Can gardening be revolutionary?
Can it be an act of radical self reliance?
Let’s start with what is a revolution? The very definition is “causing a complete or dramatic change.”
Now what is radical self reliance? “It encourages the individual to discover, exercise and rely on his or her inner resources.”
Inner resources can mean a lot of things but it is essentially it boils down to the knowledge and skills you have. This is the idea of fully relying on what you know and can provide for yourself. The revolution is TRUSTING and CHOOSING to use your knowledge to its fullest to make big changes. Which most of us don’t do, because in all honesty, it’s scary!
At the beginning of Covid when the stores were emptying out, everyone was panicking and we were being told to keep everything we need on hand. I went through and did a mental checklist of the skills, knowledge and supplies I have that would support me and get me through this. My mind went a little doomsday prepper if I’m being honest, but what I discovered was pretty exciting and gave me a lot of comfort.
The knowledge I have gained, and been developing growing my own food, plus the fun of exploring and trying out more food storage and preserving techniques allowed my stress to dissipate and I could let go of my feelings of scarcity.
For those that don’t know I am on a bit of a mission to become as self-sufficient as I can while still living in town, working a regular job and generally continuing to live an urban lifestyle. I fully believe that both of these things can work in tandem and it doesn’t have to be one or the other.
So can gardening be revolutionary? Is it an act of radical self reliance? The answer is 100% yes!
Let me share with you why. You may be surprised at the amount of ways!
- You become self sufficient instead of fully reliant on the conveniences that society has taught us to need.
- You take back your power of where your food comes from.
- The act of growing your own food can lessen the burden on the system.
- You significantly reduce carbon emissions that are needed to get food from farms to processing plants, then to the store and then to your home.
- Makes use of valuable land space, that otherwise isn’t doing very much but wasting resources (like your lawn).
- You get to say NO to filling your body with pesticides, herbicides, preservatives and every other nasty chemical that is packed into food these days.
- You reduce your grocery bill and reduce your stress around money.
- You don’t have to feel the scarcity when you see on the news that the grocery stores have empty shelves.
- You will eventually want to have your own compost because it goes hand in hand with gardening. It not only makes you more sustainable by reducing the household waste that goes to the landfill, but means you no longer contribute to our severely degrading top soil, you are in fact taking steps to help reverse it.
- You can be an example to others and show that having a beautiful yard that grows your own food goes hand in hand with living a modern life in an urban setting.
- Growing a garden is badly needed in our day to day lives now. We need healthier outlets for our time then binging on social media and Netflix. Don’t get me wrong these things have a place in my life too but much less so as I would rather spend my time in my garden where it’s peaceful and slow, disconnected from the algorithms and media blasting me with pointless information filled with negativity and fear.
- Gardening is a great way to get your body moving and active. It is essential to our health that our bodies do more than sit at a desk, on a couch and in a car.
- Instead of buying one more houseplant…. take that pot and stick something in it that you can eat instead! It’s way more satisfying. I promise!
- You can teach the next generation a skill that is being lost to the conveniences of our modern age. A skill that meets our most basic necessity of life.
So are you sick of being told by the news and media to be afraid of everything?
That everything is scary and bad and all hope is lost?
I sure am! It is so unhealthy. You have so much power to change the narrative in your life, to take back your power and control through growing. You can become significantly more self-reliant with the simple act of growing some of your ow food.
You can create a vegetable and herb filled sanctuary in your own home and yard that also keeps your body moving, healthy and strong.
Your plants nurture you in just the same way you nurture them. This might be one of my favourite things about it.
So yes, you can be radically self reliant through gardening!
Start your own revolution that says you DON’T have to live in the scarcity mindset that is being preached to us like crazy right now.
Step out of the uncertainty and into your power as a gardener and the comfort of being more self sufficient.
Viva la revolución!
– Lindsay
Creator – The Mindful Living Movement
The thought of growing a bigger garden or starting a garden for the first time can seem a little daunting at times. There are a lot of factors to consider from your unique growing zone, how the sun moves through your space, which plant varieties will work best, where to plant them etc.
This is why I have created my very special gardening course bundle. It is near and dear to my heart and has helped hundreds of gardeners increase their self reliance through gardening. I would love to welcome you in this amazing community of humans who are taking back their power through gardening. You can find all the details of The Complete Gardening Season Course Bundle by clicking here.
