Two new books this year have tackled the way we understand land use and personal responsibility towards both public and private space. On the private front, Fritz Haeg mobilizes suburban homeowners for an "attack on the front lawn" though his Edible Estates project, which transforms consumptive turf lawns into productive farming plots. In the public realm, Richard Reynold's On Guerrilla Gardening calls for us to "fight the filth with forks and flowers!" by reaching out to garden neglected and abandoned urban spaces. Both books act as a call to arms (and spades) and provide inspiring guides for action. (more)
While guerrilla gardening is often a stealth and anonymous act, tossing seed bombs of wildflowers into vacant lots or planting flowers in neglected road medians, the Edible Estates project is necessarily performative. Fritz is like that mysterious stranger in the movies who turns the black-and-white town all Technicolor, helping neighbors to break free of their suburban conformity. He strategically chose front lawns that, when transformed, provide a striking visual contrast to their conservative neighbors and function as demonstration gardens for an alternative mode of living. As an artist, Fritz maneuvers between visionary utopian thinking and practical advice to realize Edible Estates across a range of climates and growing zones. For an Edible Estate to be sustainable, it requires the commitment of an individual family to fundamentally shift their lifestyle, consumption patterns and food choices, and often within neighborhoods that may not initially be supportive. But by placing their family farms out in the open (rather than hidden in the back), Edible Estate-owners work to shift attitudes and inspire other families to take part in a growing agricultural movement.

But how far do our homes extend beyond what we actually own? Guerrilla gardeners move past their property, and accept responsibility for neglected spaces throughout their neighborhoods and beyond. By taking ownership over orphaned land, they bypass bureaucratic channels and engage in direct-action -- planting without permission, their illicit cultivation works to clean-up blight. On Guerrilla Gardening is "a handbook for gardening without boundaries," and ultimately it teaches us how to look, see the potential of our surroundings and take neglected land into our hands.

Guerrilla Gardening: the book | the site
Edible Estates: the book | the site | Fritz on Archinect