Guerilla Gardening - An Attempt At Urban Self Reliance

During the summer of 2006, Essex County Anarchist Faction attempted to ween itself from the industrialist-capitalist food production nightmare, by planting local organic vegetable gardens on unutilized urban land in Windsor, Ontario. Our mission was no less than complete self reliance, a total escape from the dangers and unsustainability of agribusiness. Beyond free organic food, we sought the benefits of self reliance which would free us from the dependance on our paychecks, and the 40 hour misery required to get it. Being poor, we were forced to take back some land from the capitalist class, and while the land owners most likely didn't even notice, to us this new land provided a new world of possibilities.

Our hopes were huge, and our efforts were even bigger. We met every sunday, and spent long afternoons tilling soil, pulling weeds, planting seeds, and watering our plots. For some it was their first time gardening, and finding a new appreciate for nature and the living world. The relationships we had with our plants was not one of exploitation, but of mutual symbiotic existance. Our plants were to keep us alive, and in return we would provide a natural, fertile setting for our plants to exist. It brought us closer to the Earth, and closer to what really kept us alive. It removed the mental abstraction caused by supermarkets and excess packaging. It reminded us that we don't need a paycheck and a supermarket to survive, and that all this time our reliance was in the wrong place. Our gardens reminded us of the close relationship we share with the biological world. We were now conscious of every sunny day, every rain, and every dry spell.

Along with all these new experiences came great disappointments. Our harvests were (to be kind), a complete failure. We did almost everything wrong in our gardening techniques, and after all those afternoons and spent dollars, we have nothing to show but a sense of accomplishment. This is a record of what we did wrong, and we hope all would-be radical gardeners read this to not repeat our mistakes.
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