The first garden I interviewed for my Skywalkermas Day non-human interviews was the Twin Dolphin Unilodge Community Garden. This garden is one I can see from my window when the blinds are open, which is never. From May to August 2024, I did the Sustainability Innovations unit online at Curtin University. My chosen SDG was SDG2 with my final pitch aimed at Unilodge, as a stakeholder. The idea was to get them to turn this decrepit area into a community garden.

​

I listened in the still cool summer morning to what the garden had to say to me. The sun beat down in a merciless frenzy upon the plants. Only the hardy, that which needed not water, would survive. The raised tin garden beds spoke to me of global warming on a microcosmic scale. The browned weeds hung over the edges, unhappy, yet persistant. The distant caw from afar competed with the occasional racing motor in the background. 

​

It amazes me, that this community garden, sits amidst over 500 students. None of the students notice it, or care. None of the students paying an excessive rent realise that this tiny plots of land could, with thought and care, be used to supplement their diets. None of them understand how gardening could benefit their mental health. I raised the issue of using this community garden in May 2024 with the Twin Dolphin Hall Unilodge staff when I first started my first sustainability unit. What would be so awful about a Twin Dolphin Unilodge Community Garden? The staff member duly noted my suggestion on her piece of paper.

​

These garden beds have potential. The Twin Dolphin Unilodge Community Garden told me so during the interview. They would love it if the students came to plant and harvest. But the garden doesn't want thoughtless hands destroying the ecosystem. It tells me that it needs shade for vegetables to thrive. It wants constant attention to ensure that nutritious vegetables are not choked out by weeds. Finally, the garden is adament that the soil will need extra nurturing due to its tendancy to trap heat within the tin raised beds. This is not meant to deter. It is always good to be on the same sage as your nearest herb. Communication is essential, even between humans and non-humans.

​

The garden posed me a question, one I could not answer. It wanted to know why over 500 students ignore it on a daily basis. Sure, students come to socialise in the area, but never with the garden. The overgrown herbs, that look much like my hairy legs after 3 years of rebellion against a patriarchal system, don't get it. As long branches of mint sought to snatch my phone and dial numbers that weren't Australian, sage interrogated me. In fact, I was asked why I had avoided it, though I had advocated for it, spending much energy. I explained it was my social-anxiety and neurodivergence. It's an effort to leave my room. People could be anywhere! The garden frowned at me, herbs and weeds in unison, a strand of sage shaking its leaves in disapproval. It was an excuse, they said. The garden is right, of course. It is an excuse. However, it is a good excuse as far as I'm concerned.

​

What does the future hold for the Twin Dolphin Unilodge Community Garden? I'm not sure. There were plans made after I finished my unit with an external agency called People Helping People. This is what Unilodge staff told me. Nobody gave me any contact details for them, so I researched it myself. I reached out to them a couple of times to explain my interest, but I never heard back. Come January, they are having a clean up and planting excercise, but I wonder if that will be enough. I plan to approach them with my ideas.