Unearthed
with Claire Ratinon
This post contains affiliate links
Our relationship with the land is fundamental to our notions of self, our ability to raise our food from the soil taken by so many of us for granted. Until perhaps now. Over the past few weeks, people have been looking at their gardens in a manner rarely seen since the middle of the last century, with the Dig for Victory campaign in the UK and its analogues elsewhere. Whether the present situation will have people ploughing up their lawns for legumes and lettuce is yet to be seen, but when the panic buying phenomenon moves from toilet roll to tomato seeds, it’s clear there’s at least a willingness to reengage with growing our own food.
If there’s one person who knows about this subject, it’s Claire Ratinon, who joins me on this episode to talk to me about her career shift from TV production to organic vegetable growing on both sides of the Atlantic, from community projects to providing the veg for Ottolenghi’s London restaurants. And when it comes to our relationship to the land, Claire allowed me to dig a little deeper during the course of our conversation, as we discuss being a grower of colour, and what it can feel like to win food from the soil of a land to which your connections are complex.
Claire and I have been talking for a while about examining the role of People of Colour within gardening and growing and, though neither of us are under any illusion that this would ever be a definitive pronouncement upon the matter, it’s at least an aim to get the conversation started.
A longer than usual episode – possibly a three-teapotter – but worth the time, I hope you’ll agree.
Please do continue to share the podcast on social media, and if you’d really like to brighten my day, leave a review on iTunes or your podcast app of choice. Or drop me a note in the comments section below, having listened on the embedded player on this page.
Gardens, weeds and words podcast, S02E08 show notes
A blend of slow radio, gardening advice and conversation, and readings from the best garden and wildlife writing.
These notes may contain affiliate links.
Garden soundtrack
Poem 00:53
Digging by Seamus Heaney
Read by Jemma Mullholland
from Death of a Naturalist, Seamus Heaney, Faber & Faber 1966 (new edition 2006) https://amzn.to/3bwuPpk
A feeling of connection to the land. Taken for granted.
Interview with the Claire Ratinon 03:39
4:50 TV Production in New York: Claire’s Eureka Moment
Brooklyn Grange Farm https://www.brooklyngrangefarm.com/
8:14 Career change gardeners
11:15 Early plant memories. Or not!
16:47 Formative food memories.
18:42 Living and growing in Hackney
20:33 Claire’s organic growing training
OrganicLea https://www.organiclea.org.uk/
Growing Communities https://www.growingcommunities.org/
25:14 The importance of urban growing
27:58 A taste of what’s possible. The role of an growing educator.
30:32 Organic. Urban. Mindful.
37:39 The representation of People of Colour within gardening and growing. Tokenism, racial passing. Having to aggressively assimilate.
44:58 Burden, responsibility or privilege?
51:09 The party played by Claire’s relationship to the land in her identity.
58:09 After Hackney
60:56 What’s next for Claire?
***
Thank you to Claire for joining me on this episode. You can preorder Claire’s book How to grow your dinner without leaving the house, to be published by Laurence King in September 2020, here https://amzn.to/2xx6O2p
Claire’s website: https://www.claireratinon.com/
Claire on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/claireratinon/
Thanks too to Jemma Mulholland for reading for us. You can find Jemma on social media here https://www.instagram.com/popcorn_for_lunch/
I’m ever grateful to all my listeners for your continued support and reviews, I really do appreciate them. You can support the podcast by buying its producer a virtual cup of coffee for three quid, at https://ko-fi.com/andrewtimothyOB. Proceeds will go towards equipment, software and the monthly podcast hosting fees.
website: gardensweedsandwords.com
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