whatca growing comrade?

“Spring is right around the corner. Don't be a nihilist."
-John Zerzan, quoted on their radio show “Anarchy Radio”

Here in this part of the world, spring has almost arrived. Outside, the sun is hiding behind some clouds as it has for most of the winter and the snow on the ground continues to accumulate. This week we’re digging up the earth to talk about growing plants and hear about your upcoming plans or how the garden was over the year.

What are you planting and growing this year? If you find yourself in a different season outside of Spring, share some favorite / least favorite experiences in the past tense. Have you planted things in previous years that are close to or just now coming up and around to providing their fruits? Do you have foraging stories or other anarchist DIY gardening experiments to share? What are some of your favorite anarchist things related to the topic of horticulture? What relationship do your anarchist ideas have to the practice of growing things? What annoys you most about this topic?

See also:

TOTW: Gardens (March 6, 2022)

https://anarchistnews.org/content/totw-gardens

 

Want to submit your own TOTW? Use our fancy new form here!

Comments

Anarchy Spring (not verified) Sun, 03/09/2025 - 22:27

We anarchists know what's at stake.
The spring will thaw our frozen inaction.
We do not make gardens,
We make war.
Be ready.

Tezcatlipoca Mon, 03/10/2025 - 12:35

In reply to by Anarchy Spring (not verified)

There's a few reasons why conquering hordes have been successful at attacking and collapsing civilizations historically: highly mobile fighting units and control/destruction of food supplies. You need to posture less and listen and absorb more of what each conversation has to offer you instead of just getting emotional. I understand the frustration but you really just sound socially isolated and out of touch, not tough.

EmmaAintDead Tue, 03/11/2025 - 10:44

In reply to by anon (not verified)

Cultural appropriation isnt something that can be done by an individual in a comments section. stop regurgitating bluesky socialist buzzwords. you look ridiculous. 

anon (not verified) Tue, 03/11/2025 - 13:26

In reply to by EmmaAintDead

regurgitating bluesky socialist buzzwords isn't something that can be done as an anon on anews when gurgitation never occurred in the first place. stop making nonsense up because your feelings are hurt that your sockpuppet's sockpuppet got blasted for larping. you look ridiculous.

anon (not verified) Tue, 03/11/2025 - 22:46

In reply to by anon (not verified)

Leech weeds like "couch grass" (ugh... those manbaby terms developed by rural pop Muhrikan "culture") are quite literally anarchist plants. Just spreading like water and being impossible to eradicate completely.

Gardeneders from that angle are speciesist cops... constantly attempting to crush lives that are in the way of their civilized, psycbotic forms of life, then to be callled "gardening" and "work"... wishing that one day they'll reach food autonomy outta some stupid piece of land they formatted in such ugly manner.

A.G.A.B.!

Fire to the greenhouses!!!

anon (not verified) Wed, 03/12/2025 - 00:23

In reply to by anon (not verified)

Invasives are a huge problem. I really am done with arguing this point, I do it all the time IRL with Gia-Theory permies (no huge disrespect to permaculture in general, just some of it's adherents who push non-sense like that), but at least the permies somewhat understand botanical "speciation & it's consequences" (a book I recommend, btw) & what an ecosystem is; I mean you have to in order to set up a space. I just hate this "whatever grows is good" & "what's good for humans is good" nonsense, it's childish & derives from an idea that the creatures who assemble themselves into ecosystems & bioregions are only groovy mysterious green scenery to vibe with, or that plants exist solely for anthropocentric utility. "Keep the Himalayan Blackberries because you can sometimes eat them in the late summer". I hate it, your point shows a lack of interaction with & appreciation of wild spaces & the creatures who live there.

Where are those blackberries - who choked out an understory of Snow Berry or Highbush Cranberry - in the winter when the birds need them most?

If your argument is something more ridiculous like, "spreading like water and being impossible to eradicate completely [is anarchy]", then you just described forever chemicals & plastic pollutants as being anarchist, because they resist any attempts to control them. Short-sighted cultures of domination introducing random things into the wild & just letting it play out isn't anarchy

But of course you think like this, to you: land=stupid

anon (not verified) Wed, 03/12/2025 - 08:31

In reply to by anon (not verified)

Fungi consumption might have affected your discursive logic skillz... Or perhaps you just didn't get my "point".

