Why Is It So Hard To Talk About Gardening?

My friend Michael sent me this the other day:

I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. It’s all the reasons I started Basker, I just wasn’t able to articulate it quite like this. It’s so perfect, and I also know how grandiose it sounds.

And that’s been tricky. Building a new company around something (gardens/growing) that’s often talked about in such a grandiose way – and that also feels precious, a luxury, and “old-fashioned” to some – has been challenging. I’m not always sure of the right ways to talk about it.

Before I started growing myself, I didn’t buy into lots of the language used around this topic. “Feel the benefits of getting your hands in the soil!” And “Deepen your connection with nature.” Or “Find peace in the garden.” And on and on.

For some, this language is perfect. But for me, it felt like cheesy Instagrammable sentiments for wealthy ladies-who-lunch or live-off-the-land-manifestation types. I’m neither, so that kind of language repelled me as opposed to getting me excited about trying it myself.

But then I found my own way to growing, and I felt like I had unlocked a (very well-known) secret. It impacted me so much that I went back to school to study it, started a business, and it’s all I think about.

And so now I’m here wanting people to “get their hands in the soil” and “deepen their connection with nature.” That language still doesn’t feel totally right. And I’ve been trying to talk about it in a way that people like the old me (or anyone else feeling repelled) thinks, “I want to give that a try.”

I’m still figuring this out. The same way I had to figure out how to talk about plant-based food and shitty women’s-health conditions in a way that made people want to know more.

For now, “a gardener is always a futurist” feels like a really good place to start. It feels modern and hopeful, practical and big. And I love how it speaks not just to our personal well-being, but for the greater planet’s.

Maybe I won’t convince you with any of the “right” language. Maybe, like me, you have to find your own way of growing…and then you’ll remember that I’m here to help you get started. Because I am! Whenever you’re ready.

Love,
Jessica