twelve seeds each
beginning at the bottom of the mountain in spiraling up
towards the center and planting them along with winter squash
to provide a carpet over the soil and beans that
(09:30):
grow up the corn to complete the three sisters, the
symbiotic relationship. We are honored to be growing this seed
native to the land that we're on, and every seed
that we plant, you know, is really a kernel of
commitment to and the erasure and displacement of our indigenous
relatives who continue to struggle for recognition and basic rights
(09:52):
and dignity. Um, are you discovering new techniques and and
getting excited for new things along the way to absolutely
It's an endless gift, you know, to be in partnership
with the land, and the land herself is such a teacher.
I feel like I'm learning every day. So yeah, like
(10:13):
learning new varieties to plant, and we call it companion plants,
like crops that are friends with each other and help
you know, one helps ward off the pest of the other,
So growing chives around the collared bed to help ward
off the moth that like steak the collards and learning
more about like the friendships between plants and helping us
support that thriving. So I I definitely know from history
(10:36):
books and stuff all about George Washington Carver, but I've
never really heard the name Booker T. Watley before, and
I was wondering if you could tell us a little
bit about his contributions to agriculture. So book of s.
Whatley was also a professor at Tuskegee University. And in
a time where black farmers were having a really hard
time making a living, harshly due to you d a
(11:00):
discrimination like discriminatory lending, BOOKNT Watley had this wild idea.
People would laugh at him, like, Okay, I feel like
city folks are yearning for the country we could create
an opportunity for them to actually pay us to come
at harvest. This was the idea of pick your own,
if people will come to the farm and pick their
(11:21):
own pumpkins and apples and cabbage. And again people thought
this was a city idea, but it caught on. This
was one of many of BOOKA. T. Watley's ideas of
direct farm to consumer, the idea of having a newsletter
to let your customers know about what's going on in
the farm, you know, name your animals, and create a
relationship so that people are inspired. Also this idea of
(11:45):
the community supported agriculture program, which he called the clientele
membership club, where people at the beginning of the season
would pay for a share of the harvest so that
you would be able to have your upfront costs to
plant your sea ease and have your equipment and schools ready.
Knowing that you had that customer base. Um so that
(12:06):
some of fat Watley's gene yes, that continues to be
what supports many small diversified farms like ours to be
able to survive. Is there one thing that you'd love
for our listeners to walk away from this interview knowing
or hearing so all of us who are listening. We
all eat food every day, right, I feel we all
(12:26):
have a responsibility to help to heal the broken food
system that we've inherited. I want to encourage us to
get engaged. There's so many levels around upholding everyone's right
to land on, honoring the people who grow our food,
working to eliminate food apartheid, and support farmers of color.
(12:49):
But I want to urge us all to find our
role and take up responsibility in this movement. This is
really really lovely. Thank you, Thank you so much for
making the time for this. Thank you so much to
spend such up pleasure. It's talking to you. Naima talked
about ancestors braiding seeds into their hair and bringing crops
(13:12):
over to America. So here are four plants you might
not have realized came from Africa. Watermelon, the predecessor to
the watermelon, the bitter melon, was grown widely in Egypt
and was valued for being an easy way to hydrate
yourself in dry climates. According to National Geographic melons were
(13:33):
actually placed in pyramids to quote provide hydration to Pharaohs
for their journeys to the afterlife. Black eyed peas also
known as cow peas. These plants weren't just an easy
way to get protein. The nutrient rich crop can actually
suppress weeds and help other plants around it grow. Okra
(13:56):
Today it's a Southern staple, but okra made its way
over through West Africa. The plant is actually closely related
to cotton, and one of the reasons American farmers took
such a shine to it is because they knew how
to grow cotton coffee. If you consider coffee's impact on
the world, from the Beethovens of the world who guzzled
it for inspiration, to college students who use it to
(14:19):
pull all nighters, to the truckers who use that extra
cup to go that extra mile, you realize the world
owes a great debt to Africa, and specifically Ethiopia, where
legend says that a goat herder named Caldy watched his
goats eat some coffee berries and suddenly get all emped up,
so we decided to turn into a beverage. Of course,
(14:43):
that just scratches the surface, but it's fun to look
inside your fridge and realize how interconnected this world really is.
