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Grassroots Gardening: Rituals for Sustaining Activism

Grassroots Gardening: Rituals for Sustaining Activism
By Donna Schaper

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Product Description

In 2003, Minister Donna Schaper wrote an op-ed for The New York Times detailing her rejection from the Coral Gables Garden Club. It seems that the ladies of the club thought she'd bring inappropriate people into the club (meaning gays and blacks). Because of this piece, Minister Schaper was invited to join other clubs around the country. Minister Schaper argues that gardening is a way to sustain activism. It's a ritual for radicals — urbans, nomads, and for anybody who is sufficiently angry.

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #457014 in Books
  • Published on: 2007-05-03
  • Original language: English
  • Number of items: 1
  • Binding: Paperback
  • 208 pages

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist
With apologies to Pete Seeger, one can almost hear a trio of folksingers answer the musical question "Where have all the hippies gone?" with "Gone to gardens every one" as self-proclaimed activist minister Schaper ponders the merits and miracles she has discovered while working in gardens. From Manhattan to Miami, Schaper has dug in her heels (not to mention her bulbs and seeds) to ground herself by creating or tending a garden. The term "putting down roots" is not one Schaper takes lightly, as evident from this vibrant collection of essays that is as zestful as a hothouse orchid yet as straightforward as a simple white daisy. With seasoned insight, Schaper draws a direct correlation between caring about and acting upon social issues and tending the land. From economics to aesthetics, recycling to reflection, gardening can impart essential lessons for social change, even if it's only a society of one. Carol Haggas
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author


Donna Schaper is a life long gardener, granddaughter of a strawberry and potato farmer in upstate New York. She has written many books and publishes frequent essays in NEWSDAY, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, on NPR, NATIONAL CATHOLIC REPORTER, CHRISTIAN CENTURY and many others. She is the winner of an ACLU “Courage Award.� She is currently a Senior Minister at Judson Memorial Church in New York City. She is chair of the Interfaith Clergy Dialogue, an affiliate of the National Conference for Christians and Jews.

From 1993-2000 Dr. Schaper served as the western Massachusetts executive in which position she was responsible for supporting 125 United Church of Christ congregations. She had strong urban ministry experience in Chicago, Philadelphia and Miami. She was one of the first woman trained by Saul Alinsky in the 1970s and she was the executive director of Chicago’s Urban Academy. She was also an associate chaplain at Yale University. Rev. Schaper completed her theological studies at the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Gettysburg, PA and the University of Chicago Divinity School. Her Doctor of Ministry degree is from Hartford Theological Seminary.

She is married to Dr. Warren Goldstein, chair of the department of history at the University of Hartford. They have three adult children Isaac, Jacob, and Katie.



Customer Reviews

Decent read on a gardener's practice. 3
I enjoyed this book. I did. It was a very quick read. Schaper is at her best when she's discussing her 'plotting' in winter for the next season's garden and the women of the Amherst Garden Club. The most successful essays were centered around her personal experiences with both homes and with planting.

That said, some of the theoretical examinations seemed a bit surface. I could have definitely done without the gypsy nonsense, for starers. If you really want to actually think about CSAs and garden markets, you'd get more out of Michael Pollan. His wonderfully rich analysis of Polyface Farm in Omnivore's Dilemna or his discussion of apple varietals in Botany of Desire, for instance. I had trouble understanding the relevance of the title to the contents of this book. I understand the author sees herself as an activist, but it barely shines in her words. Only the most abstract meanings and applications of activism are touched on.

Schaper is a fan of the Slow Food movement and defends it as a more than idealism. I'd tend to agree, but it seems much more realized in it's orginal Italian incarnation. The New York chapter looks like it has wonderful events but they are not cheap. It strikes me as fairly rarified...It's the good life for people with the luxury to focus on it. Upper middle class white people should tone down the pretense of being populists. While Schaper calls herself middle class, she's moved back to Manhattan in the last few years and has a backyard. Do that math. Not so struggling.

I had a problem with the essay on Gleaning. Schaper has no problem discussing Sackville-West, but it's insulting to your audience to assume that wouldn't have seen a french film that this essay is so clearly 'borrowed' from. Rearranging someone else's ideas might work in freshman lit in collge but she really should have referenced Agnes Varda. Gleaning should not extend to other people's ideas and work.

Read Michael Pollan and rent 'The Gleaners and I' by Agnes Varda from Netflix if you're at all interested in these topics.