Story by Danay Barrera, Summer 2020
Plant cultivation, while important to the subsistence of human life, can have some negative connotations for individuals and entire groups of people. For Black folks descendent from enslaved people in the U.S, plant cultivation can be a reminder of the weaponization of nature against them through the evils of slavery from the 18th and 19th centuries and every wound inflicted to their community since then. To migrants who in their place of origin were left no choice but to produce their own food because they could not afford to buy it, it can be a reminder of their hardships with poverty. These are some of the reasons shared by my coworkers at the Heritage Garden as to why their families were less than happy to hear that they were gardening or had aspirations to farm. Being that I enjoy gardening and that I plan to make it a significant part of my future, I was curious to see what my mom’s relationship to gardening/farming was and how she felt about my relationship with it.
My mom grew up in a small village in Mexico. I knew from visits to my mom’s village that many of the men worked the lands cultivating different crops and raising livestock. She told me what it was like growing up in a village of cultivators. Contrary to what I believed, it was not just the men of the village who farmed. The women and children would get involved as well. They grew sesame plants, corn, sugarcane, and sometimes melon. My mom would go with the rest of the kids to clear land, sow seeds, and weed. The growing season for corn started when the rainy season came starting in July. In November and December, they would harvest the corn. January and February was when they would degrain the corn husks. April-July was melon season when mostly the women worked until it was time for the men to harvest.
While my mom didn’t enjoy working the lands because of the arduous work, she liked that it gave her an opportunity to hang out with her friends. And while she didn’t have much experience with gardening, she did speak fondly of my great-grandmother who had a plethora of plants in her garden. She said that my great-grandmother had any plant that you could think of in her garden. My mom remembers that my great-grandmother grew tomatoes, peppers, bananas, sugar cane, alegria, epazote, marigolds, and anise. She had all the herbs you would need to make remedies and all of the knowledge you would need to make those remedies. She also knew how to make candles from bananas, homemade candies, and cheese. Everything she needed was in her backyard.
I asked her if she had any reservations about me gardening given her relationship with plant cultivation. She said she was okay with what I was doing. She believes that it is better to grow your own food because the more natural, the better the taste and the better it is health-wise. That’s why she’s drawn to organic produce in the grocery store. My mom likes planting flowers in front of our house every year. She says that she likes the beauty aspect of it. Now that plant cultivation isn’t a job for her, she enjoys it. What’s more, she aspires to be like my great-grandmother with all of her plants and all of her knowledge. That is something my mom and I have in common.