Humans growing stuff will be right back After a short
break after I chat with Naima, I decided to run
a little image search. I typed in America and Farmers,
(15:08):
and then America and Gardeners, and then a bunch of
other variations. It's strange how far I had to scroll
before I found images of people of color. We live
in this great, big country filled with so many different
types of Americans, and yet there's this persistent reminder of
who belongs when the truth is, gardening can and should
(15:30):
be for everybody. So I wanted to talk to Jasmine Jefferson,
who found the online resource black Girls with Gardens, and
Stephanie Horton, the plant fluencer behind the Instagram account Botanical
black Girl, to talk about their impact on the gardening
community and to get us all into a conversation about
the culture of gardening. Hey, Stephanie, Hey, Jasmine, you there, Hey, hey, Hi.
(15:56):
It's so nice to hear your voices. So the first
I'm curious about, how did you fall in love with
gardening and growing? Well, I guess I go first. I've
always been around growing. My grandparents have been growers, but
I just was not interested in it at the time.
As a child. I can remember vividly. They used to
(16:19):
travel with like a shovel and bag in their trunk,
so we pulled over we see something and it did.
They'll just pull it up if they wanted it. So
that I've always been around it. It's been, it's been
a thing. It just wasn't until I got Older's when
I started appreciate growing and I became slightly obsessed with it.
Was that was that embarrassing to you as a kid,
(16:40):
Like it was just kind of normal. I think one
time a friend of mine said something. They were like,
are they really gonna pull over? I was like, yeah,
other people who was to me? And Stephanie, can you
tell me a little bit about your plant story? Sure?
And for me it was very recently, Um when I
(17:02):
started falling in love with it. My dad he would always,
you know, at least make an effort to plant tomatoes
and cucumbers as far as edible gardening. You know, that
curiosity within me came from my dad's side. His side
being from Mississippi. We would always travel down um to
the country and I would see them, you know, with
(17:22):
their fruit trees and their own farms and stuff, and
it was just commonplace. And I love that, and I
think that's kind of what started the idea that that
is something that I can tangibly do as an adult.
And then I started learning more about it and actually
going into it and trying to figure out how can
I do that on a smaller scale, you know. But
(17:43):
I've been looking at Jasmine Ford, I would say the
last two and a half years, like she's the resources.
I love her. So let's talk about Black Girls with
gardens because I'd love to hear a little bit more
about how that started. Jasmine. What was it that really
inspired you to start this website? Was okay, so social
media is a thing. Let me see who I can
connect with in reference to you know, growing. My background
(18:07):
is in psychology, clinical psychology, so I love to research.
I want to know more about things and understand it.
So that was the whole purpose of trying to find
something like that. And there were tons of people out
there growing, especially people of color, but I didn't see
anything where I can just have a holes like a
resource of or a collective by where people like myself
(18:29):
we can get together and we can talk about plants culturally.
So I decided in July of seventeen that Okay, I'm
gonna start this thing and we'll just hang out and
talk about plants. And that's how Blackbirds with Gardens got started.
It has been just an amazing ride seeing how this
flourished in the past three years. How about you, Stephanie,
(18:50):
how did you end up starting this plant fluencer account?
And I'm still really weird about that? Do you want
to know what's what's a better term for you? I
don't know. I'm affecting it now, but it's just so
odd to hear sometimes. But that's not something I ever
sought out to do, but yeah, to really to kind
(19:13):
of like mirror some of Jasmine's experience. You know, I
started Botanical Black Girl simply because my friends were like
joning on me all the whole time, like, girl, about
your plants? Nobody cares what are you doing? So I
was like, okay, here, you know, I've created some hashtags
to hopefully assist in that, because it would have been
(19:36):
something that I would have appreciated this time last year.
You know, Yeah, well, well what do you talk about that? Like,
what are some of the hashtags you've created? And and uh,
what have you seen in terms of response? Oh, it's lovely? Um,
so I made a couple of hashtags versus botanical black
girl because it's me, but um, I figured that there
are other botanical black girls out there who would like
(20:00):
to showcase themselves and find communities. So that's one, and the
the other is black hands green thumb. Now that one
I actually took some time with because there was a
moment where everybody was either using their hands for comparison,
to size for leaves, or just look at my manicure
with my green rings, and I couldn't find any black folks.
