I confess, I took some. Well, not completely. I snagged some leaves from succulents in the student’s union—not the whole plants. I rescued spiderplant “pups” from the Global Studies office, preventing their eventually death or pruning and discard. I grew up with gardens, and houseplants make me feel at home. The need to feel nested around plants did not subside during my semester abroad at University of Sussex in Brighton, England. I can nurture something, watch it change, and be surrounded by green. It helped that the view out my windows was an industrious shrub growing out of the brick garden wall. Within my first week at Brighton, I bought a small fern from the hardware store up the road. I found a framed print of one of Monet’s water lilies, to match a similar piece my mom just purchased back in Indiana.
University of Sussex is a public research university with no horticulture curriculum. I wanted to take the opportunity to learn about different things that horticulture and agriculture, especially at a university well-known for global studies and life sciences. Having lived in other non-English-speaking areas, I also wanted to attend somewhere with the primary language as English since it was easier to overcome a language barriers and start noticing differences in culture. The eco-minded culture and organizations in the university and in Brighton were a huge pull for going to Sussex, and provided some “green-thumb” opportunities to get my fix for horticulture. I joined the student garden allotment group called Roots, who was in transition and being established at a new location since the former site was allotted for development (seems a bit like the transition going on at the Purdue Student Farm). Allotment gardening culture is strong in England, with the U.S. equivalent being having a private garden plot in a community garden. There were allotments in parks, by the cemetery or on hillsides, throughout the city. They provide people who do not have large yards – a pricey luxury in dense towns with wall-to-wall terrace houses—a place to garden and grow whatever brings pleasure.
The "green' culture is strong and permanent in the city of Brighton: there’s a center based on sharing ideas which link arts and the environment, a permaculture institute, and much more (ONCA). I had plans to travel more while within reach of the Continent (I did go to Munich), but ended up wanting to settle down in Brighton and be involved with the community projects. Most of these organization were present at or at least advertised at the Seedy Sunday event in February. Seedy Sunday was an event hosted by Infinity Foods, a cooperative, organic grocery store. Vendors came for gardening enthusiasts across the country to sell seeds, transplants, and other gardening products. I bought a kit to grow a few flushes of mushrooms in the shady shelf of my room, and was delighted and puzzled at rainbow of tuber varieties for purchase. The event hosted speakers, events for kids, catered food from local restaurants, and hosted a seed exchange. People bring seeds they kept from their garden last year, and trade or sell the seeds. The exchanges act as way to keep the varieties of vegetables, and their genes, alive through their active growth year after year. Hundreds of plants producing thousands of seeds could have a better chance of survival than seeds stored under carefully controlled conditions. Seed exchanges promote living seed banks. There is some risk involved that the plants might not survive, either through neglect, bad weather conditions, or disease, but overall enough seeds survive so that they may gradually adapt to the local conditions where they are grown. For example, the kale seeds I bought from gardeners in Brighton will, over time, be the best candidate for survival in Brighton's unique climate.
[if you’re into bin diving for free food and/or to make a statement about food waste, the compost bin for produce from Infinity Foods was a good pick].
Putting my life away included taking a box of vegetable scrap compost I’d collected over the semester to a bin. We hiked it up the hill and around the corner to a park’s community compost bins – not even my roommates new the park existed it was nestled to well between the houses on the hill. I was amazed that Brighton even had a demand for a community compost bin. It was great to be a part of a community where many more people than I’d normally been around before acted on their values for more sustainable, community-level ventures. Besides international regulations, plants won’t fit in my suitcase. The avocado tree and a few succulents stayed with my roommates, and other Chlorophytums and spider plants were distributed to friends and neighbors. I still can’t believe how I managed to create a community which would be happy to have my plants, to take care of them for me, in just a few months. The key was being involved, being friendly, and worry about studying just enough.
While physically uprooted myself from Brighton, the life I made in Brighton during my few months grows on--through plants and people.
P.S. The Organizations
- Scoop – would vend bulk dry goods at no upcharge on campus during the Tuesday market
- Roots—Student garden allotment
- Language Café – links native speakers to language learners
- Brighton Bike Hub! Bicycle shop and repair cooperative. The Naked Bicycle Ride every June, for cyclist safety awareness (public nudity is acceptable in the UK if it’s for protest)
- Real Junk Food Project – rescues supermarket food waste, converts into pay-as-you-feel meals
- The Garden House –met with Bridgette at the garden to talk about horticulture in the UK.
- Environmental Perspectives on Development
- Marine Biology and Ecology Field Course (spent one week in Wales at the Dale Fort Field Centre)
- Comparative Animal Physiology and Morphology
- Advanced French
- Intercultural Learning (Online via Purdue)
