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Grassroots Gardening

Rituals for Sustaining Activism

Donna Schaper
May 2007     ISBN: 1568583451

In May 2003, Donna Schaper wrote an op-ed for the New York Times, "The Heretic in the Hibiscus," that told the story of her rejection from Coral Gables Garden Club because she was too liberal. As it turned out, the ladies of the club feared that she would do what she had done at the Miami church where she was minister, namely, "bring in blacks and gays to membership and participation." In response to her article, dozens of garden societies across America contacted Schaper, inviting her to join their societies.

In Grassroots Gardening, Schaper argues that people who garden find a ritual way to sustain activism. It is more than weeding--and also is "just" weeding. Many assume gardening is for people with country homes. On the contrary, gardening is a great passion for many progressive, political, communal people.

What readers are saying

"Donna Schaper's brilliant meditations on gardening inspire even as they show us a very practical path to overcome the "burnout" that has traditionally limited most social change activism. Here is a path to a spiritual practice that is both attentive to the moment and visionary in its possibilities for healing the earth."
--Rabbi Michael Lerner, Editor of Tikkun and author, The Left Hand of God

About the Authors

Donna Schaper is a lifelong gardener, and the granddaughter of a strawberry and potato farmer in upstate New York. She has written many books and publishes frequent essays in Newsday, the Philadelphia Inquirer, National Catholic Reporter, and Christian Century, among others. She is the winner of the ACLU Courage Award. She is currently senior minister of Judson Memorial Church in Washington Square in New York City.
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