Learning Circle #3 reflections
A dark and rainy evening: the transition into autumn is in the air. We gather from across the city, out of the cold anonymous streets and into the cocoon of that nighttime garden, for a learning circle and community feast. We have come together to look at soil health from a plethora of approaches. Compaction, microbiology, contaminants, food sharing, and collective dreaming; the combination of these things, their relative strengths and weaknesses and how they interact as a whole, tell us about the health of the soil and its communities.
The activities are organized so that we can explore the properties of soil and achieve a richer understanding through looking at it in different ways. In terms of the structure of soil, we carry out compaction tests by measuring the depth at which soil resists our homemade pentrometer, indicating how air, water and roots can move through its layers. In terms of Biology, we take some fresh samples and analyze them under the microscope, looking at bacterial and fungal activity, as well as visually identifying the components of soil (water, air, organic matter, hyphae, minerals, nematodes, protozoa, bacteria). In terms of Chemistry we use prepared dry soil samples to test both its pH and the presence of lead - which might potentially have settled there from the nearby road above and also as a result of historic construction. (You can find our preliminary report and video links here)
We feel engaged, empowered, and stimulated by these learnings and methodologies. The room is filled with questions, perspectives, theories, and gratitude. Even though the activities are facilitated by a few, the group works as a harmonious organism experimenting with its surroundings. Food is eaten as a potluck; tomatoes from the garden and recipes from different participants connect us on a deeper level, as we exchange stories and laughter.
After bellies are full and senses comfortable, the lights are dimmed for us to enter a state of dreaming. Some of the areas that we tested will become a commemorative garden for The Black Mary Project which intends to revive an imaginative healing sanctuary in Kings Cross, memorialising the history of Mary Woolaston, a 17th-century Black woman who tended and managed a healing well here. Through acknowledging previously untold local histories and Calthorpe’s caring present, we spiralled together into the future in an exercise to envision healed soil supporting abundant life. So we can see the city as a permaculture garden or as a new landscape of emotions, and imagine how those histories of the future may one day intertwine.
We finish with a reflective circle which emphasizes the importance of relationship building and community as a method, particularly the importance of intergenerational spaces and the ways in which elders hold and create community here. There was a celebration of diverse cultures that come here through flows of migration; and how spaces like this enable us to notice and experience natural cycles as the seasons pass. Calthorpe is quite an undervalued, overlooked and rare space int he midle of London, where community, connection, conversation and eating together is central. Garden members reflected on how its importance became clearer during the pandemic, sharing their belief that the skills and knowledge of being in community are essential tools for future healing and transformation. This resonates a lot with what we are trying to achieve with the community soil clinic, where organising collectively has become one of our key, and most valued methods for understanding and relating to soil.
What is ‘community’? Etymologically ‘com’ and ‘munis’ mean performing services together, but what does that mean in a community of practice and who is involved in that togetherness? Perhaps if we break the connections that exist in healthy soil, we build gaps between us humans...
“We are all going to be soil at the end of the day, so let’s look after each other” (Mila, Calthorpe Community Garden)
Findings, learnings and questions:
- We need more equipment for certain tests and more tools to interpret results
- Activities in small groups at the beginning help the group to engage with each other and the environment
- Need of a glossary of terms like ‘anaerobic’, ‘pollution’, ‘community’
- Need for archiving and sharing information with participants
- Participants are pushing the clinic to achieve its vision, community being the purpose, method and driver of the project
- How do we consolidate all the different types of learning that happen during these circles?
- What are we learning about “community” from doing this work?
by Tito