Offensive Horticulture
When a mommy flower loves a daddy flower, pollinators exchange their love letters; flowers create seeds together, which grow into baby plants.
…or an ameteur botanist reproduces a genetic clone from some "floor finds" at Walmart.
…or an entire plant is poached from Peru and shipped to a collector in Italy.
…or a farmer purchases seeds whose DNA is edited to resist cycles of new pests and newer pesticides.
…or a corporation synthesizes sacred biomaterials for pharmaceutical profits.
…or a college student grows felonious fungi in a dormroom closet.
Fungi are not plants -- like, not even remotely close -- nor are lichen (which are plant/fungi chimeras!). But language/law words are older than science words; "plants" sometimes means "stationary creatures" and sometimes means "Kingdom Plantae". In this series, I'll be using the definitions interchangably because I'm not a good writer.
Anyway, plants are weird. Humans are weird too.
- Theft: Proplifting, Plant Piracy, and Dumpster Chocolates
- Poaching: Profitable Plant Propagation Prevents Poaching
- Infringement: Seizing the Means of Re-Production
- Colonialism: Kimba Syndrome
- Possession: Legalize Life (and Living)
- Trespassing: A Georgist's Guerilla Gardening Guide
- Activism: Further Reading
I am neither a lawyer nor biologist. My only qualifications here are a mild
interest in plants and a burning passion for committing crimes obeying
the law. Please email me at [email protected] if
you have any suggestions on how to improve this essay or evade prison
(asking for a friend).
Further Reading
Email me at [email protected] if you have any suggestions for how to make these lists better.
Tutorials & Inspiration
- Grow a Vegetable Garden on a Broke Poor Budget
- Guide to Fermenting Every Single Vegetable
- "One Straw Revolution"
- What is Permaculture?
- Make gallons of vinegar
- Best Vegetables to Grow in Containers
- Transforming a vacant lot into urban community garden
- Natural Farming with Masanobu Fukuoka
- Turn Your Lawn Into A Vegetable Garden
- Start Seedlings from Paper Towel Method
- 'Urban Garden' turns vacant lot into fruitful orchard
- She Grows 50% Of Her Groceries At Home
- Propagate any Plant
- Food Dehydrating Tips
- The Guide to Lacto-Fermentation
- Raising Backyard Chickens
- Transforming Vacant Lot into a Community Garden (Detroit)
- Community garden built in Phoenix vacant lot
- Grow your own Algae at Home
- Learn Fermentation
- Empty lot transformed into a massive garden
- Urban Gardening on Vacant Lots
- Our 9 sqm backyard kitchen garden
- Vacant Lot Gardening
- Richmond woman transforms vacant lot into thriving community garden
- Designing a permaculture food forest
- I'm Growing my own Shiitake Mushrooms
- Grow an Indoor Survival Garden
- Guide to Proplifting
- Start a Community Garden
- Make a Monotub to Grow Mushrooms Indoors
- Volunteers turn vacant lot into a community garden in Lincoln Heights
- Regenerative Agriculture on a Small Scale
- Gardening inside a garage grow tent
- Quick Dehydrated Meals
- Grow mushrooms at home
- Fukuoka Masanobu, Natural Farming
- Germinate Seeds Fast
- Massively Productive Small-Scale Suburban Vegetable Garden
- Food Dehydrator Guide
- Harlem Vacant lots to community gardens
- Home Hydroponic Farm
- Planting seeds vs paper towel germination
- Grow Mushrooms From Uncle Ben's Ready Rice
- Save seeds
- Make Compost
- Container Gardening On A Budget
- No-till farm
- Propagate Plants
- Self-Sufficiency Tips
- Making vinegars from scratch
- Raising Chickens
- Community Transforms Vacant Lot Into Garden
- Backyard Garden
- Vacant lots into gardens
- Tax breaks encourage Sacramento vacant lot owners to make their gardens grow
- Organize a Seed Swap
- Permaculture Demystified
Cool Organizations
| American Community Gardening Association | promotes community gardening across the U.S |
| American Farmland Trust | works to save America’s farmland and promote sound farming practices |
| Biodynamic Association | promotes biodynamic farming practices |
| Bioneers | champions innovative solutions to global environmental and bio-cultural challenges |
| Botanic Gardens Conservation International | plant conservation and biodiversity |
| CAFF | advocates for family farmers and sustainable agriculture |
| Center for Food Safety | advocates for organic and sustainable agriculture, and opposes harmful food production technologies |
| Center for Plant Conservation | conservation of endangered plants |
| Couchiching Conservancy | protecting natural habitats and plant species |
| ETC Group | works to address the socio-economic and ecological issues surrounding new technologies |
| Earth Island Institute | supports environmental activism and conservation projects |
