This isn’t overtly related to our work, but we wanted to kick off this week with quick blog about a gardening movement that has origins going back some 50 years, but has recently seen a resurgence in the UK and is rapidly spreading across the world. (There is even a Wikipedia article about this stuff!) We kept reading about these guys that go by the name Guerrilla Gardeners in gardening and art & culture magazines and finally got around to checking out their website. They are all about 'refurbishing urban blight' - going in and planting abandoned plots of land in urban areas...regardless if permission to do so is granted! Though it might be crossing a few public versus private land issues, we are really scratching our heads to come up with exactly what would be wrong with planting a garden in places that really need one.
Community and gardening are both big with us at Lokahi. I’m (Brande speaking now!) total a plant nerd. I have a little nursery/garden design business in addition to my other work, have been a ‘recreational botanist’ since I was about 15 and have long been involved with school and community gardens. Lokahi as an organization has also, up until the past few years, been involved with public gardens in Southern California, and we are hoping to get back involved with such work in the years ahead. And, we’re also big fans of people that take innovative approaches to fix their communities, one small piece at a time. It’s just cool to see groups coming up with fun, innovative ideas that are focused on making the world a little bit better, and acting out on them. Which is why we wanted to spotlight the Guerrilla Gardeners this week!
Anyway, do take a second to check out their work and the network of gardeners/urban crusaders and activists in their link section , and think about doing some urban guerrilla gardening of your own. If sneaking out into the night under cover with bulbs under arm is a bit much for you, keep in mind all the schools and community centers that always need some green thumbs to lend a hand. Us plant geeks need to unite and act on our ideals that gardening can indeed improve the world!
PS: some myspace links:
http://www.myspace.com/guerrillagardening
http://www.myspace.com/guerrilla_gardening
guerrilla gardening
urban renewal
activism
community gardening
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