May 19 , 2021
Cultivating Place: Jennifer Jewell
When I start gardening , I did n’t really think about “ naturalise place , ” the delegation behind Jennifer Jewell ’s NPR affiliate ’s awarding - winning program and podcast , Cultivating Place : Conversations on instinctive story and the Human Impulse to Garden . I just wanted a pretty , respectable - look yard . Now I recognise that my first steps were indeed guide me to a complex heedfulness of the intricate long - standing relationships in the world that we inhabit for a fourth dimension , but where our actions impact generations to come . “And I would say to you that I think most people ’s unveiling into horticulture comes from just vaporous interest and oddment and attraction to what is adorable , what delights us , what is pretty , what smells good , ” Jennifer said in our late conversation via Zoom from her rest home in Chico , California . “But I think that what save us horticulture , and as we mature as nurseryman , is that deep good sense of connection that we get when we sort of find ourselves spacing out in the garden while we water in the evening , or when we get unhinge in the sunup on the means to the car because we have to pick three locoweed , or we see a cat or a butterfly stroke that interests us and then we recognise that it ’s 20 moment afterward . That involvement where we find ourselves fully interconnect and interdependent with the world around us whether it ’s the plants , or the weather , or the grime , or the wildlife . . . And that ’s what I really wanted to explore inCultivating Place , not how to do this , not the 10 best tips for XYZ this year , but I really require to highlight those stories of masses in those great present moment . ”Jennifer ’s engaged my soul since I listened to her the first meter many year back . ThroughCultivating Placeand now two books , she grows philosophy for change in attentive conversations that elevate local - to - global narrative of community activism , societal justice , and environmental healing that connect us to gardening ’s cultural and spiritual time value . Her relationship to Northern California ’s NPR affiliate , North State Public Radio , set out in 2007 with a weekly broadcast , In a North State Garden , that rivet on the station ’s 10 county . “ I had grown a niggling aweary and a piffling disbelieving about how mainstream media was portraying gardens and gardeners at that precise mo in our cultural environs . And I feel like we had proceed so far to the two- dimensional image - driven superficial that we had in reality commodified our gardens in a way that I was uncomfortable with . And I knew that most nurseryman that I spoke with , also did not experience gardening the manner it was prove up on shiny magazine page , ” she said . In 2016 , when the station go about her about expanding to a one - hour program , she desire to expand apparent horizon , too , and be more globally rivet . “ And so , it becameCultivating Place . And now I can interview citizenry from anywhere in the world , ” she enounce . Streaming expand hearer engagement , too . We can mind wherever we experience , whenever we want , listen again , and pause to govern the guest ’s book or check out their website . North State and Jennifer added apodcast version , too , where she can extend the conversation . Since March 2020 , Jennifer ’s been working from home , as I am , too . “ And thankfully for technology , which is a bonus and a drag sometimes as we know , this has allow me to register and now edit out all of my own workplace from home . And that ’s been a big service to the radio place , in terms of staffing and people in the studio itself , ” she said . An author too , in her books she extends her allegiance to kinship between multitude and the spaces they inhabit . In 2020 , Timber Press releasedThe Earth in Her Hands ; 75 Extraordinary Women work out in the World of Plants . This was one of my treasured pandemic reads when I was struggle with credence in my mission . I ’ve met some of the women that Jennifer features ( and some have been onCTG ) . Others were intimate to me and others brand raw introduction . Through them all , I found intensity level in their stories of developing and quest for their charge through vegetation and gardening , art , skill , environment , business , and economic and societal justness . About writing the book , Jennifer said , “ It was one of those experience where you take your eye off of all that ’s wrong in the mankind , and you focus so completely on those people who are doing real thing , to be the solution to these problems that are so intimidating to us . And it all modify my own mindset . ”
This calendar month brings us freshly - releasedUnder Western Skies ; Visionary Gardens from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Coast . When renowned photographerCaitlyn Atkinsonapproached Timber Press to secernate the story of gardener who draw brainchild from the land , rather than trying to overshadow it , Jennifer felt “ that is the universe calling me ” when take in to collaborate as writer . Caitlyn ’s fear - inspiring picture taking and Jennifer ’s poignant playpen connect philosophy express in diverse perspectives and personality across Vancouver Island , Washington , Oregon , Idaho , California , Arizona , New Mexico , Colorado , and even Marfa , Texas . All had to be hands - on gardeners at some level . “ And they all are very integrated with the natural chronicle and culture of the places that they ’re in . So , they are working with their climate , ” Jennifer said . Caitlyn joined Jennifer in aCultivating Place conversationto secernate her narrative about becoming a lensman and some of the challenges she face . I ’ve listened to it twice already!Watch Jennifer ’s story now !
Thanks for stopping by ! See you next week , Linda
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