“Now it’s time for the gardeners and environmentalists to claim their stake in the ideals and the heroes that formed the nation.” Andrea Wulf, LA Times

Thomas Jefferson’s vegetable garden at his home of Monticello. Photo: Monticello/Thomas Jefferson Foundation.

Gardening as politics: Digging the Founding Gardeners

America’s Founding Fathers knew the importance of gardening and the environment. Today’s efforts — urban farming, composting, even drought-tolerant yards — echo their ideals.

By Andrea Wulf
LA Times
May 29, 2011
Andrea Wulf’s book “Founding Gardeners — The Revolutionary Generation, Nature and the Shaping of the American Nation” is published by Knopf.
Copyright © 2011, Los Angeles Times

Excerpt:

Most people today, however, don’t regard gardening as an overtly political act, as it was for the Founding Fathers. But it can empower people and local communities. The rise of urban farming and gardening across the country in the past decade and the increasing interest in local produce is one example — it gives Americans control over their food and its production, which for the most part is in the hands of industry and huge conglomerates.

In big cities like Los Angeles, if you grow vegetables on “edible” food-producing wall panels and on roofs, or subscribe to weekly boxes of fresh produce from local farms, or even plant drought-tolerant frontyards, you’re making a political statement. Keeping a compost pile eliminates the need for chemical fertilizers; organic gardens that invite useful insects avoid the use of harmful pesticides; and local produce can reduce carbon emissions associated with industrial food production and long-distance transportation.

Over the years, the founders have been invoked by almost every politician and every political movement across a wide spectrum. Now it’s time for the gardeners and environmentalists, who are already following in the footsteps of the Founding Gardeners, to claim their stake in the ideals and the heroes that formed the nation.

Read the complete article here.

See also “Thomas Jefferson’s horticultural legacy is on view at his home, Monticello” here.