class: center, middle # Gardening in a Crisis _Garden like it’s an emergency_ [](/) by Jake Rayson _Climate Matters, Sat 9 Sep 2023_ [natureworks.org.uk/talks/crisis](https://www.natureworks.org.uk/talks/crisis/) ##### Press `P` to see notes and credits ??? * This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), embedded work may have other licenses. --- class: middle # What can we expect? 1. Massive change 2. Resilient crops 3. Wildlife ecosystems 4. Hope --- class: middle # Outline 1. Life 2. Scale 3. Causes 4. Actions --- class: middle, center # 1. Life --- <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/growdigital/image/upload/v1694125564/clifftop/path-back-230907.jpg" alt="Garden with curvy path, looking back at house" class="full-screen"> ??? Quite mundane, taking photos for my portfolio. Struck by the beauty of the garden, the life in the garden. It is about **being there**. This is the Clifftop Garden. --- <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/growdigital/image/upload/v1650484489/clifftop/220419-path-back-home.jpg" alt="Very new garden with curvy path" class="full-screen"> --- <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/growdigital/image/upload/v1651524390/clifftop/from-lawn-to-house-169-211130.jpg" alt="Garden to-be, grass marked out with sticks" class="full-screen"> --- <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/growdigital/image/upload/v1694125564/clifftop/path-back-230907.jpg" alt="Garden with curvy path, looking back at house" class="full-screen"> --- <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/growdigital/image/upload/v1694126331/clifftop/mint-flower-hoverfly-230907.jpg" alt="Hoverfly on mint flower" class="full-screen"> ??? Life. This is what we’re talking about. Hoverfly on mint flower. --- class: middle, center # A garden is for life. --- <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/growdigital/image/upload/v1694002973/undergrove/allium-bed-hiwall-230905.jpg" alt="Banked rear garden with lots of lovely plants" class="full-screen"> ??? This is the Undergrove Garden --- <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/growdigital/image/upload/v1694003233/undergrove/drone-fly-daffodil-garlic-230905.jpg" alt="Hoverfly on white allium flower" class="full-screen"> ??? Hoverfly on Daffodil Garlic flower. --- class: middle, center # 2. Scale --- class: middle # We have no choice<br> but to ask Great Questions ~ David Graeber ??? “For a very long time, the intellectual consensus has been that we can no longer ask Great Questions. Increasingly, it’s looking like we have no other choice” ~ David Graeber, [Debt: the first 5,000 years]() pp19 --- <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/growdigital/image/upload/v1693768845/if-the-moon-were-one-pixel.png" alt="" class="full-screen"> ??? [If the Moon Were Only Pixel](https://www.joshworth.com/dev/pixelspace/pixelspace_solarsystem.html) - our solar system to scale --- <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/growdigital/image/upload/w_1600/v1693768560/earthrise-169.jpg" alt="Earth rising over the moon’s horizon. The photo is known as Earthrise." class="full-screen"> --- <iframe class="full-screen" width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/92ucGZT7UZA?si=0hu5GJcCrhdSWe7a" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe> --- class: middle, center # What’s the point? ??? At this stage, you might be asking yourself “what’s the point?”! --- <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/growdigital/image/upload/v1694115530/comma-butterfly-230907.jpg" alt="Wrinkly winged butterfly on flower" class="full-screen"> ??? **This** is the point, life is the point. “We are all given a set of places to live and a set of people whom we live around and a world full of isolation in pain. If that’s not an invitation I don’t know what is.” ~ Garrett Bucks --- class: middle, center # Gardens are small places<br>full of life, joy and hope. --- class: middle # Changes in small places “changes in small places affect the global system, not through incrementalism, but because **every small system participates in an unbroken wholeness**…. In this exquisitely connected world, it’s never a question of ‘critical mass.’ It’s always about **critical connections**.” _~ Grace Lee Boggs_ ??? Critical connections, like the ones being made right here, right now. Emphasis mine. --- class: middle, center # 3. Causes ---  “changes in land use arising from a push to increase yields as much as possible so as to maximise profit margins… **capitalism is the cause of the Yellowhammer’s decline**” _~ [Jonathan Dean](https://jmdean1982.medium.com/time-to-get-angry-beyond-the-cosy-consensus-in-british-nature-conservation-a833ee0fd7ec)_ ??? Emphasis mine. --- # Capitalism Current system rewards concentration of capital * Colonisation * Industrialisation * Automation at scale * Expertise, siloed & unrestrained * Monopolies * Profit the only measure ??? Alternatives, please, anyone?! ---  “Scientists will attempt to create fruit without the parts that are normally discarded like the core of an apple” _~ Serena Solomon in [The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/07/new-zealand-lab-grown-fruit), Thu 7 Sep 2023_ --- class: middle, center # 4. Actions --- class: middle, center # Stop burning fossil fuels ??? Simple, yes? --- # National action  * Degrowth * System change * Participatory democracy * [Citizens Assembly](https://extinctionrebellion.uk/decide-together/citizens-assembly/) * [Community (People’s) Assemblies](https://extinctionrebellion.uk/act-now/resources/peoples-assemblies/) * Universal Basic Income * Universal Basic Services ??? Degrowth cf. real growth! We can do this, look at Covid payments --- # Gardening  “Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach” _~ Clarissa Pinkola Estés_ --- # Wildlife forest garden  * Resilient perennial crops * Native plants for insects * Habitat for animals --- # Forest garden definition  ### “Emulating woodland edge,<br>  layered, with edible perennials,<br>  self-sustaining nutrients & pest control” ??? In cool temperate and warmer climates. Think of it as a wildlife orchard underplanted with edible shrubs and perennial vegetables. --- # Native plants  * Native plants co-evolved with wildlife * Provide best food source for invertebrates * Invertebrates foundation of ecosystem * **Use native plants where possible** ??? Sawfly (Tenthredo livida) on Guelder Rose. Photo by James K. Lindsey on [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tenthredo.livida.-.lindsey.jpg) --- <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/growdigital/image/upload/w_1600/v1668523046/venn-intersectional.png" alt="Venn diagram of wildlife, edible and ornamental gardens, with forest garden in the middle" class="full-screen"> --- ## Radical Horticulture Manifesto  1. Every garden can be a wildlife garden 2. Use native plants where possible 3. Create habitat where you can 4. Grow wild flowers & perennial crops for humans 5. Garden principles of mutual aid into community 6. **Create edible ecosystems** ??? Also: * Organic * Peat free * Plant-based * Local materials * Minimal energy * No plastic --- # Local action  1. Education 2. Engage community 3. More democracy ??? You can do this too! --- <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/growdigital/image/upload/v1691406413/primary/jake-wheelbarrow-230718.jpg" alt="Middle aged man wheeling wheel barrow through the mud" class="full-screen"> --- ## 2. Engage community  * **Wildlife allotments** * ‘Normal’ individual allotments * Native plant infrastructure * Built-in habitat * Community orchard/forest garden --- ## 3. More democracy  * **Hope Garden** * RHS Show Garden 2025 * Wildlife forest garden * Community Assembly at its heart 💚 ??? [Ko-fi Hope Garden](https://ko-fi.com/hopegarden) --- # Garden questions  * Who owns the land? * Who pays the money? * Where does the water go? * Provision for maintenance? ??? * Capital only projects commonplace * Until we have Universal Basic Income, people should be paid for work! Relying on volunteers ain’t right. cf caring --- # Garden action  * Paths define infrastructure * Tree spacing ¼-½ avg canopy dia * Gabions “units of habitat” * Pond (water) * Dead hedges * Chop ‘n’ drop comfrey * Native plants where possible --- class: middle, center # Humans as a force for good Is creating thousands of acres of wildlife agroforestry visionary, delusional, necessary or alarmist? ??? We have the potential to be a force for good, look at wildlife gardens --- class: middle, center # The End  [natureworks.org.uk](https://www.natureworks.org.uk/) <hello@natureworks.org.uk> --- # Appendix ## Support the people * Rachel Auckland, [Ceredigion Nature Parnership](https://connectceredigion.org.uk/ceredigion-local-nature-partnership) * Andrea Sanders, [Yr Ardd](https://www.facebook.com/yrardd1/) * David Hunter, [The Coppice Plot](https://thecoppiceplot.com/) * Lindsey Jones, [The Wildflower Nursery](https://www.thewildflowernursery.co.uk/) * Barry & Sandra, [Celtic Wild Flowers](https://celticwildflowers.co.uk/) * Keith Burgess, [Hafan y Coed nursery](https://www.facebook.com/HafanycoedOPD) * Stephanie Hafferty, [No Dig Gardening](https://nodighome.com/) * Kim Stoddart, [Green Rocket courses](https://greenrocketcourses.com/) * Antonia Malchik, [On The Commons](https://antonia.substack.com/) Gardening resources: [natureworks.org.uk/resources](https://www.natureworks.org.uk/resources/)