Disclaimer: I didn’t start gardening until this year but when I was younger my grandmother paid me to root out growing weeds: one penny per weed.
Plants grow on their own, when in their proper environment [not forcibly colonized and manipulated]. Some plants may not need a gardener, while others might greatly benefit from a bit of listening and care. That weeding my grandmother taught me was just one small part of this care process, but since I understand it best, that’s where we’ll begin.
My grandmother had a vast and beautiful garden when I was growing up, but she always had a million things going on, and sometimes needed a hand with gardening. My 5 to 10-year-old self was glad to help. Locating the encroaching weeds, finding their root systems and pulling them out properly [the full root without disrupting the plants around it] was a process I quickly picked up and could execute. I noticed a few things about these weeds: a) There are multiple different forms of weed, b) Weeds grow back quickly, especially if you don’t get their roots, and c) Weeds have shallow, weak root systems. Weeds are a fantastic metaphor to understand systems of oppression. They both grow back and re-formulate quickly, oppression comes in many forms (patriarchy, capitalism, and queerphobia to name a few) and their root systems at the end of the day are weak, but White culture has promoted weed growth for the past 500+ years, so now those root systems are much stronger and even more oppressive on the plants around them than any roots should be. Weeding now is so difficult as a gardener, in this situation, because these weeds can become vines that wrap around and choke the plants. Not damaging the plants, i.e. working with them, while also destroying the roots of these weeds/vines is a long, arduous process. And some of the time, when one is not careful enough, rooting out the weed can disrupt the plant by displacing the soil during the rooting out process, which inevitably damages the plant. This must be avoided at all costs. Remember, however, that weeding is just one part of gardening. To further this metaphor, until this year I only knew how to weed, but I do it very well. That is to say until this year the only piece of social work I understood was the location and dismantling of oppressive systems. I may be able to spot misogyny from a mile away and search for its root causes, but I knew nothing about the care and listening to the needs of the Plant or oppressed human after I attacked the weed.
As I mentioned earlier, Plants grown on their own. I propose here a concept of “care-with” as a way of understanding the role as a gardener/social worker/activist. Yes, weeding is a type of care, but it can easily become a destructive, hateful force. Gardeners must be dynamic in their work and they must always keep in mind the starting claim: plants will grow on their own. Knowing this, gardeners can move forward working with both individual plants and groups of plants by becoming educated in the needs of the individual plant species, but also the unique situations in which the plant finds itself. One perfect example I learned this year follows: Most people water plants by spraying water over top of them. I did this too until corrected. Watering plants that way causes the water to stay on the leaves of the plant. The water, especially under the heat of the sun, captures the rays of sunlight and burns/cripples the leaves and the plant. This is ineffective allyship at best, destructive at worst. Watering the root of the plant and knowing the water amount necessary is difficult. It will take a lot of practice. You will mess up. A lot. But the more you push yourself to learn and grow as a gardener by listening to the needs of the plants the more those plants will thrive. Knowing when, where, how much, and why the plants around you need care are crucial realities that come with gardening and active social work.
If you leave this article with anything I hope it is these two lessons:
1. The plants are growing without you there. Do not believe for a moment that plants are not growing and changing without you. You cannot water the plants in the exact same way every day, because environments change, the plants grow and change, and the gardener grows and changes. You are not that plant and you never will be. You cannot be all knowing about a plant, but that should only encourage the gardener to listen and learn as a continual process. The gardener can become an expert on the subject, but they are still not the plant. Do not forget this. I implore you to work with the plants, because...
2. You are a Plant. Everyone is both a plant and a gardener. But it is very important to continually strive to know the situation you reside in, the future you are working towards, and the past that was. To say the world is vast and complicated is a laughable understatement for this multi-dimensional space we call life. As we grow in our own situations and are cared for by others we must also be cognizant of how we properly care. This article just touches upon this metaphor of Gardening as Social Work, but I believe it can be expanded. Now, like all metaphors, this one is not perfectly representative, but I hope that we can all look towards a future where we recognize the interdependence we all have as growing beings that NEED to be cared for and therefore need to care for others. Care work can make or break a plant's growth. Do not do your care work sloppily or without consideration. Further learning, research, and listening is always a necessity for anyone who is doing care-oriented work. We are all dependent on each other. We all need to be cared for. So as you grow as a plant, begin to recognize the gardeners in your own life. And, I ask you to also take the time to grow as a gardener. Let us create a beautiful, powerful, and uplifting world together as we hold hands and listen to the amazing individuals around us.
