Instagram story viewer> @decolonisethegarden> Posts

decolonisethegarden

@decolonisethegarden

541

posts

24K

followers

824

following

Seeking possibilities of an otherwise, orienting towards different ways of being
Subscribe to Radicle, a new gardening newsletter:

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

Download All

Yesterday, in a talk alongside @claireratinon and @afroliage, the question was posed of what a decolonised garden looks like. It’s hard to give a short and digestible answer to such a big question. But after a restless night, here is an attempt at gathering swirling thoughts into something concise:A decolonised garden is one in which we dismantle and compost our oppressive, supremacist systems. Systems which do not serve us well, are unjust, unhealthy, destructive and detrimental to all life on this planet. Instead we grow, nurture and cultivate regenerative, healing, equitable systems in their place. This includes, but is not limited to, how these systems pervade our ways of seeing, being, thinking, doing and knowing. A decolonised garden puts the health and well-being of all humans and our more-than-human kin at the centre. It recognises that all living beings are intimately interconnected and no one being is superior. It sees wealth, resources, opportunity and power shared equitably. A decolonised garden is one that has equity, justice, health, healing, unity, reciprocity, abundance, love, generosity, community and gratitude at its core.It recognises and then dismantles the colonialist, supremacist, imperialist, racist roots of the common, interconnected issues facing us all (the climate crisis, the dispossession and displacement of people, land justice, ecocide etc etc etc) and works in optimism and unity towards a better future, towards collective liberation for all._Thank you to @charlestontrust for inviting us and providing the space to have such an open conversation yesterday. _#decolonisethegarden by @decolonisethegarden

2k

48

5 years ago

The more you learn.......the more you understand:LAND justice = FOOD justice = RACIAL justice = CLIMATE justice = SOCIAL justiceLast week I attended the Oxford Real Farming Conference. More than ever the above is crystal clear. Where is the conversation when it comes to horticulture and gardening? Where is the conversation on regenerative horticulture? Gardeners need to join in on the regenerative, agroecological conversation. Because gardeners have a responsibility in stewarding the land too. And they can often be far from sustainable and environmentally-friendly, let alone regenerative. The use of fossil fuels for unnecessary mowing and strimming, calling wildlife ‘pests’, the use of peat, the use of drinking quality water to water lawns that don’t need watering, destroying habitats, creating unnecessary waste, the narratives of dominance and superiority - the list goes on and on. Many of the issues that concern commercial growing should concern us too. Everything is connected. We are all connected. by @decolonisethegarden

2k

32

6 years ago

Someone asked for book recommendations. Sharing a few titles here as pointers - somewhere to start if you haven’t already. This list is not definitive and is non-exhaustive. It’s a place to begin (or carry on) the continuous journey of questioning, interrogating, thinking critically... and moving towards mindset and behaviour change. Collective liberation is going to take more than reading a book. But a book is a good place to start. If you have any other books, papers, articles of interest feel free to share in the comments below.* Me & White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad* Superior by Angela Saini * Sway: unraveling unconscious bias by Pragya Agarwal* Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer* My Garden (Book) by Jamaica Kincaid* Black Faces, White Spaces by Carolyn Finney* There’s Something in the Water: Environmental Racism in Indigenous & Black Communities by Dr Ingrid Waldron* Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land by Leah Penniman* The One-Straw Revolution: An Introduction to Natural Farming by Masanobu Fukuoka* Sowing Empire by Jill Casid* Theatrum Botanicum by Uriel Orlow* Dark Emu: Aboriginal Australia and the birth of agriculture by Bruce Pascoe* Science and Colonial Expansion: The Role of the British Royal Botanic Gardens by Lucile Brockway* Green Unpleasant Land by Corinne Fowler* The New Age of Empire: How Racism and Colonialism Still Rule the World by Kehinde Andrews* Empireland: How Imperialism Has Shaped Modern Britain by Sathnam Sanghera* What White People Can Do Next: From Allyship to Coalition by Emma Dabiri* Horticultural Appropriation (Rough Trade Books x Garden Museum pamphlet) by Claire Ratinon & Sam Ayre by @decolonisethegarden

949

42

5 years ago

Latest radicle newsletter is available (wherever you usually read it - if you subscribe it will be in your inboxes 💚) on the National Emergency Briefing. Have you watched it yet?_#decolonisethegarden #radiclenewsletter by @decolonisethegarden

313

3

2 months ago

Latest radicle newsletter. Find it in the usual places. 💚 by @decolonisethegarden

110

0

2 months ago

Coming into relationship with Earth - Recognising how language shapes our relationship with Earth, Sui Searle invites us into a conversation about story, animacy and the possibility of living in deeper relationship.The story of separation runs through our culture: that humans stand outside and above this thing we call Nature. Nature as object, as noun – distinct from us: something to be used in our service.Once we begin to see this story at work, it becomes clear how it might sit at the root of many of the issues we face today: the climate crisis, biodiversity loss and mass extinction, our broken food system, our health crisis, our grossly unequal, consumption-driven society, and even burnout and worsening mental health.Although I had felt this separation spiritually and in my body much earlier, I first became consciously aware of it – and of the language and cues that reinforce it – around five years ago. Something shifted for me after listening to a talk by Rebecca Hosking, a regenerative farmer based in Devon, at the @oxfordrealfarmingconference. She spoke about how language frames our thinking and shapes our behaviour. How we use a language of mastery and dominance – words such as ‘nature’, ‘weeds’ and ‘pests’ – and how this reflects a broken, destructive and even abusive relationship with the rest of life on Earth...It has been a pleasure, then, to read the articles in the themed section of this issue from four writers and thinkers responding to the invitation to move away from the term Nature and towards a more relational understanding of our shared life on Earth. Whether you are new to this contemplation or already deep in the remembering of our place within Earth’s ecosystems, there is nourishment in the generosity of the words and ideas shared.Read the rest of this article at https://www.resurgence.org/magazine/article6627-coming-into-relationship-with-earth.html - Visit the 'Resurgence & Ecologist magazine' branch of our LinktreeSui Searle is the creator of @decolonisethegarden and the online gardening newsletter: http://radicle.substack.com#Artwork by @harianddeepti #Animism #Language #Nature #Earth #Gardening #Story #Relationship by @decolonisethegarden