- My more serious point I was alluding to lies in how gardening amounts to a kind of formatting of an environment -which in the case of a wasteland or urban lands can be a great idea- by seeking to forever transform the soil within a bubble-world view of the environment often due to the definitions enforced by land property. The garden you're growing is not detached from the ecosystem, therefore it is a way of civilizing a compartmented piece of this ecosystem, so to suit whatever's your grand vision of a garden.

- Speaking of gardens as civilizing... can you get me a garden that wasn't the fancy product of an agriculture-based civilization?

- I don't

- What are these "berries" things? They are wild fruits.

- Also *elymus repens* is a vegetal living organism, which feeds on soil, moisture and especially sunlight like other plants. Regardless if it's an "anarchist weed", you can't compare it to lifeless industrial-consumer pollution. Duh. It's not good or bad... it's a plant, that also like other plants lives by its basic drive to just grow and thrive like it can. Yes, many types of invasive species are a problem, not only to anthropocentric gardens but to other plant life.

- Plants like the rest of life in nature lives beyond good & evil. That admission doesn't support the first-level hippie Gaia Theory view. They are only part of an infinitely more complex universe that is inherently anarchistic. Unless you can prove me they are under God's command or some other metaphysical laws. Paracelsus for instance had an answer to this, but still that was mostly just a poetic view of the world.

anon (not verified) Wed, 03/12/2025 - 08:34

In reply to by anon (not verified)

thanks anon 00:23. excellent points. great to see a thoughtful comment on here.
i might add that not all non-native plants are invasive. like plantain, which is also known as white man's footsteps. so called because it came to Turtle Island with europeans. but the natives found it quite useful so they made it part of their apothecary. but that is the exception that proves the rule really.

Tezcatlipoca Wed, 03/12/2025 - 08:54

In reply to by anon (not verified)

In the history of the planet at a cosmic scale the destructive capacity of Homo sapiens is not exceptional. There have been numerous devastating species that totally dominated the biosphere and led to mass extinctions. One example is algae and there's not much we'd recognize as consciousness or better yet, ego/super-ego driven. That being said, we clearly have the ability as individuals to recognize the ethical dilemmas of our existence and consumption. In sum, invasives destroy pristine systems, but so do humans. It's a bore to continually litigate either side. The interesting stuff to contend is in the gray areas. Are we going to do anything artful with our "special" (for some commenters very special) talents? Better yet, do we even have control of ourselves?

anon (not verified) Wed, 03/12/2025 - 09:06

In reply to by Tezcatlipoca

Yet with your tOotally comprehensive understanding of cosmic pessimism and the insignificance of all calling it 'boring to continually litigate' either side, yet here you are, unasked yet so eager to share your vEry significAnt opinions in your many many incarnations! BEEPing up the room like a fetid cheese.

lumpy (not verified) Wed, 03/12/2025 - 10:58

In reply to by Tezcatlipoca

well the economic and political systems are obviously subject to the apocalyptic determinism but i like to think humans can individually escape it, usually in short bursts of beautiful idea

anon (not verified) Mon, 03/10/2025 - 09:09

Gardening just like the rest of *farming* means sedentary living. Unless you're being a kind of wwoofer, you'll likely to get stuck with one hyperlocalized project, that at best can welcome guests and helpers.

Often that means:

- batshit complicated logistics,
- dealing with machinery and other stupid industrially-produced hardware,
- long work shifts with much less people than you'd like,
- on top of that, the land property hell (a.k.a. capitalist heaven).

Not saying it's a no-go, but before getting too starry-eyed about garden-worship as the ultimate anarchist living, I strongly recommend to look at the downsides.

Using anarchist gatherings to trade seeds would be a great thing, tho. Anarchist country fairs should be a thing, or a bigger one.

anon (not verified) Mon, 03/10/2025 - 11:24

In reply to by anon (not verified)

Traveling just like the rest of *Evasion* means sedentary living out of your car. Unless you're being a kind of Summit Hopper, you'll likely to get stuck with one hyperlocalized mindset, that at best can welcome undercovers and Oogles.

