For many years, the legacy of segregation and economic barriers have often kept Black people from being able to engage with horticulture.
Colah B Tawkin says she is on a mission to see more Black people take up space in the plant industry.
Tawkin hosts the Black in the Garden podcast which covers topics like frost dates and weeding but also how Black culture intersects with gardening.
She is the spring artist-in-residence for Michigan State University’s Womxn of Color Initiatives. The campus program organizes events for women and non-binary people of color in the greater Lansing area.
WKAR's Sophia Saliby spoke with Tawkin about gardening, her podcast and how she's built her platform.
Interview Highlights
On why it can be hard for Black people to get into gardening
We certainly know that there's this unfortunate past that Black Americans associate with, where I say that we were involuntary gardeners back during the time where my ancestors were enslaved. And that is something, that stigma is also one of the barriers that exists, that's unfortunate. And me presenting my podcast in the way that I do is being very intentional about disrupting that idea of why we should or should not have trauma, when we get involved in that activity.
On how she feels when she gardens
Every time I see a new leaf unfurl on a houseplant or see a seed that I've planted come up out of the soil, it is joy. It actually is this childlike joy that never fails to take me back to that feeling of excitement. It feels very magical.
On the plant she recommends for people new to gardening
I would like to suggest the plant that was a game changer for me which is the Coleus plant. It is very humble plant, but it is also very high in variety as far as it coming in so many different colors and shapes and leaf sizes. And it is as simple as taking a nice sturdy piece off that plant and removing most of the leaves off the bottom and sticking it in some water. Watch the roots come in, and see if that doesn't make you feel like you're a gardener.
Interview Transcript
Sophia Saliby: For many years, the legacy of segregation and economic barriers have often kept Black people from being able to engage with horticulture.
Colah B Tawkin says she is on a mission to see more Black people take up space in the plant industry.
Tawkin hosts the Black in the Garden podcast which covers topics like frost dates and weeding but also how Black culture intersects with gardening.
She is the spring artist-in-residence for Michigan State University’s Womxn of Color Initiatives. The campus program organizes events for women and non-binary people of color in the greater Lansing area.
Colah joins me now. Thank you for being here.
Colah Tawkin: Thank you for having me.
Saliby: When did you first get interested in gardening?
Tawkin: I wish I could say that I was introduced younger, but I was just living a very natural lifestyle after I had my daughter Isis. And I was like cloth diapering and, you know, just getting real crunchy like that. And so, as I was trying to determine how I could eat as hyper locally as possible, I recognized that I was gonna have to take up the challenge of growing my own food.
I turned my attention to houseplants and that kind of really changed the game for me when I figured out how propagation works.
And if I told you that I went and got seeds and started this perfect garden plot, I would be lying. I actually, you know, kind of had a rough start because I was doing so intuitively rather than, you know, getting information and insight from experts.
But I turned my attention to houseplants and that kind of really changed the game for me when I figured out how propagation works.
Saliby: Can you speak broadly about barriers to entry for Black people to get into horticulture?
Tawkin: It boils down to a lot of things. One thing being not feeling like it's something that we have a space in because of the way that representation works not just in the media, but also statistically and how many people of color are involved in leadership positions when it comes to gardening and horticulture.
We certainly know that there's this unfortunate past that Black Americans associate with, where I say that we were involuntary gardeners back during the time where my ancestors were enslaved. And that is something, that stigma is also one of the barriers that exists.
We certainly know that there's this unfortunate past that Black Americans associate with, where I say that we were involuntary gardeners back during the time where my ancestors were enslaved. And that is something, that stigma is also one of the barriers that exists, that's unfortunate.
And me presenting my podcast in the way that I do is being very intentional about disrupting that idea of why we should or should not have trauma, when we get involved in that activity.
Saliby: You've talked about, on that topic, of using gardening as a way for Black people to reconnect with the land. Can you speak more on that idea?
Tawkin: On reconnecting with the land is it's just expounding on what I was saying about getting past the stigma of connecting with the land at all. Because I can't say that it's just a trauma response to not feel like we can have a connection with the land.
There's also, as I've come to recognize, some systemic barriers that have been put in place, and that lack of representation is a part of it. But when we're able to reconnect with the land, it will, well, let me speak for myself. It's brought about the kind of sense of joy for me that as you can see, I went and started a whole platform around it to basically kind of like, share the good news with my people to let them know that no, hey, there's joy here.
There is joy to be found here. And that is some joy that I want as many Black people as possible to tap into. Because that is something that can counteract the kind of trauma and anxiety that we are faced with in our day-to-day lives when we're dealing with things like discrimination and such that still exists to this day in this country.
Saliby: How does it feel for you to get your hands in the dirt to connect with the land and garden? Is it that joy? Is it other emotions?
Every time I see a new leaf unfurl on a houseplant or see a seed that I've planted come up out of the soil, it is joy.
Tawkin: It's joy. It's always joy. Every time I see a new leaf unfurl on a houseplant or see a seed that I've planted come up out of the soil, it is joy.
It actually is this childlike joy that never fails to take me back to that feeling of excitement. It feels very magical.
Saliby: Why was podcasting the right medium to get out your message, at least at first? I know you've kind of built a bigger platform, but it started with the podcast.
Tawkin: Podcasting works very well for me as a consumer because when I listened to so many shows, I was able to determine what show for me what sound like.
And my interests were able to merge is really the main thing that put me in this space because I was very much an avid gardener and an avid podcast consumer, and also was very much passionate about the message that I had to share that was clear to me was not being shared enough.