179

1

3 months ago

Highlights from the May/June 2026 issueWhat might change if our language began to reflect a more entangled relationship with the living world — one that is more relational, perhaps even guided by affection?In May 1966, the first issue of Resurgence was published. That’s 60 years of stories and 60 years of asking how we might live more gently and more attentively within the living world. Across those years, the words we use — and the ways we use them — have helped to shape that asking. When commissioning writers for the current issue of this magazine, Editor Dave Reeve invited them to avoid using the word ‘Nature’ altogether. In her introduction to the themed section, gardener and writer @decolonisethegarden (Sui Searle) writes: “The story of separation runs through our culture: that humans stand outside and above this thing we call ‘Nature'. Nature as object, as noun — distinct from us: something to be used in our service.” Much of our language carries this inheritance. Words shape the stories we tell, and stories shape how we live our lives. The poet and writer @cosmogyny (Sophie Strand) says she doesn’t like to work by banishing words “by subtraction” and instead likes to “add enough on top of them that they meld and rot and grow something new”. Language, after all, is never fixed. In late Middle English, the word nature could also appear as a verb. To nature something was to bring it forth, to foster its growth, to nurture and sustain life. Perhaps the question, then, is how such shifts in language might shape the stories we tell today. So the invitation to readers is this: how much do we need to rewrite our own texts? How much do we need to change the stories that we tell about the world — and about our place within it? And what might happen if, like the writers in this issue, we allowed our language to grow a little wilder?Read our newsletter online at https://conta.cc/4sTSzuw - Visit the 'NEWSLETTERS' branch of our Linktree (see bio) by @decolonisethegarden

119

5

3 months ago

Restorying the worldResurgence & Ecologist magazineIssue 356 • May/June 2026Visit the 'Resurgence & Ecologist magazine' branch of our Linktree (see bio)What might change if our language began to reflect a more entangled relationship with the living world – one that is more relational, perhaps even guided by affection?In May 1966, the first issue of Resurgence was published. That’s 60 years of stories and 60 years of asking how we might live more gently and more attentively within the living world. Across those years, the words we use – and the ways we use them – have helped to shape that asking.When commissioning writers for this magazine, I invited them to avoid using the word Nature altogether. In her introduction to the themed section, gardener and writer @decolonisethegarden (Sui Searle) writes: “The story of separation runs through our culture: that humans stand outside and above this thing we call Nature. Nature as object, as noun – distinct from us: something to be used in our service.”Much of our language carries this inheritance. Words shape the stories we tell, and stories shape how we live our lives. The poet and writer @cosmogyny (Sophie Strand) says she doesn’t like to work by banishing words “by subtraction” and instead likes to “add enough on top of them that they meld and rot and grow something new”. Language, after all, is never fixed. In late Middle English, the word nature could also appear as a verb. To nature something was to bring it forth, to foster its growth, to nurture and sustain life. Perhaps the question, then, is how such shifts in language might shape the stories we tell today.So, the invitation to readers is this: how much do we need to rewrite our own texts? How much do we need to change the stories that we tell about the world – and about our place within it? And what might happen if, like the writers in this issue, we allowed our language to grow a little wilder?Buy a copy of this issue > Visit our Linktree (see bio)Become a member and receive 6 issues a year > https://www.resurgence.org/shop/membership (see bio)Cover #Art: by @clarecelesteart by @decolonisethegarden

1k

11

3 months ago

The fruits of arboricideThe trafficking of ancient olive trees, by David LambertLatest Radicle newsletter in your inboxes now, if you subscribe. Or link in usual places. _#radiclenewsletter #decolonisethegarden by @decolonisethegarden

445

5

4 months ago

New post on radicle. In the usual places. Link in stories. Battle of the bulb, by Ros Ball @ros_but_growing by @decolonisethegarden

64

0

6 months ago

Book recommendation for How to Fall in Love with the Future by Rob Hopkins. We could all do with some forward thinking, hopefulness and positivity and this book has plenty of that. I personally enjoyed reading the chapter on time in particular because I think time and our capitalistic, colonised approach to it is integral to so much of the mess we’re in. But besides that chapter, there is plenty of information, facts and references to ideas, projects and people doing interesting things to delve into in this book. It’s also fun, playful and imaginative. It’s generous in instructions for practical workshop ideas too for time travelling. The hardback is quite pricey but you should be able to order it in from your public library 💚. by @decolonisethegarden

3k

9

10 months ago

A conversation with artist, researcher and photographer, Alaa Abu Asad, is up on Radicle. Find it in your inboxes if you subscribe. We talk about his two exhibitions, Wild Plants of Palestine and The dog chased its tail to bite it off (which are on at the @johnhansardgallery in Southampton until the 6th September). Our conversation ranges through encountering wild tulips, the politics of photography and plant collecting, what it’s like to be out in the countryside in the West Bank, the joy of foraging, the not-so-benign undercurrents of invasion ecology and what might actually make a difference for a diverse, liveable future.#decolonisethegarden #radiclenewsletter by @decolonisethegarden

577

7

a year ago