Often that means:
- catshit complicated logistics and cat litter smelling houses
- dealing with train machinery and other stupid industrially-produced hardware like cars,
- long train rides with ppl you don't like
- on top of that, the king of the road hellscape (a.k.a. capitalist heaven).

Tezcatlipoca Mon, 03/10/2025 - 12:31

In reply to by anon (not verified)

Being comfortably "hyperlocalized" in a bioregion you know well, on and off-grid, is a great way to live. So is traveling van nomad/RV/boondocking. You can even combine the strategies. I've seen nomads with herb gardens and succulents in their vans!

anon (not verified) Wed, 03/12/2025 - 09:14

In reply to by anon (not verified)

"u can't get a more anarchistic dynamic than [hyperlocalized]"

This is an incredibly narrow perspective on 'anarchistic' that you're trying to pass off as an absolute truth. In fact one might say this perspective only grows xenophobia.

Have you ever heard that: none are free until all are free?

Think about what you've done.

anon (not verified) Wed, 03/12/2025 - 12:37

In reply to by anon (not verified)

"Have you ever heard that: none are free until all are free?"

only as hyperbolic rhetoric from commies and liberals.

i never said it was "an absolute truth" you idiot, and the only people who say "this perspective only grows xenophobia." are globalists and people who are anti-indigenous and anti-autonomy.

Think about what a moron you u r.

anon (not verified) Wed, 03/12/2025 - 13:15

In reply to by anon (not verified)

For you to claim that Indigenous autonomy equals xenophobia is ridiculous and racist. Touch grass, loser. Oh right, you can go outside because you might run into other people from different places with different views. OooOooh nOooo!

anon (not verified) Mon, 03/10/2025 - 12:31

The garden I started a few years ago at my apartment complex is going well! And I'm expanding this year! The free woodchips I got from chipdrop have been inoculated with Psilocybe cyanescens (Wavy Caps), Stropharia rugosoannulata (Garden Giants) & a type of Morel that does well in woodships (Morchella importuna). I trimmed all my raspberry canes back a month & a half ago & they're already budding out. The mints & lemon balms are so voracious they've taken over a lot of space but I'm definitely not mad about it, I especially love seeing the hundreds of Golden Digger Wasps spending the summer pollinating them. Thinned out my strawberries so they don't grow over each other like they did last year. Blueberries are doing great, so are all my perennial herbs. Going to add a few new raised beds, thanks to a neighbor who's donating some money, gonna grow garlic & chamomile. Introduced a species of Chicken of the Woods (L. gilbertsonii) to a a few dead cherries & Oysters to a few Red Alders that line the hillside between the garden & the train tracks.

Most of the garden isn't in my apartment complex's property, I just took over a city easement & no one stopped me, so I kept expanding. Now people from all over the neighborhood come there to smoke & talk. One neighbor uses the space for their Marxist bookclub. Last year a neighbor who worked at a liquor store gave me a few bottles of rum & I made everyone fresh Raspberry Mojitos with our mints & raspberries, for a week or so a few of us drank & discussed Letters of Insurgents (which I was rereading).

A downside is my property manager uses the garden as a selling point to the apartments & has raised the rent. I'm not sure if the increase is just par for the course or has something to do with me.

anon (not verified) Mon, 03/10/2025 - 14:15

In reply to by Tezcatlipoca

Yeah, I'm not sure how well the morels will do, they're pretty finicky from what I understand & I might have waited too long to introduce them. What happened was last spring I kept finding huge flushes of them in pretty polluted sites, near drive-thrus & busy roads, etc., & I know morels bioaccumulate that stuff so I didn't eat any but instead collected them & got a ton of their spores on a few pieces of tinfoil, fed them & kept them in the fridge. I introduced them to the chips in the fall, along with some stronger Stropharia mycelium that a friend gave me. Also, last year was a great year for cyanescens, so I introduced them as well. Those two are tenacious, hungry little guys so they might outcompete the morels.

