I've had my allotment since March 2011, and growing some of my own food has honestly been one of the most rewarding things I've done in the last 7 years. Here's a summary of some of the things I like about allotments....
Some of this is taken from this podcast on Radical Gardening where Laurie Taylor is joined by George McKay and Tim Jordan to discuss the protest, politics and plots of the garden - the podcast touches on the history of radical gardening more generally - looking at peace gardens and organic gardening - allotments can be read as being radical - of course this doesn't mean this is the only interpretation of them - but here's Six reasons why I think allotments are great!
NB - all the pics below are from my allotment, sometime over the past couple of years...Here's one from a couple of weeks ago, still largely bedded down from the winter given the shitty weather so far this year
Allotments are based on the principle of people before profit
The rents for allotments are a complete rejection of capitalist values - anyone can rent a plot for a nominal fee (mine is still a mere £50 pounds a year) in order to meet some of their basic food needs. This anti-capitalist ethos is further emphasised by the rule that you are not allow to sell anything you grow which means that when certain crops glut (seriously, when August hits it's runner been mania) then the tendency is to give at least some of them away.
Allotments foster self-reliance
A second positive is that allotments foster self reliance - and growing at least some of your own food reduces dependency on volatile food markets - obviously one plot is not enough to subsist entirely, and I am not suggesting that we go back to a rural, locally based agricultural economy, but this kind of localism can be just one part of an ecotopian future.
Allotments strengthen local community bonds
Especially through the sharing of seeds and cuttings and community allotment stores where goods are sold for a minimal price, rather than your globally linked home and garden store which tends to have much more expensive stuff. I've been to some great seed-swaps over the years, and got lots of odd varieties for next to nothing (only travel costs) - NB there is talk of making these meetings illegal as the Corporate net tightens its grip over seeds through GMO patenting, but more on that another time.
Of course I simply haven't got time to mention all the wonderful and varied people I've met through allotmenting, just so many fantastic characters. The odd lunatic as well, of course, but typically in a good way!
Broad beans in late May last year
Allotments help keep urban areas green
Fourthly, allotments help to make urban areas a more green and pleasant place to live - they resist the tendency to speculative accumulation of land for housing development - this does of course depend on the commitment of local councils to protecting allotments!
Allotments are places where meaningful work takes place
Yet another positive is that allotments help to provide meaningful and unalienating work - this advantage is straight from Marx's economic and philosophical days btw - one of the ways that man asserts his humanity is by transforming the world around him, but central to this process is that he controls the conditions under which he works - unlike many jobs under Capitalism - an allotment provides this kind of worker - centred work - (obviously within the constraints of nature - and yes I am aware that Marx was more of an industrialist than an ecocentric and that he wasn't romantic at all about traditional subsistence food production - I'm merely extracting his alienating thang and applying it out of the Marxist-must-dominate-nature context) - and on this note, I've honestly felt levels of enthusiasm about this that I haven't about anything since I was child!
Allotments help combat global warming
Finally the localism of the allotment means a reduction in food miles and thus allotmenteering if exapanded could form the basis of a more sustainable food system than one dominated by industrial scale production and comparative advantage - obviously we'll always need some kind of international food infrastructure in place - but the expansion of food-localism is an obvious way of reducing our global footprint. This is a very [interesting post]http://www.growveg.com/growblogpost.aspx?id=123() about how the 'global food superhighway' on which most of us who buy food from supermarkets depends is not ethically neutral
Wrapping up...
So I'm not saying that growing your own is the solution to all of our social and environmental problems - but it's one medium sized step in the right direction.....
If you want to read more - on radical gardening in general then try Radical Gardening: Politics, Rebellion and Idealism in the Garden - by George Mckay
If you like this sort of thing then look out for some of my future posts on the wider alternative food network and why I like that (permaculture, transition towns etc), and one on the problems of the global food system that the allotment movement helps to counter.
Postscript.... on giving up my allotment
Sadly, I'm having to give up my plot now I'm moving on to pastures new, so this is something of a lamentation. HOWEVER, it's not all sad, because I'll be buying a house with a garden, or maybe even an acre of land with a wreck, so I'll be cultivating a larger space within the next few months....
I guess it's the law to wrap up with yer obligatory sunflower pick, so here you go: farewell sweet allotment, thanks for the people, the memories, the food, the good honest work, and for keeping me sane since 2011!
