Gardening naked. I have to be honest, it never occurred to me. Just the idea of bug bites where you normally would never get them defeats my enthusiasm. I can imagine that you’d definitely want to stock up on natural insect repellent! I guess that’s what makes life so interesting – people express such different ideas!
I was reading in our local paper that Saturday is World Naked Gardening Day – you can read more about that here. This celebration marks its 12th year – birthed in 2005 in Seattle by a philosophy teacher named Mark Storey. He taught social justice at Bellevue College and talked about civic activism with his students. Civic activism is mainly noted for the misery it causes in actions like roadblocks and strikes. He was interested in doing something that would make people smile and was curious if doing something good together could actually effect change.
After polling people on activities they enjoy, or dream of doing naked (bedroom pursuits notwithstanding), he found that swimming naked came in first. Interestingly, gardening naked came in second. World Naked Gardening Day was born!
Quoting Mark “Anything that makes the world more food-friendly or flower-pretty and helps get people comfortable with their bodies is good. We wanted to make it fun; no one cares how you do it and no one owns it. You can pot plants naked in your Manhattan kitchen or rake leaves in your back yard. Then tell people about it.”
Admit it, you’re smiling, so Mark’s project is a success! As for gardening naked, I really don’t think it’s my style, but to each his or her own.
Here at Vital Planet we are gardening in a much different way. Florida offers sandy soil and lots of insects (as mentioned previously), along with beautiful beaches and sunshine. Let’s just say we’re not known for ease in gardening. So we’ve decided to give our veggies the best opportunity they can have for nourishment using hydroponics.
With the help of our friends at Urban Oasis Farm we are expanding our garden – to farm proportions! Yesterday we were planting – beans, parsley, lettuces, cucumbers, tomatillos – the list continues (with our clothes on).
It was a beautiful spring Florida day – probably one of the last relatively cool ones we will enjoy. Starting some crops from seeds as well as others from starter plants, we hope soon to be gathering veggies from our garden for lunch and dinner on a daily basis.
Our goal is to offer an example of growing your own food in the community. We will certainly be able to provide fresh produce for all our employees, their families and beyond.
As our farm is located along a public bicycle path, like Mark, we too hope to make people smile as they pass by. Gentle, graceful civic activism. Naked or clothed, lets garden together!