(20:21):
I'm like, okay. And then when I did it, it
really did just kind of shake something and me. It
stirred something up, and I had no idea what that was.
And it sounds frivolous how affected I could feel when
I saw a black hand doing the things that I
like to do. You know, that really did resonate with
me in a very real way, and I had no
(20:42):
idea what that was, but I was like, hey, we
need to quickly see this because I'm sure somebody else
is going to feel the same way, because representation matters,
you know, you know, doing what I mean it's simple,
but it's to the point, you know, And that's what
I hope to do is just kind of you know,
flying other folks so we can find one another and
create community. That's the biggest thing. That's it. It's you know,
(21:06):
in this world right now, there's so much toxicity, you
forget that there's like joy and kindness and and just
the joy of knowledge, you know, on the internet and
to dip into your site and Stephanie's account and these hashtags,
it's just like this really nice reminder of what the
world can be exactly. Judgmine, you mentioned that you are
(21:28):
a therapist, and do you think that caring for plants
and constantly thinking about plants needs makes people more empathetic?
I think so it's a practice. It's type of a
method that requires you to care about something else, something
else that's living. So if you repeat that in which
something we do as we care for clean, you can't
(21:51):
help but apply that to life. But they'll begin to
apply it to themselves. So they'll begin to apply it
to their closest family members, brands, and before you know,
hopefully will have a better world. If everyone get a plan,
I know, I love I've been thinking about that, like
if we give more plans to people when we have
a kinder world. Um, I think I heard you say
that you've actually turned down opportunities because they didn't feel
(22:14):
authentic or right for your site, Jasmine. Is that true?
Very much? So? I pride myself with blacks with gardens
being very authentic. There have been tons of opportunities for
blackbirds with gardens to do certain things, but it just
didn't align with the type of growing that I support,
and I just turned it down. Obviously, it could have
(22:37):
been very lucrative and things of that sort, but that's
not what I value the most in reference to our
community is what's most sustainable for black people in green spaces.
I can honestly say I've turned down anywhere close to
twenty opportunities that's just sit in align with us. So
do you think gardening gives people of color a sense
(23:00):
of liberation that maybe they're not feeling in other areas
of their life. Honestly I do. Um, gardening allows you
to take control of what you're going to consume. That's
just straight up what what it does, if we're gonna
look at it as is it provides us the opportunity
to grow what we want to grow, provide the nutrients
(23:22):
that we want to provide and that's what our family
is going to consume. In other lenses, I definitely think
it allows us to decide where we're gonna put our
money economically. Do we want to support a business or
something to that effect, do we want to support that
if they do not support us. I would also add
(23:43):
seeing people that I've known through the years from different
walks of life, so black folks primarily though, seeing them
happy about Look what I was able to do on
my own. Again, it's going back to that ownership. I
did this myself, and yes, I get to consume this um,
but also I can grow this. I can teach my
(24:06):
children to grow UM. I can teach the children in
my community to grow, and I can help them sustain
their family. So often, I think for black people particularly,
we don't just think about our own nuclear family. We
think about everyone else in the community, you know. We
(24:27):
we do try to evoke some sort of thought of
longevity and how this can benefit us long term, right right,
And that's the whole purpose. What we consider a group
of people like even within you know, black and brown people,
we wouldn't consider this type of people hanging with each other,
this type of people were all connected in reference, so
(24:47):
we like to grow things, and it's it's so inefficial
to see, like plants or just having a garden, how
it affects us all together or how it connects us.
And um, that's one of the things that just keeps
me going in reference to you know, black oirs with
garden because obviously it does get some pushback, and it's
in reference to just people who's just not you know
(25:08):
who who tries to not see color. So definitely black
girds with garden daily. As much as we get good stuff,
we get bad stuff. It can be very taxing on
mental health itself. But I honestly feel like you have
to deal with the fact that racism exists. You know,
we have been intentionally kept out of certain spaces. Creating
(25:28):
a thrive in space means that you have to deal
with that back. It's heartbreaking that anyone would come after
you for for building something. Yeah, they definitely daily, but
obviously the good feedback always outweighs the bad. Yeah, I mean,
it's it's clear that you know, you have a real
connection to readers. Before you found this community and founded
(25:51):
this community, did you feel like an outsider when you
went to nurseries or when you walked into garden spaces.
