30. Carey Thornton — Tilth Alliance
Subscribe to Chrysalis at https://www.johnfiege.earth/
Show notes: https://www.johnfiege.earth/30-carey-thornton
Listen to Chrysalis on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and Captivate.
See my series of photographs from Rainier Beach Urban Farm & Wetlands.
Tilth is a word that’s not used much anymore. It comes from the Old English word “tilþ,” which is spelled in a funny Old English way and meant “labor” or “work,” especially the “labour or work in the cultivation of the soil,” as the Oxford English Dictionary describes it. Examples from the dictionary include, from the year 1580, “Tilth well done, in season due;” or, from the year 1660, “After four years tilth, lay down your land.”
Today, the word has come to mean the physical condition of the soil and its suitability for planting.
Back in the Middle Ages, tilth also had a figurative meaning: “The cultivation of knowledge, morality, religion, the mind, etc.” In other words, we can cultivate ourselves in a way that good things can grow, similar to how we cultivate the soil to grow great food.
Tilth Alliance in Seattle, Washington, embraces all of these meanings of their namesake. It’s an organization that grew out of a regional network of organic farmers and gardeners in the Pacific Northwest in the 1970s. Today, they define themselves as a community of “farmers, gardeners and eaters” united in the desire “to build a sustainable, healthy and equitable food future.”
Carey Thornton has been gardening and teaching classes with Tilth Alliance for many years, and she joins me to talk about the work she and others are doing at Tilth Alliance. We spoke on July 15, 2022.
I’m John Fiege, and this is Chrysalis. You can subscribe at johnfiege.earth, where you will also find show notes and all episodes of the podcast, plus my writing, photographs, and films.
On a trip to Seattle, I was able to visit Tilth Alliance’s Rainier Beach Urban Farm & Wetlands, which is an amazing oasis and community space in the middle of Seattle. You can see my photographs from Rainier Beach at https://www.johnfiege.earth/rainier-beach-urban-farm-wetlands/.
Here is Carey Thornton.
Notes and Media Recommendations
- Tilth Alliance
- https://tilthalliance.org
- Rainier Beach Urban Farm & Wetlands
- https://tilthalliance.org/our-work/urban-farms-gardens/rainier-beach-urban-farm-wetlands/
- What Does “Tilth” Mean, Anyway?
- https://tilthalliance.org/blog/what-does-tilth-mean-anyway/
Credits
This episode was researched by Lydia Montgomery and edited by Sofia Chang, with additional editing by Morgan Honaker. Music is by Daniel Rodríguez Vivas. Mixing is by Morgan Honaker.
-----------
Subscribe at https://www.johnfiege.earth/
