Mutual Aid Gardening, Somerville and Beyond

Mutual aid is the idea that everyone has something to offer and everyone has things that they need. Mutual aid gardening combines the skill sets and knowledge and material resources and spaces of neighbors in a true community effort for gardening. The goal is usually to grow nutritious food for the community, but occasionally a garden will be established more generally to support local pollinators. Mutual Aid Medford and Somerville (“MAMAS”) is a recent, local continuation of a long line of mutual aid organizations and mutual aid efforts around the world, spanning generations of human history. Within MAMAS, the “Gardening Collective” (sometimes called the “food sovereignty working group”) has helped establish and maintain 20 local gardens since the beginning of 2021. This talk is an attempt to introduce mutual aid gardening and MAMAS to the Somerville Garden Club, officially, in order to offer gardening assistance for those who are interested and get feedback on how MAMAS could be better supporting local efforts to garden with our neighbors.

Crystal Huff (they/them pronouns, please) holds several titles, including author and editor of science fiction, educator, activist, and volunteer. As relates to the SGC, Crystal has lived and gardened in Somerville for over 15 years, and they are a founding member of the Gardening Collective working group within Mutual Aid of Medford and Somerville (“MAMAS”). Crystal spends hours every week on work for MAMAS, the Somerville community fridges, and similar community-oriented mutual aid projects.

All Somerville Garden Club meetings are free and open to the public. 7-9pm.

Meetings are held the at the Tufts Administration Building, (TAB), 167 Holland Street, second floor, wheelchair accessible. Parking is available for a small fee, and the building is a ten-minute walk from the Davis Square MBTA stop.

If you are interested in attending virtually, but have not received the meeting link via email, or are not a SGC member, you can email info@somervillegardenclub.org for the link.