Here’s part one:
There is something beautiful when smelling wet soil and seeing the brilliant reds, deep purples, and luscious greens immerge from its depths. Magic happens whenever food is involved: laughter, stories, knowledge and the sense of being a part of something; even if that something is not within the public domain but with the Earth herself. Chris Carlsson in Nowtopia writes about community gardens engendering that magic by bringing people together, “for a new kind of extended family living based not on blood relationships, but friendships, mutual aid and intergenerational support among neighbors” (94). N. Scott Momaday in “The Way to Rainy Mountain” writes about more than just his grandmother and her impact on him, he is writing about his people the Kiowas and just how important their rituals are to the land they live in. Momaday reminisces about his Kiowa grandmother’s home describing it as being full “of coming and going, feasting and talk,” which is also true of urban community gardens (8). Both Momaday’s grandmother’s house and many community gardens sit quiet now, almost entirely due to capitalist greed and re-appropriation of their land.
Many parallels can be seen in both of these stories from the conscious choice to change their worlds and create new traditions to the devastation that occurs when capitalists move in. The lots, urban gardens sit on, are worth more monetarily to the owners if sold or developed rather than remaining community gardens. However, value and worth are different to many people; sometimes money isn’t worth more than a sense of belonging and community. The greed that capitalism breeds has reared its head many times throughout history: from pushing Native Peoples, like the Kiowas, off their land, essentially annihilating them, to destroying the sense of community and self sufficiency of today’s communal gardens. However, both vacant lot gardeners and many Native Peoples continue to fight, they have, as Momaday writes, “conceived a good idea of themselves; they [have] dared to imagine and determine who they [are]” (4).
Carlsson asserts community gardeners are “teaching young activists…helping the new generation sink their own roots into their community,” they are teaching them how to find balance in a capitalist world, which proclaims the only way to be happy is to spend money (94). Vacant lot gardeners turn abandoned lots that are full of broken glass, drug dealers and gang members into aesthetically pleasing gardens that go beyond simple eye candy; they are building communities through volunteer work. Some volunteer up to twenty hours a week of their time on top of working forty plus hours. To some, like Sarah Ferguson, these gardens are like churches where the ritual digging, planting and harvesting brings them faith in both themselves and their neighbors (Carlsson 92).
Momaday chronicles the Kiowa’s move from the mountains of Yellowstone to the flat Plains citing the obstacles that they had to overcome in order to find balance and harmony in place where some of the most extreme weather reigns. The Kiowa obtained their Plains culture from the Crows who had inhabited the land long enough to know how to survive. They taught them how to live with courage and pride so that “no longer were they slaves to the simple necessity of survival” (Momaday 6). Through rituals like the Sun Dance, the Kiowa were able to find solace in their land; much like the vacant lot gardeners of today, who are searching for escape from the drudgery of everyday work in the capitalist world.
