What is rebellious about being a plant parent? Heather Haskins, a longtime volunteer with Food Not Bombs Humboldt Park thinks caring for plants is the rejection of the idea that we are consumers who must surround ourselves with objects the are basically future trash.
“I think being a caretaker, surrounding oneself with living beings, be they plants or what have you, pushes back on that idea of consumerism and collection of future garbage, which is most of the things that we purchase,” says Heather.
Heather and a small group of volunteers help run the plant hospital which grew out of Food Not Bomb Humboldt Park’s food rescue mission.
Food Not Bombs (FNB) is a global but loose-knit group of independent collectives that intercepts surplus foods before it lands in dumpsters and redistributes them to local communities for free. Receiving food requires no ID, background check, or registration. Sometimes the collectives receive non-food items for redistribution.
When Heather and other volunteers noticed that their garage was not an ideal place to store plants, they created the plant hospital. The plants are revived, repotting, and rehomed. Adopting a plant is as easy as collecting one from one of FNB’s distribution points like Casa Hernandez Free Store, which is ran by Humboldt Park Solidarity Network. You can also contact Heather via e-mail at ChicagoFoodNotBombsHP[at]gmail[dot]com.
Heather rebels against transactional, consumerist culture by giving traumatized plants a new lease on life. Nursing a plant back to health does take effort and resources. It would be easy for volunteers to toss the plants in their compost heap. However, Heather and crew believe it’s more fulfilling to show up for the plants with rebellious, survivor spirits.
“I think the plants that have a will to survive and will overcome the trauma of being in the garage in zero-degree weather for, you know, overnight and almost freeze. These plants that can survive these conditions and just want to live, are the plants that I kind of want to show up for, you know,” says Heather.
Perspective plant parents don’t need to have a green thumb or even a good track record with plants. The only requirement is a heart willing to accept the call to care for something living.
“Do you feel a plant calling to you to take it home? Yeah? Well, then maybe this is your plant. I’ve heard this about gardening, and it’s definitely true, you have to kill a lot of plants before you become “good” at gardening and taking care of plants.
The best we can do is the best we can do. And that’s how we learn to take care of plants. And honestly, the plants that are here, the plants that survive, they’re survivors. And I think that they will be patient with you if you’re patient with them,” says Heather.
Food Not Bomb Humboldt Park’s plant hospital is rebellious because it’s not transactional. The plants are completely free of charge or obligation.
If you would like to adopt a plant, you can request one via ChicagoFoodNotBombsHP[at]gmail[dot]com.
