note: this post is abbreviated from it’s original form. the complete article can be read in a zine by queer farm archive: by queer farmers, for queer farmers. please click here for more information. deadline to submit is 2/15/2025. i will update here when the zine is released.
my nervous system is at peace when i am in my garden…
…the world isn’t a peaceful place but it feels like it is.
i like harvesting my kale, i like watching my peas sprout and grab onto their trellis. i like planting seeds and i like propagating cuttings.
boy, do i feel rich!
watching my plants grow and produce edible gold over time has me looking forward to the future. isn’t that a wild thing to say while living in amerikkka in 2025?!
i feel inspired when i look at my food. i feel inspired when i put my glove-less fingers into the soil. i think and i observe. i tell the plants i love them and that they’re doing a great job…
i recently traded my kale for other goods for the first time at a market where i was primarily selling my art. i got comments about how “cool and unique” it was for me to offer produce. when you have so much, how could you not share?
i love bartering. i love trading. i love sharing. what’s mine is yours. we all get a slice of the metaphorical pie.
when we divide ourselves, that’s how we leave ourselves susceptible to bigotry. the biggest and saddest division, i think, is humanity’s division from nature, especially after the industrial ‘revolution’ that was always talked about in school as it were the second coming of Jesus Christ himself.
we, who have been historically in tune with nature and it’s movements and it’s cycles, are now clueless. people asked me at that market if the kale was for eating. why yes, it is. there’s no stupid questions. people are astonished that i grew big lush bundles of kale myself. people aren’t accustomed to meeting the people that grow and pick the food they’re consuming!
in amerikkka we are often grouped into one of two categories in any given area of our lives. man or woman, old or young, skinny or fat, worker or boss, rich or poor. while our brains do like to categorize and place people into boxes, it isn’t so simple.
let’s think about a tomato. how many types of tomatoes are out there? over 10,000 according to the university of vermont. a lot more than 2!
nothing in nature settles neatly into a binary. it is never this or that. it is almost always this and that. this, not that, but maybe some of this, too. we are created in a complex process that involves genes, external factors, DNA, and cells splitting over and over again. exponential growth occurs quickly through these processes. then before we are even born, people will begin to assert identities onto us…
before we can get an opportunity to know the complexities of ourselves, people tell us who we are. before we can even get to know the land, people tell us what it should be used for, i.e. how it should be used to extract capital, like building a ‘luxury’ condominium (there’s a pool) or a factory-farm that utilizes monoculture practices.
for centuries we have fostered the diversity of plants and animals, and so much has been destroyed all in the name of profit. not everything, though, and there is plenty of opportunity to build and restore, not matter your skill-set.
i only began growing food on the scale i do now (three 8’x4’ garden beds) just 3 months ago and the impact on me has been profound. my REM cycles have transformed from time-anxiety filled scenes to lush garden-filled dreams. i feel like i have something to look forward to. i love making meals with my own produce. i love giving people my produce to use in their meals! i love reading about other farmers’ successes and learning from their failures. the flowers in my garden grow tall. they teach me to be resilient and look forward to the sun coming back up tomorrow. for that, i am grateful.