I feel you on the lazy with age, that's why I do a lot of perennials & annual flowers that self-seed pretty well. I don't have any trees but, I do tend to the Oso Berry, Cherries & Plums that were already here. I could probably easily grow some apples but I don't want to cut down the lodgepole pines & alders that shade us in the summer & umbrella us in the winter.

Besides garden stuff, (the topic prompt talked about foraging, too) I'm gearing up for the Morel season. Gonna hit some burn sites & see if I can't make some money & some amazing meals. From what I understand about the cuts to the Forest Service, I might not get harassed by them at all. I'm also looking forward to finding the Spring Coccora (Amanita Vernicoccora), I've heard it's better than it's fall counterpart & I finally feel like I know enough to not confuse it with the deadly Amanitas that look incredibly similar.

anon (not verified) Mon, 03/10/2025 - 17:02

In reply to by anon (not verified)

MmmMmm, when it warms the shrooms will bloom, mmmm, shrooms, pushing up through the moist wood chips, shroommmMmms blooOooming and the seasons turn, autumn, and the red and white soma shrooOoommmms, mmmm, higher and higher, mmmm, I float over the shrooOoom garden, ,,,,,,,

anon (not verified) Sun, 03/16/2025 - 10:49

In reply to by anon (not verified)

Just had a crazy thought, What if pacifists sneaked some shrooms into Trump's, Putin's and Elon's poutine, scary mindboggling huh? The daaAaanciNg and huuUuugging,,,,,War and Peace,,,,,

anon (not verified) Wed, 03/12/2025 - 18:38

In reply to by anon (not verified)

How crazy is that!? I was too involved in a gardening project where you had the exact same rent hike gimmick feeding on the eco-gardening niche appeal. This might show how both property and gardening as capital valuation scheme are widespread in North America... also some of Latin America as well.

Not a fan of gardening after going through this... There's such a thing as anarchist gardening but how can it really be a thing if it doesn't avoid the property trap set up by society?

anon (not verified) Wed, 03/12/2025 - 23:01

In reply to by anon (not verified)

Yeah, I hear you. For me the bright side is that people have a space to meet each other or to just relax & smoke. And people get to eat free berries & cut fresh herbs for their meals. One tenant told me that they've never eaten a berry that they've just picked, which is nuts but understandable in this day & age. I'm glad I was able to give them that experience. It's a low income apartment, so to see some of these struggling moms pick raspberries with their toddlers is a heartwarming sight. Seeing their delight in eating something that they've picked for themselves is really cool & human.

And like I mentioned before, people are actually talking to each other. I just had a conversation about people burning Teslas in Seattle & France with some fairly normie, recently radicalized, goth neighbors that I used to just talk about black metal with. I just got my copy of "The Many Headed Hydra" back from a different neighbor who walks down here from a different building just to smoke & socialize. We talked about the golden age of piracy & the antinomians among other things & I lent him Dot Matrix's "What have we done for us lately" & my copy of "Discipline & punish" (his bookclub just watched the Chomsky debate). Last fall I lent my copy of "All that the rain promises & more" to one of those mom's I mentioned earlier (because I'm the mushroom guy & give all my neighbors who know me free chanterelles & educate them about mushrooms, probably annoyingly so) & her daughter loved it & they went out foraging together. But I met her because she smokes blunts & watches Anime in the garden after she puts her daughter to sleep. Yet another guy returned "Player piano" & I talked him into reading "Ishmael". Sorry if I tend to speak in examples!

Regardless of the price-gouging practices of my landlord & my property manager using it as an attraction to entice new tenants, it's made lots of peoples lives a little better & has generated some real (perhaps small) changes.

Plus, there are more birds, insects & other wildlife around here then there was before I started it. And the soil is healthier too!

Johnny Poutine (not verified) Wed, 03/12/2025 - 09:02

I am an nomadic anarch traveler unshackled by domestication and, like my uncivilized ancestors, disperse the nutritious dumpster poutine seeds from my bare bottom as I walk the bountiful Earth!

Here is my song:

Oh, poutine is good to me,
And so I thank poutine,
For giving me the things I need;
The sun and the rain and the poutine seed.
Poutine is good to me,
Johnny Poutine!

