I left my job in London to grow food. This deep connection with nature gives my life meaning
I grow vegetables and fruit of my own choosing, and I write and talk about the importance of doing so while encouraging others to give it a try.
By Claire Ratinon
The Guardian
Excerpt:
I was growing tired of my life in London and I wanted to explore somewhere new, and it was in New York that a seed was (literally and figuratively) sown for my unexpected change of profession. I encountered the alchemy of food growing for the first time at Brooklyn Grange – a rooftop farm that sits above New York’s busy streets and overlooks Manhattan. Dusky leaves of tuscan kale, peppers and tomatoes in unexpected shapes and colours, striped aubergines wearing spiked sepal hats – chaos of abundance in the most unlikely of places. I was captivated.
From that day, all I could think about was getting through each week of working in documentary production so that, come the weekend, I could join the other farm workers at Brooklyn Grange while they harvested, planted out and raked the earth to a fine tilth, ready for the next sowing of seeds. After two seasons of volunteering there, I was determined to make growing food a bigger part of my life. So, as the city I’d come to love was celebrating Halloween, I boarded a plane headed for London.
