The fiercely serious essayist, author, critic, and journalist—known best for his searing criticisms of totalitarianism and support of democratic socialism—had a soft side firmly rooted in the natural world.
What struck me most about Orwell’s Roses was Solnit’s quiet delight that someone so dedicated to dissecting the man-made world and its horrors could also find great purpose in tending to nature.
The leap from one side to the other is far less great than Orwell’s, but seeing as the cannabis plant’s very existence is politicized and criminalized, it’s fair to say that the act of merely growing it serves in stark opposition to everything around it.
But while commercial cannabis growing is enjoying some measure of success thanks to legalization across the globe, those who grow for personal use like myself are still fighting an uphill battle.
Now that billion-dollar companies are growing weed across the United States, they have kicked up lobbying efforts, taking a growing role in shaping new drug policy.
These rules also completely ignore the fact that people grow weed for a variety of reasons and have been doing so for many thousands of years.
“As humans and living creatures, it is securely written into our DNA to connect to the Earth—to the natural world.
Aggrey explained that gardening and growing life can help build humans’ self esteem “as individuals who have something to give to the Earth.” And, like using cannabis, tending the soil can also reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression.
Like myself, Aggrey feels deeply that growing our own weed is “one of the most paramount ways to remove ourselves from an unjust system of capitalism,” which echoes the very real struggle between homegrowers and corporate and government entities at present.
That’s where the majority of cultivation takes place today, bolstered by state laws that require each state to produce its own cannabis despite the ability of states like California to grow more than enough for everyone using sunlight alone.
This April to kick off the cannabis planting season, I laid out on my sunny dining room table seeds that were a cross between a calming and a creative strain.
Anyone can grow cannabis—the nickname “weed” exists for a reason—but it takes a rigorous attention to detail and a slightly obsessive attitude to grow actually good cannabis.
Smoking weed helps, of course, but growing it is a tangible connection to the land and all it provides, which is something no law or person can ever truly take away, try as hard as they might.
“I’ve found that the act of growing my own weed—I’m talking windowsill weed, nothing fancy, no ballasts or lights—somehow always connects me to the community,” Aggrey said, echoing my own beliefs.