Oh, and every seed I sow,
Will grow into poutines.
And someday there'll be poutines there,
For everyone in the world to share.
Oh, poutine is good to me,
Johnny Poutine!

Oh, the Earth is good to me,
And so I thank the Earth,
For giving me the things I need:
The sun and the rain and the poutine seed.
The earth is good to me,
Johnny Poutine!

anon (not verified) Wed, 03/12/2025 - 16:08

In reply to by Johnny Poutine (not verified)

Oh Johnny, I am the wild dandelion nomadic hunter/gatherer radical within this capitalist domestic bubble, not your bourgie genteel version! Have you ever cut the head off a tabby and drunk thirstly from its neck? OooOoo, did you just dry reach reading this? I will meet you one night you dancing prancing poutine and shroom engorged fantasist and show you the glory of cannibalism, the darkness is approaching, we do not tolerate weakness nor white supremacists who first dragged us away from our wildernesses and put chains upon use. Bon appetité my little Johnny Poutine!

Darth Zerzan (not verified) Wed, 03/12/2025 - 18:33

In reply to by anon (not verified)

Don't quit your day job, Hemminbrow.

Look, just because some creative brahs grace these anews comments from time to time with funny and creative content does not mean you all need to attempt it. This goes double for the "poet" below. Look, some brahs just don't have the talent or skill for creative writing and that's okay. The world needs all kinds of brahs.
Now go chop some wood.

anon (not verified) Wed, 03/12/2025 - 16:43

The garden is dark, it ain't no party,
You can manicure it if you want,
If you're rich or a smarty,
But when it comes down to feeding,
Bark and leaves ain't gonna do it,
And if you're a vegan and it's freezing,
There's only fur coats that'll fit,
And unfortunately, yep, you're gonna have to kill it.

Wellamy Saint … (not verified) Thu, 03/13/2025 - 18:16

Who has the hook up on the blight resistant American Chestnut tree from Cornell? The other side is it’s genetically modified, which is something anarchists critique, but where do you draw the line? WWBFD? (What would Bellamy Fitzpatrick do?) Do they have secret Cornell connection to jump the years long American Chestnut waiting list?

[shakes 8ball… **all signs point to yes**]

There are actually some old American Chestnut around here, so I’ve heard - but I can’t tell you where because I don’t know either, although someone knows (and won’t tell me either, so maybe it’s a ruse).

I have to check the records, but almost 8+ years back my friends and I replanted an old sheep pasture full of a few different kind of nut trees. Very grid, very pasture, very not doing so well now, but there are some growing. Lesson learned is that the deer have constantly been eating the young tree sprouts and really stunting their growth, so I wish we used a little more sapling projection against those marauders. I’ve been in some apple orchards where they lay down human hair in a bag to help keep the deer away, but not sure how effective that is. Obviously the pasture protector doggo is not guarding the trees and just doing who knows what all day while the real anarchists have day jobs. I still love them though and when we get a chance we chase away the deer and their ticks. My gardening pro-tip is if you live in tick country, use some kind of protection if you’re out working in the forest garden and always check yourself after coming back inside.

Growing weed smokes within a certain number of plants is legal here now, so definitely going to get those in the ground and let the outdoors do their magic. When the harvest moon comes and the marijuanas are ready, there is always way more than one could possibly use, so it makes for nice gifts for your friends. Before weed was legal, they used to get the army forest cops up in the chopper and use infrared to try and find the grow ops because apparently marijuanas give off a specific color that few other common plants in the area do (poison sumac being a similar infrared, so I’ve heard). I once watched a cop chopper almost do a touch down in a suspect field, dog was not sleeping and we watched together pretty weirded out (we weren’t growing), but apparently they thought we were and wanted to investigate.

My last gardening tip, is also related to the intoxicating variety of plant. We used to have a small anarchist vineyard, but the invader beetles destroyed most of it years back when dog was asleep and not on guard duty. These days, it’s much easier to take a truck full of carboys to the local vineyard during the fall harvest and buy whatever type grape juice you want and then lug that back to your anarchist wine cellar. Years ago I did the quick maths and a bottle of chardonnay (white wine) that we made cost us like $3 USD, compared to like a crappy $15+ bottle of wine from the store. Although, the trick is actually making good tasting wine because if it sucks your stuck drinking like a lot of bad wine and it’s not as fun as it sounds + plus you can’t even give it to your friends because it’s that bad. The process is fun though, you stock up on wine bottles and come bottling, spend the day cleaning all the old bottles while sampling the new batch and trying not to get stung by the wasps and bees that smell the delicious wine.

