NO DIGGITY: KEEPING CARBON IN THE GROUND
Inspired by No Diggity Gardens in the West Midlands // Photography by Ayesha Jones // Poetry by Bohdan Piasecki // Exhibited with Multistory in Walsall in May 2024
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‘AGAIN, AGAIN’
Words by Hot Poet Bohdan Piasecki
Photography by Ayesha Jones
1.
It looks like nothing much. Dead leaves.
Torn up paper. Egg shells. Mulch.
Coffee grounds. A damp mess.
Sounds like a swamp. Hot like a fever.
Textures change as you push deeper:
slime, then grit. Smells like
a guilty secret. A sweaty beast.
But
under the surface
tiny beings feast. The rods, spheres
and spirals of bacteria. And bigger:
roundworm. Pill bugs. Springtails.
Roaches. Ants. Beetles. Mites,
breaking things down. Each of them
a speck of nothing. Near non-existent.
Abstract. Little more than an idea.
Together though, together they put carbon
back in earth, which feeds the soil, so plants
can grow, grow, and then die, die, and then
fall, fall and decay, so they can feast,
the specks of nothing,
turn the wheel
again, again
2.
It looks like nothing much. Small plots
of land, surrounded by brick houses.
Raised beds. Patches
of flowers, patches of veg.
Allotments. You know:
a place to while away the hours.
But
under the surface
is the story of a man who found how hard it is
to watch a world decay. How risky: you might
try to save it. You’ll feel like a speck of nothing.
Near non-existent in the face of abstract threat.
Instead he found his place was where he stood.
Spoke to his neighbours. He found out that people
don’t need saving but if you show them
how to grow, they will. They’ll grow
gourds heavy on the ground, and they’ll grow flowers.
They’ll grow potatoes, and sour cherries,
and cucumbers. They will grow happy.
Ask the man now and he will tell you
this is how we win: by getting a group of schoolchildren
to dig in compost bins, disgusted, jubilant in mud
and rain, shouting in each other’s faces
again, again
3.
It looks like nothing much. Just people
milling about in a garden. Some sit, smiling
at the sun. Some push wheelbarrows.
Some chat, shifting buckets from hand to hand.
A teacher helps students put on gloves.
Harmless.
But
under the surface
they know there are more gardens
just like theirs, where others also
ask the weather what to eat,
like before. Under the surface
they feel it, that this is more
than an idea: together, ah, together,
they help put carbon back in earth,
to feed the soil, so plants can grow,
grow and bear fruit, ripe like a moment.
Under the surface
they’ve found this truth:
that nothing matters more
than this small boy
who, right now, bites
through the skin of
a tomato, for the first time
eating something
with no barcode,
straight off the vine.
He swallows. Juice
drips from his chin.
He giggles, says
the red globe
looks like a brain.
Something happens
under the surface.
Again, again
ABOUT THIS STORY
The Black Country’s identity was forged during the industrial revolution: her coal seams mined, her factories aflame, her skies heavy with soot. Neville Portas founded No Diggity Gardens to spark a new kind of relationship with the land.
From a legacy of extraction, he has kindled no-dig, organic, zero-waste allotments now nourishing the earth in Walsall.
The community’s circular system of growing food and composting waste keeps No Diggity Gardens rolling. When that soil is left undug, carbon is kept in the ground, revealing the real value of the world beneath our feet.
ONE THING YOU CAN DO
Sustain – our Environment Partner on this story – suggest something simple we can do, to continue creating food while cooling our climate:
- Join the Good to Grow network by connecting with a garden near you or registering your own community garden on the national map.
- Campaign for your local council to pass a Right to Grow motion, like Hull recently did: giving citizens the opportunity to cultivate food or protect wildlife on public lands.
FROM PHOTOGRAPHING COMPOST TO COMPOSTING PHOTOGRAPHS
With Arts Partner Multistory, we installed Ayesha Jones‘ photography on site at Winterley Lane Allotments in May 2024, hanging prints made from plant fibres amongst seedlings, veg and compost. Over 500 people gathered to celebrate.
Insects, soil-covered hands and spring rains are all leaving their mark on the exhibition as the prints return to the earth, embodying the radical relationship that We Feed The UK is weaving between the arts and agriculture. Read more about growing and composting this exhibition, in our partners’ words:
Photography Gallery
