Guerrilla Gardener Collective Fundraiser

Plants can save the world.   And there is a collective of gardeners in Harrisburg that gets that.

I’ve known of these folks for a while. I’m happy, now, to introduce you to the arguably coolest gardeners in the area; the Harrisburg Guerrilla Gardeners Collective.   You can actually meet many of them Sunday at a benefit show at the Abbey Bar at ABC in Harrisburg between 4pm and 8pm.

When you hear the term “Guerrilla Gardeners,” you might envision angry youth scaling fences under the cover of darkness and scything weeds on slumlord property to help cut down on the population of rats and wild dogs.

There’s certainly nothing wrong with that agenda, heck, I would love to take out shears at night to hack away at some of my neighbor’s plantings just to rid the neighborhood of some ugly.

“Putting aside the obvious beautification issues and effects on property value, it is important to plant in neglected areas because of the impact on the psyche of the immediate area,” said founder Benjamin Ketchum, “A garden provides the community an important outlet for creativity and personal development.”

But this group of gardeners has a higher purpose yet.  They are taking care of people and the planet.

While it’s true that they have a rebel spirit in that they aren’t waiting for permits or an ok from anyone to do what they do, at base of what they do is education.

They want to grow food for people.  They want to show people how to grow food.  They want to beautify and take care of the earth. This year, the group found a garden on Allison Hill and they have spent hours working the property to create a proper garden.  Lots of work needs to be done yet.

Let me warn you that books have been written on what I’m going to try to summarize here, so a lot will be left out.  But I’ll try to touch base on a few things that I’ve I believe are important to Harrisburg Guerilla Gardeners.

Slowly, people are beginning to realize that we are not in control of our food supply. Food travels an average 1,500 miles before it reaches your table.  Imagine how vulnerable or bodies would be to any halt in transportation or interruptions in corporate food production?

“There are obvious personally rewarding aspects to growing one’s own food,” said Ketchum, “But in uncertain times, growing your own food can be an important factor in survival.”

On top of that, because of poor agricultural practices, our soils on our farms are depleted of nutrient.  We have to pour stuff made of fossil fuel on our soil just to get anything to grow at all.

So that’s one layer of it.  We need to be able to grow our own food close to our urban centers, in small plots, to make sure we can securely feed ourselves.  Produce is also the most expensive part of our diets.  Folks in urban centers can grow their own food and improve their diet and their health.

Beautification is part of it as well.  But to me, filling brown fields with plants is crucial to our survival as a people with urgency similar to securing our food supply.

Brown fields do not hold water. Compacted dirt does not hold water.  Water runs right off and into the sewers and then into the Bay.  In many areas, there are a ton of chemicals in the topsoil.  Without plants to work the natural processes, those chemicals wash right into our water supply.  This kills fish and the plant life.  And ultimately, the planet.

So what can a plant do?  Plants slow down the water and allow it to seep into the ground, so the water goes through a natural cleansing process.  The water that would have flooded storm sewers is now added to our ground water.  Plant roots keep precious topsoil from washing off and the process of plant birth and death over years creates new topsoil.  Many plants fix nitrogen into the soil and clean the air.

OK, Enough, you get it…  What these folks are doing is important.  Wanna support them?

Show up Sunday the first at the Abbey Bar.  There will be an all ages punk rock music and a punk rock flea market.   Maybe even some PRG’ers….   Have fun and support a great cause.  If you’re on facebook, here’s a link http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/event.php?eid=123074224400942&index=1

Like them.