Ending Hunger - Rebel Gardeners Wage Veggie War With "Seed Bombs"

by Robert Wilkinson

I figured since bombs seem to be going off in many places, the plant bombs of Buenos Aires might be a welcome alternative. Welcome to a truly "socialist" project to feed people for free!

At least mainstream media occasionally tells us about something creative or innovative. In this Reuters story via MSNBC by Eduardo Garcia titled Rebel gardeners wage veggie war with 'seed bombs' we hear of a combination of guerrilla theater, good-natured "feed the peopleism", and civic minded urban beautification that is changing one of the largest cities in the Western Hemisphere.

It seems a group of Buenos Aires artists want to end hunger and have fun doing it. From the story:

Armed with vegetable seedlings and seed bombs — seeds packed with mud for throwing into neglected urban spaces, their goal is to provide organic food for city residents.

"We want to make the city prettier, but in a different way. The zucchini plant can be as beautiful as an orchid, but it can be eaten," said Articultores coordinator Judith Villamayor after watering vegetables planted next to a parking lot....

The Articultores, whose name roughly translates as "Art farmers," have thrown thousands of seed bombs in and around the sprawling capital city since they started meeting in 2009.

Although providing free vegetables amid soaring food prices in Argentina lies at the heart of the group's raison d'etre, they call their raids "performances" that aim to inspire people to shun supermarkets and go organic.

The group runs workshops in schools and members encourage residents to save fruit and vegetable seeds to grow their own, and to nurture the fledgling vegetable gardens....

Guerrilla gardeners have traditionally operated under the cover of darkness to avoid detection by local authorities, but the Articultores say the police have never troubled them and that doing raids during daylight helps raise public awareness....

By all means check out the entire article if you want to know more. And yes, they do try to get people to water the plants and clean up the garbage that is an inevitability in any city.

Still, if we had more plant bombs and less bad boy bombs we'd have both fewer dead and maimed and fewer hungry. The prescient thing about this type of guerrilla urban gardening is that it may a great model to feed thousands and create one type of sustainable community amidst the urban wastelands of Earth.

© Copyright 2011 Robert Wilkinson

Comments

[Tolly]

Thanks for this, Robert. It's great to hear about people getting up and just doing something, and keeping it lighthearted as well. The problems are grave, but our approach to activism can still be joyous.

[articultores]

Thanks for your text! we publishing in our website.
un abrazo verde y grande, judith

[caliban]

Guerrilla gardeners . . . now that's my kind of folks.

[Beth in SoCal]

I am promoting Liberty Gardens this week on my blog; Localization is the answer to self-reliance; backyard gardens and farmers markets for quality food and a deeper connection to our Earth and just better living. I linked back to the article. THX Robert!