Photo by Gabriel Jimenez on Unsplash

I recently watched a class on gardening. I have a tendency to inadvertently kill plants. Negligence and over compensation. And the class looked accessible. Not something that was going to overwhelm me with complex nutrient-to-dirt ratios or make me feel like a failure if I couldn’t feed a neighborhood with my raised bed.  That class was Ron Finley’s Master Class at masterclass.com.

I was unfamiliar with him before taking the class. As I learned more about him and his work, I was deeply moved by his commitment to the health of his community and to the land in it.  I was appalled to learn that he had been arrested for gardening. That in our current system, it is more legally sound to let a vacant lot sit than to repair that space and feed folks, horrified me. And that was before the pandemic.

More recently, as we waited to hear whether or not schools would be allowed to reopen, our county being on California’s Covid watch list, I thought about what access to space means in the time of pandemic. Safe outdoor space means access to community. To connection. For some it means meaningful time alone from that the group of folks they deeply love but maybe need a break from. And in some cases, it’s access to education. Schools with poor outdoor space will have a much harder time opening all the way up again until the pandemic is under control  Schools with giant lawns and 56 acre campuses, will be able to have larger groups of socially distanced students return sooner and more safely to group education than those reliant on multistory buildings with little to no outdoor space.

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

People who can afford it are hiring tutors to come into their homes and support their children in distance learning. A suburban quarter acre, like my family’s, could support three or four kids, socially distanced. But what about the kids in communities where the ground has not been groomed to meet them? What about the lots our culture has decided to leave vacant?

The gardens Ron Finley grows in community with others can also be a safe, beautiful place to learn. Right now, with the weather  fine and the air quality still unsullied by fire season, look around, the next time you take a walk, and notice, what land is being neglected? What space could house a raised bed or two?  And in that space, could we not also cultivate the education of students most isolated by the pandemic?  Consider which outdoor spaces are available to you and to the members of your neighborhood. And to the students needing to learn.  How could a garden in your front yard, in the vacant lot, or along the sidewalk lead to a safe learning space for students?

As this crazy year continues to unfold, it continues to underline the radical differences in access citizens of the same country experience. Gardening is central to the revolution.

Learn more about Ron Finley’s work: http://ronfinley.com/