Thank you for the donations coming in to our GoFundMe appeal; it is so important now, and we are so grateful. You are confirming that the values we represent and work for every day are important to you. You recognize what the community would be missing without Harlequin’s Gardens. Of course we already know this. We would not be here without your support. We started promoting and selling native and water-wise plants 35 years ago.
You bought them before they were popular. We promoted organic gardening, and you trusted that gardening was possible without poisons. We refused to buy plants treated with neonicotinoids when we learned of their extreme toxicity to insects, and you supported us. We researched soil health and soil life and the best amendments for our conditions, and you put our products into practice.
Together we have proven that a better world is possible, because we see it blooming. Yes, we have to share what we have learned with a lot more people. But even while corporations intentionally ignore what is right for the good of People and the Earth, communities like ours are voting our values with our lifestyles and our money. We are going organic, going electric and renewable, conserving water and energy, going native and staying human. Seeing this gives us all faith to persevere.
There is always a “but on the other side”. The International Energy Agency warned recently that the world is facing the biggest energy crisis in history. Not only is the war with Iran driving up fuel prices, The Guardian has pointed out that the war is also “driving the world toward a food crisis.” Growing our own food may be good not only for our health, but for our pocketbook as well.
War and destruction are not making the world safer; pesticides are not making farming and gardening more successful or producing better food. When we see that the bee population is crashing, that birds are dying in large numbers, that amphibian populations are plummeting, we should get it that their world is our world. Our survival and health is dependent on supporting a healthy planet. It’s all connected.