my neighbour ruth is a combative reaction to climate change and industrial capitalism
it is a combination of a slow-clothing project and a local food security project
it protests fast-fashion and the ever growing food supply chain
it's food that tastes like your backyard and clothes made so intimately you know their seems like your neighbourhood!
growing up, my neighbour ruth would have me feed her cats and put out her garbage bins while she was out of town. she’d have me over for dinner in return when she was back, or bake cookies to eat together on the porch. she had the nicest garden on the street. flowers of every colour. grapevines to make jelly and gift away in abundance. my neighbour ruth was my first teacher of reciprocity in community.
gardening is not solely a personal past time, nor sewing solely about fashion. the climate crisis insists a rethinking of our relationship to the earth, it has us calling for a new awareness of how our food is grown, how our clothes are made. the garden is political, my sewing machine a manifestation between society and nature.