GreenThumb GT Conference Wrap Up (Day 1)
I’m officially foregoing my attempts to study from the Ecovillage Design Education course. For today, my “organization of matter” focus will be on the 25th annual GrowTogether Conference I attended on Saturday with Ned and Ladd. I almost didn’t know about it–for all of its strengths, GreenThumb is not the best at publicity and communication. But I’m probably to blame for that one since I’m not a member of a GT garden; the place was PACKED with those who are. Excitement for the cause was palpable, due in no small part to:
- the first day of spring (cheers and applause)
- a National Geographic writeup featuring Bronx-based urban farmer Abu Talib and his chickens (screams and applause)
- an NYT article announcing Michelle Obama’s plans to grow a garden on the white house lawn (wild applause and yelling. It gets me all emotional)
Passionate city commissioners and council members addressed us with enthusiasm I’m not used to hearing in NYC. Leda Meredith was the keynote speaker, and she spoke well, though I remembered very little of it even minutes after. She said that “Victory Gardens” is an outdated name, suggesting instead “Gardens of Joyful Defiance.” It doesn’t have quite the same ring to it, and I don’t see why “Victory” no longer applies, but whatever branding it takes to get people to want to garden, I’m in favor of.
The day was big, from 9am to 4pm. Long, but with enough time for Ned to get his hero Talib to autograph his NatGeo page. Somehow $5 for late registration covered breakfast, lunch, and two workshop sessions (cruelly, from the dozens of enticing workshops, we were only able to choose two). I attended:
- Improving Your Soil Quality
- Beekeeping Basics (boo-ya)
More on those in upcoming posts.
I am once again inspired by the goodness the city has to offer, overwhelmed at how difficult it is to access, and reminded that the changes needed to make urban communities more accessible start here.