Most definitely so when I went into actually when I
started looking out looking at nurseries here, but I really
didn't get much attention or and I still don't, beyond
quite honest with you, I still don't. I have to
actually inquire and you have to show some type of
(26:13):
knowledge or injured or just show them. You know, Hey,
I have this instagram and that's when I get That's
when I get attention, and it's quite frankly, it's ridiculous.
But Black Girls of Garden is one of the spaces
where I feel comfortable. You know, as we're seeing more
representation in gardening and hopefully how it's affecting perceptions of gardening.
(26:35):
Do you think that spreads into other parts of culture.
Do you do you think that that the way we
view gardening as as more multicultural will impact how we
we view the world. I think it certainly can. I
can see like even now in our in in the
black plant community specifically because I know black people are
(26:56):
not a mount modelis um and we all come from
different walks of life. One thing that I love is
the then diagram if you will of you know, being
a black person being in the plant community and seeing
everything in the middle that kind of has these offshoots, right,
And that's not really a ven diagram, but you get
what I'm saying. I'm seeing like the sneaker sneaker heads
(27:21):
coming in, you know, like sneaker culture with plant culture
and black culture, and you know, it's seeing everything overlap.
Is what I love because I think as we do
bring everything together and like a melting pot if you will, um,
we can still identify the differences and appreciate them um.
(27:46):
And I hope that that would bleed over into the
mass culture where they can also identify, hey, they're doing
something different, but it's still within something that we appreciate
in the larger plant community, you know, just kind of
seeing appreciate it versus see it and try to assimilate
or change it or say that this isn't the norm.
(28:06):
Just see it for what it is and let it
be amazing. I think that that could help fingers crossed. Uh,
that's my hopes. Well. Number one, it's the right thing
to do. If you want to represent guardening, you have
to appreciate everything that goes with it. And that's the
roots of it or you have to include everyone. That's
(28:26):
just the right thing to do. I think the exposure
to how great this community is and will help people
just be better people honestly and appreciate our culture and appreciate,
you know, the contributions we've made in reference to gardening
and agriculture. Stephanie Jasmine, thank you so much for being here.
(28:50):
It's really been a pleasure chatting with you both. Same here.
Thank you so much. Thanks for having me making me
feel all warm and fuzzy again. In so many ways,
my life has been easy. My parents raised us in
a loving and supporting home. I've been blessed with incredible
(29:13):
friends and teachers and family. But every once in a
while I get reminded that I don't belong. Sometimes it's
subtle when you walk into a diner and the first
question is where are you from, because the implication is
you're not from here, Or when you walk up to
a counter and the shopkeeper has served your friends but
(29:34):
tells you we don't take roopies. When you're in a
drug store and a mom pulls her kid close to
her when she sees you as if you're a threat
because you're wearing Indian clothes. How before a flight you
get pulled out a line, stopped and padded down. A
comical number of times, your shoes and bags get taken
away for inspection by different people, one after another, even
(29:56):
though you were born in New Jersey and you've never
even gotten a speeding ticket and you love this country
so much. Or the day after the last presidential election,
when you're walking down an empty street in midtown Manhattan,
middle of the day, and this tall, well dressed guy
goes out of his way to lower his shoulder and
(30:16):
plow into you, knocking you off the sidewalk, and you
try to think, why would anyone do that? And the
only thing you can think of is maybe it's because
of the color of my skin, or maybe it was
because I was talking to my mom, slipping in and
out of English the way we do, And you wonder,
what is it about our differences that could possibly have
(30:37):
offended him. I'm not complaining, and I'm not equating my
experience with anyone else's, because I haven't really suffered. But
there's certain things you just notice. And when my guests
told me how they had walk into a nursery or
a garden store and get ignored because they don't look
(30:58):
like quote garden Earth. I know that feeling. When Jasmine
talked about how she's worked so hard to create this
positive sight, but every week she gets some racist comments
from people outside the community, just antagonizing her. It's heartbreaking.