| Earthjustice | environmental law organization fighting for the preservation of plants and natural resources |
| EcoFarm | promotes sustainable agriculture and supports farmers |
| Food Not Bombs | provides free vegan meals from rescued food |
| Forest Peoples Programme | supports forest peoples’ rights to control their lands and resources |
| Friends of the Earth | advocates for environmental and social justice |
| Gaia Foundation | works to secure land, seed, and water rights for indigenous communities |
| Global Greengrants Fund | provides grants to grassroots environmental initiatives |
| IATP | promotes fair and sustainable food, farm, and trade systems |
| IIED | promotes sustainable development and addresses environmental issues |
| IPPC | aims to protect cultivated and wild plants by preventing the introduction and spread of pests |
| IUCN | works to conserve nature and ensure the sustainable use of natural resources |
| Indigenous Environmental Network | advocates for environmental and economic justice for Indigenous peoples |
| International Society of Ethnobiology | supports the conservation of biological and cultural diversity |
| Land Institute | develops and promotes perennial crops and polycultures for sustainable agriculture |
| MAPS | psychedelic research and policy reform |
| National Young Farmers Coalition | advocates for young farmers and sustainable agriculture |
| Navdanya | seed saving and biopiracy resistance |
| Open Source Seed Initiative | promotes open-source seed sharing |
| Organic Consumers Association | advocates for organic agriculture and food safety |
| Permaculture Association | supports the development of permaculture systems for sustainable living |
| Permaculture Research Institute | supports permaculture education and research |
| Pesticide Action Network | advocates for alternatives to pesticides and supports organic agriculture |
| Plant Amnesty | advocacy against improper pruning and plant poaching |
| Plantlife International | conserves wild plants and their habitats |
| Plants For A Future | information resource for edible and useful plants |
| Pollinator Partnership | promotes the health of pollinators through conservation, education, and research |
| Psychedelic Science Funders Collaborative | funding for psychedelic research |
| Rainforest Alliance | works to conserve biodiversity and ensure sustainable livelihoods by transforming land-use practices |
| Rainforest Foundation US | supports indigenous peoples to protect their rainforest homes |
| Rodale Institute | pioneers organic farming through research and outreach |
| Save Our Seeds | campaigns against genetically modified seeds and promotes biodiversity |
| Savory Institute | promotes holistic management to regenerate the world's grasslands |
| Seed Savers Exchange | seed saving and heritage plant preservation |
| Slow Food USA | promotes local food and traditional cooking |
| Slow Money | invests in local food systems and sustainable agriculture |
| Soil Association | promotes organic farming and sustainable food systems |
| Sustainable Harvest International | partners with farming families to improve food security and restore the environment |
| The Berry Center | focuses on issues of land use, farm policy, and local food systems |
| The Crop Trust | ensures the conservation and availability of crop diversity for food security worldwide |
| The Land Conservancy | works to conserve natural and agricultural lands for the benefit of current and future generations |
| The Land Institute | researches and promotes sustainable agriculture practices |
| The Nature Conservancy | works to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people |
| The Organic Center | conducts research on the benefits of organic food and farming |
| The Organic Seed Alliance | advances the ethical development and stewardship of the genetic resources of agricultural seed |
| The Rare Breed Survival Trust | works to secure the future of rare and native livestock breeds |
| The Rodale Institute | advances regenerative organic agriculture through research and outreach |
| The Sierra Club | works to promote conservation of the natural environment |
| The Wildlands Conservancy | preserves wildlands in the American West |
| The Xerces Society | protects wildlife through the conservation of invertebrates and their habitats |
| Union of Concerned Scientists | uses science to address global problems and advocate for a healthier environment |
| United Plant Savers | works to protect native medicinal plants of the United States and Canada |
| WWOOF | connects volunteers with organic farmers to promote organic farming practices |