What's going on in a small garden?

Experiences of grassroots social work

Abstract

The article discusses the mission of social work in the era of ecological crisis by focusing on a community gardening project in Lahti, Finland. Connecting cultural studies with the theoretical conversations of eco-social and community social work, the article imagines future social work through thinking with the garden. As empirical material, the article uses the writer’s experiences from the project during the years 2019–2020. The autoethnographic analysis shows the diverse everyday practices in which the negotiations of power are taking place in a city. Consequently, the analysis points to the various sites where social work can be practised in the local community outside of the conventional institutions. The gardening project is connected to the Nordic tradition of community work, and more precisely to the concept of “grassroots social work”, which the article suggests as a working method and a conceptual tool that can be used in social work practice and research when transitioning towards eco-welfare state.