Oh wait, one last gardening story, just because I'm on an intoxicating plant rant. You used to be able to find Jimeson weed at the local mall. It was used as a decorative plant, but you could go and harvest the bulbs and the rest is magic, but not really fun or something I would ever recommend to anyone. Use caution, as with all things. Okay, peace out.
- Wellamy Saint Dadtrick

anon (not verified) Thu, 03/13/2025 - 21:18

In reply to by Wellamy Saint … (not verified)

You ridiculous chumps... why to you work and suffer so much to create MORE shit, while actual anarchy can just provide you with all the luxuries and abundance you'd like, and for free?

My previous comment about once commenting on this site while drinking outta some 93$ bottle of fine cellar wine that I got for free was removed, but that was a true, LIVED EXPERIENCE you Salami Fits Sadtrick. And you though dumpster poutines are the only frivolities anarchy provides me?

Damn. How dimwitted these numbfucks are... still speaking of money issues when all you can do is just overcome your own stupid (but very useful) moral limitations to get what you want out of life.

anon (not verified) Fri, 03/14/2025 - 06:09

In reply to by anon (not verified)

See? THAT'S what I'm talking about! People being so deeply indoctrinated (or just dumb) as to believe there's no way to have abundance and quality for FREE without becoming a capitalist... having their hands shaking the moment they consider stealing a bit juicy piece of duck meat at the grocery store, because "think of the Workers!" (or any other spook around the table).

anon (not verified) Fri, 03/14/2025 - 09:05

In reply to by anon (not verified)

See? dubious ethics masquerading as anarchy yet again.

I'm not against stealing. but do you really believe stealing is anti capitalist?? Theft, dumpster diving, all that, relies on the excesses of capitalism, not the absence of capitalism.

it still seems to me that your "for free" relies on someone else's labor.

that duck is still free if you are the one to hunt, kill & dress it, that is the "work" I mean.

anon (not verified) Fri, 03/14/2025 - 11:46

In reply to by anon (not verified)

" Theft, dumpster diving relies on the excesses of capitalism, not the absence of capitalism. "

No they are entirely different practices. The latter does rely on excess production, not really illegalist, and is a better, urban version of *gleaning* in farming areas.

The other is at the very basis of capitalism, but not limited to it as there was always some kind of thievery existing through history. You take the resources from a town after raiding them? You exploit labor through surplus value? You're an Ancient Greek band of bandits invading an island to claim it your own and then proclaim yourself king? Or maybe you go simpler and more anarcho-individualist and lift, or scam, for your own interests and that of your buddies? All of this is thievery, with different sets of values and goals.

...but you don't steal from the Holy Workers by just lifting shit around. That's not how the production process works.

lumpy (not verified) Fri, 03/14/2025 - 16:03

In reply to by anon (not verified)

^this is simply correct, the only workers who think theft affects them have internalized their bosses bullshit. not to mention the insurance companies literally tell these lil' bootlickers not to think this way because it makes them do crazy bullshit just increases liability for the company

lumpy (not verified) Thu, 03/13/2025 - 21:57

In reply to by anon (not verified)

you're a total prick and you'll probably get shot to death soon by some roided out, mentally unstable rent-a-cop BUT i tend to agree with your pirate swagger! best of luck dodging those fascist bullets! srsly, even the most sanctimonious illegalists! more power to'em, i say

unless you're a fukin poser liar, typing about a fantasy, which is likely but i hope not!

anon (not verified) Fri, 03/14/2025 - 03:41

In reply to by anon (not verified)

wrong, again

Add new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.

Filtered HTML

  • Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a href hreflang> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul type> <ol start type> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
CAPTCHA
R
x
w
U
M
5
C
!
Enter the code without spaces.
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.