But I know that too, and maybe that's part of
why I admire what the work she and Naima and
(31:20):
Stephanie do so much. The way Naima is working to
preserve and honor of cultural history, the way Jasmine provides
knowledge and inspiration to this community and encourages girls who
are like her, who are curious. The way Stephanie is
creating hashtags and building community to tell people you belong,
(31:41):
Because shouldn't we all be able to hear those words
and believe them. This entire series, I've been thinking about
gardens as a refuge, how growing is good for your
mental health, and it is, but I've been thinking a
lot about gardens as identity, to a way to be
proud and show off who you are. After starting this podcast,
(32:06):
my aunt sent me a photo of my grandfather's garden,
my other grandfather. The photo shows this little waterfall near
his bedroom window. It's kind of amazing. He redirected a
nearby stream to pass by his window and it created
a little waterfall. As a kid, I just thought it
was neat, but now I actually see it as him
(32:26):
expressing himself. He was a self taught engineer, someone who
mailed away for a correspondence course in the US that
would teach him electrical engineering, and from there he figured
out how to wire a town and bring electricity to
all these places and go off. So of course it
only makes sense that his garden displayed that same ingenuity.
(32:47):
His garden wasn't just the safe space from the world,
it was where he could be the most himself. And
when you think about gardens that way, they're basically these canvasses.
All the plants and flowers you choose to grow, and
the way you choose to arrange them. They're just that choices,
and every garden ends up as unique is the people
(33:09):
who grow them. I don't read as widely as I should,
but this week I was chatting with my producer Molly,
and she pointed me to an Alice Walker essay in
Search of Our Mother's Gardens. It's about all of these things,
race and identity, and of course gardens too. In the text,
(33:30):
Walker lays out how people attempted to rob slaves of
their creativity, stamp out those instincts, and yet over time
that creative spirit persisted, passed down from generation to generation,
almost in secret. The women Walker describes didn't write poems
or stories. They poured their creativity where they could, letting
(33:52):
it seep into the spaces all around their lives. For
Walker's mother, it was her garden, so we asked Stephanie
if she would read a short passage from it. My
mother adorned with flowers, whatever shabby house we were forced
to live in, whatever she planted grew as if by magic,
(34:16):
and her fame as a grower of flowers spread over
three counties because of her creativity with her flowers. Even
my memories of poverty are seen through a screen of blooms, sunflowers, petunias, roses, dahlias,
for Scythia, delphiniums, verbania, and on and on. And I
(34:40):
remember people coming to my mother's yard to be given
cuttings from her flowers. I hear again the praises showered
on her, because whatever rocky soil she landed on, she
turned into a garden, a garden so brilliant with colors,
so original in its design, so magna neificent with life
(35:01):
and creativity, that to this day people drive by our
house in Georgia, perfect strangers and imperfect strangers, and asked
to stand or walk among my mother's art. I noticed
that it is only when my mother is working in
her flowers that she is radiant, almost to the point
(35:22):
of being invisible, except as creator, hand and eye. She
is involved in work, her soul must have ordering the
universe and the image of her personal conception of beauty.
Her face as she prepares the art that is her
gift is a legacy of respect she leaves to me
for all that illuminates and cherishes life. She is handed
(35:45):
down respect for the possibilities and the will to grasp them.
For her, so hindered and intruded upon in so many ways,
being an artist has still been a daily part of
her life. This ability to hold on, even in very
simple ways, is work black women have done for a
(36:09):
very long time. That's it for today's episode. Don't forget
whether you're a beginner like me, a pro trying something new,
or someone in between. Enjoying your backyard garden. There are
(36:29):
incredible resources waiting for you on the Miracle Grow website.
Next time on our show, we'll be focusing on food
deserts in America and the people and organizations who are
creating gardening solutions to this widespread issue. If you like
what you heard, don't forget to rate and review the
show on Apple Podcast. Also, we want to hear from you.
(36:50):
What are your inspiring plant stories, relatable struggles or growing
questions taggers in your post or tweet using the hashtag
Humans Growing Stuff, and don't be surprised if you hear
your story featured on an upcoming episode. Humans Growing Stuff
is a collaboration from I Heart Radio and your friends
at Miracle Grow. Our show was written and produced by
Molly Sosha and me Mangy Chatigler in partnership with Ryan Ovadia,
(37:14):
Daniel Ainsworth, Hayley Ericsson, and Garrett Shannon of Banter Until
next time, Thanks so much for listening.
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