by Endless Summer
The Need to Refuel
First, let me say a big thank you to Nomad for allowing us to
continue this community here in this space he so graciously hosts. And thank
him for giving me the opportunity to communicate with the community through
this post.
The 2016 election has brought us a set of challenges unlike
most of us have seen in our lifetimes. Daily, we see Trump and the GOP rend the
fabric of our democratic society, and the pace and breadth of the assault
threatens to overwhelm us. Trumpression is real, and most of us have expressed
it here in our comments. So I asked Nomad if I might write a post with the
intention of uplifting the community, and he obliged.
Resistance, no matter the form it takes, requires fuel.
Whether it’s marching in protests, calling and writing lawmakers, attending
organizational meetings, it takes a lot out of you. It’s fatiguing, not to
mention infuriating, to have finished a round of phone calls to lawmakers, only
to check twitter and see another abomination unleashed on us. It’s been just
over 100 days and I’m exhausted. I know y’all are too, so let’s refuel.
I think of refueling, or some say self-care, as feeding the
soul; the things we can do each day that bring us joy and generally make the
world a better place.
Gardening: Staying Connected
On her own farm, she had a large vegetable
garden and fruit trees. Her gardens fed and nurtured her large family. When I
think of her I think of sitting on the porch on a hot summer night shelling
bushels of peas with my cousins and sisters.
I think of holding a hot fried pie, the insides bursting with fresh peaches we had picked and peeled not an hour ago, scooped out of a cast iron dutch-oven, bubbling with oil. I think of food, always fresh.
We hauled watermelons, hot from the red clay, up to the house to rest in a tub of ice until she split them open and we took that first bite, cold red juice dribbling down our chins. Her gardens were full of nourishing, delicious food. From her, I learned how to plow with hand tools, how far apart tomato plants need to be, how to check for boring beetles in fruit trees, how to pick plums without bruising the ends.
My father’s mother was a different kind of gardener
altogether. A lover of plants and flowers of all kinds. Her yard was an
enchantment of boxwood lined paths between which peaked luscious and exotic
blossoms. An amateur botanist with the greenest of green thumbs, I swear she
could pick up a dead stick, put it in the ground, water it and make it grow.
From her, I learned the names of plants, and how to take cuttings and wrap the ends, how to graft them to root stock. How to water potted plants with tea to keep the soil from compacting. How to prune correctly to encourage blooming and keep fungus and mold at bay. Roses, gardenias, bromeliads, ginger, jasmine, her yard smelled like heaven.
From her, I learned the names of plants, and how to take cuttings and wrap the ends, how to graft them to root stock. How to water potted plants with tea to keep the soil from compacting. How to prune correctly to encourage blooming and keep fungus and mold at bay. Roses, gardenias, bromeliads, ginger, jasmine, her yard smelled like heaven.
Gardening is a way to stay connected to the earth, to
acknowledge the cycle of life, to celebrate seasons. Things grow at their own
pace, there is not much we can do to hurry the sprouting of seeds, and not every
seed will sprout, not every plant lives or thrives. Weather, bugs, diseases,
all take their toll, but there’s nothing quite like watching your garden come
to fruition.
“Do all the good you can”
So for me, gardening is a good thing that I can do, connecting
to my past, connecting to the earth, sharing with friends and neighbors. My
yard is a combination of flowering plants and mini-farm, and I am lucky enough
to eat out of my garden almost every single day. And a thought stays with me,
one I’ve had from childhood, what do people do who don’t have gardens or yards?
When I went off to college my friends jokingly called my
apartment The Jungle. I brought my plants with me, from cooking herbs in the
kitchen window to African violets on the bedroom sill. Potted palms and
philodendron filled the corners and baskets of spider plants and ferns hung
from the ceilings. I need my greens. And so I still think about people who live
in places where green spaces are hard to find.
On July 28, 2016, Hillary Clinton, quoting a tenet of her Methodist faith, said:
“Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the places you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.”
These words by Hillary on the night of her acceptance speech
are what I have tried to keep in my own heart since the night of what I
consider a tragic election.
One of my favorite things about this quote is the acknowledgment that each of us is differently abled, in different circumstances, with different gifts. And while this saying may not have been intended to have anything to do with gardens, it does encourage us to bloom where we are planted.
One of my favorite things about this quote is the acknowledgment that each of us is differently abled, in different circumstances, with different gifts. And while this saying may not have been intended to have anything to do with gardens, it does encourage us to bloom where we are planted.
I enjoy hearing from this community, in comments, about the
good that you do. Nebraska Native counsels traumatized children. Eclectic
Sandra helps feed elderly, home-bound folks. Buffalo Gal single-handedly kept a
community library open without funding, and volunteers at a food pantry.
Whether we’re rescuing kittens or creating wildlife habitat in our yards, or
working for a cause, everyone here has a moment of joy to share, an act of
kindness and mercy and goodness that fuels our souls.
My intention is to bring our attention to good and positive things going on in the world right now, and to offer a post where we can share good and positive things and lift each other up. So let me introduce you to MUFI.
Michigan Urban Farming Initiative
The Michigan Urban Farming Initiative (MUFI) is a Detroit-based non-profit that is
busy doing all the good they can. MUFI describes itself as “America’s first
sustainable Urban Agrihood.”
It’s a ground-breaking concept—an urban neighborhood centered around a farm, surrounded by housing and businesses. MUFI is run completely by volunteers and receives capital through corporate grants and fundraisers. Since 2011 they have been able to reclaim almost 3 acres of urban blight and convert it to sustainable agriculture. An orchard of fruit trees and a 2 acre garden provides free fruit and vegetables to more than 2000 residents of the neighborhood.
It’s a ground-breaking concept—an urban neighborhood centered around a farm, surrounded by housing and businesses. MUFI is run completely by volunteers and receives capital through corporate grants and fundraisers. Since 2011 they have been able to reclaim almost 3 acres of urban blight and convert it to sustainable agriculture. An orchard of fruit trees and a 2 acre garden provides free fruit and vegetables to more than 2000 residents of the neighborhood.
The program was founded by Tyson Gersh and Darin McLeskey,
two young men who met as students at the University of Michigan. What started
as a small community garden has grown into an immensely successful program,
credited with bringing in about $4 million in investments to the neighborhood.
In an interview with Crain’s Detroit, Gersh articulates the newest incarnation of his urban farm:
In an interview with Crain’s Detroit, Gersh articulates the newest incarnation of his urban farm:
“The role of MUFI is not simply to use vacant land to feed food-insecure individuals, but rather to position itself as a driving force in rethinking how urban spaces are developed and to model the many ways that urban agriculture adds value to modern urban spaces.”
I have tremendous respect for those who can take something
very unlovely and transform it into something both useful and beautiful. Where
possible, MUFI will repurpose useable structures or foundations, usually for
water projects. Future projects include acquiring a Community Resource Center
that will house both a commercial certified community kitchen and an education
center.
Tackling urban blight, conserving water, creating green space, community outreach in nutritional education, fighting food deserts and bringing people fresh, nutritious food: MUFI is doing all the good they can, for all the people they can, in the place where they can. It’s good news. It inspires me to do more, in my own garden, in my own community. When I think of people in densely populated cities with minimum green spaces getting to experience the kinds of home grown deliciousness that I did on my grandmother’s farm, I can’t help but smile.
So how about you? What is your good news today? What is the good that you can do today? How will you bloom?
If you are interested in learning more about MUFI, you can view videos from their youtube channel by clicking on this link.