So I was like, oh, okay, this is also a niche that is very underserved. So, I knew that uniqueness of it would make it much more likely for me to have success in the podcasting field.
Saliby: For people who haven't listened to Black in the Garden, what can listeners expect when they tune in?
Tawkin: What they can expect when they tune in is this personality that you are hopefully receiving right now. Jokes and anecdotes and history and conversations, a good time, very relatable.
You can expect to get more understanding of the past, present and future of Black people as we are engaging with plants.
You can expect to get more understanding of the past, present and future of Black people as we are engaging with plants.
Saliby: You're a few seasons in, so what have you learned about gardening since you started the podcast? What's new to you?
Tawkin: Wow. So much. I learned a lot about public gardens. It's interesting how starting a podcast about gardening led to me not actually engaging in it as much. So, that is the bitter out of the sweet. But what I've learned is a lot of different aspects of the industry of horticulture, like I mentioned, public gardens and how that works.
And I've learned a lot about entrepreneurship and how the act of gardening and the lessons that we can learn from gardening, they apply to so many different aspects of our lives.
Having patience and planting a seed and tending to it and giving it ideal conditions have really translated very well to help me to understand how to be good at business.
One of the kind of unanticipated results of starting a podcast was I ended up being an entrepreneur, and a lot of the things that are true about having patience and planting a seed and tending to it and giving it ideal conditions have really translated very well to help me to understand how to be good at business.
Saliby: Looking at your bio, you've done a lot. I had a hard time consolidating everything at the top. You've done podcasts, a nonprofit focused on native trees, an environmental conservation organization. Out of all of that, what are you the most proud of?
Tawkin: Oh, wow, what am I the most proud of is I'm proud of all of that. And what I can say that I'm most proud of having you run back all of that, to me, is the fact that I have stuck to this course that I started about four years ago.
I consider myself a hyper creative who was always changing my mind about what I want to do and where I want to, you know, really dig in, pun intended. And gardening just, I couldn't shake it.
And so, that is definitely what I would have to say that I'm most proud of because I consider myself a hyper creative who was always changing my mind about what I want to do and where I want to, you know, really dig in, pun intended. And gardening just, I couldn't shake it.
Saliby: Gardening or podcasting is kind of non-traditional when we think of this artist-in-residence program.
Tawkin: Yeah.
Saliby: So, what does it mean to you to be considered an artist or a creative, you know, along with maybe visual artists or poets or writers?
Tawkin: I mean, it really makes me feel like I imagined Zora Neale Hurston felt when she was engaging with all these different places in academia. For me, having started a podcast as someone who, yes, I did do college radio, but I was a college dropout. So, for me to have my work be considered in academia is monumental to me.
I love how, what I didn't even recognize when I started, which is that I'm crossing all of these disciplines by being involved in media and something artistic and agriculture and horticulture and how that allows me to be here as the creative artist-in-residence and tap into so many different parts of Michigan State University.
Saliby: I couldn't have you in the studio without asking about some gardening tips.
Tawkin: Sure. What you got?
Saliby: So, I guess what's your number one piece of advice for someone who maybe wants to garden but doesn't think it's for them?
Tawkin: Well, you got to activate that green thumb. So, you got to find something that not just makes your heart sing, but something that makes you feel like it is possible for you.
I would like to suggest the plant that was a game changer for me which is the Coleus plant. It is very humble plant, but it is also very high in variety as far as it coming in so many different colors and shapes and leaf sizes.
So, I would like to suggest the plant that was a game changer for me which is the Coleus plant. It is very humble plant, but it is also very high in variety as far as it coming in so many different colors and shapes and leaf sizes. And it is as simple as taking a nice sturdy piece off that plant and removing most of the leaves off the bottom and sticking it in some water.
Watch the roots come in, and see if that doesn't make you feel like you're a gardener. That's what I said when I first saw that happen with my own eyes.
Saliby: I guess, what would you say to people who think maybe, you know, cultivating houseplants, some people might not think that's gardening because you're not physically in a garden, but sounds like that's how you got your start?
Tawkin: Absolutely. You are in your indoor garden. You know, gardening is not something that only looks one way. I think of permaculture, when I say that, because it is kind of like the antithesis of the stereotype that we have about what a garden looks like, which is generally, you know, flowery and idyllic and neat and tidy.
It can be inside of the house where if you are sticking to a watering regimen and fertilizing and pruning and making sure that we're doing pest management and all that stuff, you're definitely gardening.
But no, gardening, it can be inside of the house where if you are sticking to a watering regimen and fertilizing and pruning and making sure that we're doing pest management and all that stuff, you're definitely gardening. So, don't let the haters try to sway you.
Saliby: And to end our conversation, you know, you live in Atlanta. It's a little bit, I hope, warmer down there. What do you have in your garden right now? Or what do you have growing?
Tawkin: What I'm growing, I just recently moved into an apartment less than four months ago. And I'll be totally transparent, I was dealing with some housing instability.
And I like to mention that because as much as I may be considered successful by sitting here talking with you, I've had some very real challenges and doing what I've been doing has helped me to overcome that.
So, what I have growing right now is mainly houseplants, and I just I got some of those, you know, green onions from the grocery store that I ended up, potting up in some pots outside. We just got warm weather like more officially, so I'm still trying to decide what I'm going to do with my big box of seeds.
Saliby: Colah B Tawkin is a podcaster and gardener. She's also MSU Womxn of Color Initiatives' artist-in-residence this semester. Thank you for joining me.
Tawkin: Thank you for having me. Love, light and soil.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and conciseness.
