Rising While Rooted: Building Revolution One Row at a Time

Listen up, soil saints and sidewalk growers—

A community garden ain't just planting pretty flowers. It's Ms. Jenkins from 3B teaching everyone how to turn sidewalk weeds into liver medicine. It's the Hernandez kids learning abuelita's epazote kills parasites better than pharmacy pills. It's the whole neighborhood remembering—through dirty fingernails and sore backs—that the land still speaks when we listen.

Here's how we build liberation gardens that last:

1. Drawing Up Holy Ground (Planning & Layout)

  • Start with butcher paper dreams: Sketch sun patterns (morning herbs in east plots, afternoon tomatoes in west)

  • Leave wide wheelchair paths (at least 36") between beds—disability justice is garden justice

  • Designate zones:
    ✨ Healing Corner (calming chamomile, stress-relief lemon balm)
    🍅 Kids' Pizza Garden (basil, cherry tomatoes in rainbow colors)
    🔥 Resilience Row (drought-resistant okra, moringa for tough times)

2. Plant Communion (What Grows Together/Contained)

  • Three Sisters in Ground: Corn (grandfathers), beans (storytellers), squash (protectors)

  • Solitary Royals (container life):
    🌿 Mint (will conquer entire plots if free)
    🐍 Comfrey (deep roots break up hard soil first year)

  • Odd Couples:
    🌼 Marigolds + tomatoes (nature's pest control)
    💜 Lavender + roses (fragrant bodyguards)

3. Tools of the Trade (Sacred Instruments)
Must-haves:

  • 5-gallon buckets (for hauling weeds and impromptu stools)

  • Hori-hori knives (for dividing roots and cutting through red tape)

  • Milk crates (mobile herb-drying stations)

  • Spray bottles (1 for vinegar weed killer, 1 for herbal pest spray)

4. Gathering the Flock (Volunteer Strategy)

  • Host a "Seed Stories Potluck" (bring a seed + the memory it holds)

  • Create shift trades: "You weed Saturday, I'll cover your Tuesday watering"

  • Youth squad perks: Let teens paint mural signs for their planted sections

  • Elder wisdom hours: Record oral histories between tomato staking

Our Rising Rooted Community Kit includes:
📐 A gridded Dirt Dream Planner (measures sun + shade like a sundial)
📖 Seeds to Harvest addendum: "Zoning for the People" chapter
🌱 Beauty By The Seasons expansion: Turning chain link into floral protest art

Conya Gilmore