There seems to be a real change in many parts of the world, where lots of people are starting
to produce food, for themselves and for others.
This is a really good thing, or at least it should be.
No doubt a certain percentage of people are taking to their gardens, simply for something
to do, but I would imagine that most people have a deeper or more compelling set of reasons
for engaging in what for many is a novel pursuit.
Growing our own food can be beautiful, bountiful and full of possibilities for layering deeper
meaning and purpose on our actions.
Feeding ourselves can also be an essential activity
for reducing the control that others have over our lives.
Or to shelter ourselves and those around us from a world that seems to be increasingly
unfair and unstable.
Either one of these, and many variations in between, can cause us to load pressures on
to the humble task of growing food.
This process of bulking out from the core function, of gathering reinforcing additionalities,
seems to exist at many different scales, from the small garden, to large CSAs,
and everything in-between.
And these additional ideas are very useful, as they help to drive us over many of the
hurdles that prevent us from starting.
They also help with gaining support and inspiring others, to spread the enthusiasm, or the concern.
This is all good.
And the more inspiring stories and different options there are, and the more food growing
is seen as a partial solution to a range of different problems, the better.
Except that so many people seem to fail.
The turnover rates on allotments are high, too high.
Sometimes after spending years on a waiting list,
people falter in the first growing season, and give up.
So many other people seem to struggle on in their gardens,
getting increasingly overwhelmed by weeds and the amount of work.
Community gardens are often coaxed along by a few volunteers,
after the initial enthusiasm dies down.
Lots of effort is put into wonderful and crucial food growing projects
but not enough yield comes out.
Experiments are abandoned before they can be properly evaluated.
Initial enthusiasm is often replaced by a sense of guilty obligation.
Of course there are lots of growers and projects that are quite successful from the start,
but it is disheartening when you realise how many struggle and how many stop.
And this leads to a critical question.
Why is struggle and failure so common?
An obvious answer is that we simply underestimate the amount of work that is needed.
Also, failure to meet expectations of beauty, ease and bounty
has demoralised many impatient new growers.
A lot of us don’t have the physical ability to start with, and can’t develop it quickly enough,
or hurt ourselves in the process.
Sometimes we just don’t get into the appropriate routines,
and don't spend focused periods of time on the tasks that need to be done.
Or, worse, we fail to be able to differentiate between what is essential and what is discretionary.
We often lack the tools and resources, which can be really debilitating,
but the focus on getting them can divert scarce attention.
But we also tend to take on too much space, to try to grow as much as we can,
as soon as possible.
We try to satisfy all of our dreams and expectations in the first season.
We adopt methods and ideas that might be unsuitable for the context, climate or scale,
or are incompatible with other things that we are doing.
And some ideas we pick up are fundamentally flawed, and are unlikely to work.
We can also be blinded by ideology, which can prevent us from seeing
what is really going on.
A drive to be pure, or to conform to the ideal, can prevent us from taking much easier paths.
It can also prevent us from taking advantage of available resources or accepting help or
learning from the experiences of others who do not share these ideals.
And, often we just don’t have the skills that are needed for what we are trying to do,
do, and don’t give ourselves the chance to acquire them, before we really need them.
But I am starting to see an interesting pattern with myself,
and with others as I watch them go through similar things.
I am beginning to call this apparently common issue the paradox of the new grower,
or the Grower’s Paradox.
Put simply, what inspires us to start, is likely to contribute to us failing.
If there is some truth to this paradox, then the primary focus of most new projects or
growers should be that they are able to continue.
That's it.
It is much more important that we succeed with our first few steps,
than it is to ensure that we hold true to our idealism or dreams.
Rescuing gardens and projects that are faltering, takes too much demoralising effort and energy.
To put it in more general terms, we need to learn how to walk before we can run.
Or, we need to put on our own oxygen mask first, before assisting others.
What this means in the context of an individual project or grower, is impossible to specify.
But there are a few general concepts that might be helpful here.
Start small, and prepare the ground for the future, both figuratively and literally.
Focus on developing the core growing spaces, not the periphery.
Stick with methods and approaches that are robust and simple,
and save the novel and exciting experiments until later.
Focus on getting a yield, as a crop is much better than ideology at sustaining you
or your project.
If the ideology is strong, and appropriate, it will naturally work its way back in.
And finally, it is good to focus on developing skills as a grower.
Take the time to develop the skills of how to dig, move and lift without hurting yourself,
how to weed effectively, how to harvest quickly, and how to deal with pests.
All of these skills and others, will make your life much easier in the future,
and your project more successful.
It also helps to develop a rhythm in doing what needs to be done,
and when it is most beneficial to do it.
I think it is important to keep the concept of the Grower’s Paradox in mind
as we move forward.
But, it's hard to hold back, to keep all of those interesting ideas and sense of urgency
to one side, for a while at least.
Not many people are going to be able to do this, and I don’t know whether I will either,
as It unfortunately goes against the very purpose of the RED Garden Project.
I was a bit uneasy about making this video, about focusing on the possibility of failure,
but other growers have also been keen to explore this issue.
One of them is the Urban Farmer Curtis Stone who has lots of experience, and has visited
projects around the world, and has a really interesting YouTube channel.
He recently uploaded I think very important video:
"The five main reasons that I see small farms failing."
Number 5 on his list is the obsession that we have with larger global issues
getting in the way, and he recommends that we should
“keep your ideology, but just keep it in your back pocket."
Number 2 on his list is the problem of taking on way too much,
and he stresses how it is important to start with A before moving on to B,
"have some small successes, and then move on to the next thing.”
I have added a link to the video here, and if you like his stuff,
make sure you subscribe to his channel.
And if you haven’t already please subscribe to my channel, and as always thanks for watching.