Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Gardening Imperialism

On leaving our community garden plot this morning I saw the gardener who has the plot just inside the gate on the left, was now also handling the plot on the right.

Humans are interesting. The saying is that X only wants his land and the land next to it. That may have been true of American farmers through the years, as well as the U.S. in the 19th century and various dictators and tyrants throughout history. But it also seems to work on a smaller scale. I started with a "quarter-plot", supposedly 10' by 10' some 30 years ago. Gradually I've worked up to a full plot, a nominal 20' x 20' and a quarter plot. That's the limit within the rules. But a neighboring gardener has two full plots and a quarter--because the second plot is nominally in her neighbor's name, not hers. And now I know of a second instance (don't know for sure, but I think he got friendly with the original renters of the second plot, so I suspect his deal is similar--I'll do the work, spend the money, and maybe give you some surplus vegetables.

A persistent reader would see that I see my community garden as a microcosm of the larger agricultural world.

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