Diversity is something I actively cultivate in my yard and my bookshelf, which is why Soil: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden caught my eye. I’ve been working on my own version of Dungy’s “prairie project,” where she takes on the work of transforming a conventional suburban yard into a native, pollinator-friendly patch of earth. The garden is ground zero from which Dungy digs into the history of America, the absence of mothers and Black and brown people in the canon of environmental writing, and the ways we oppress plants, animals, and people. The way she weaves personal narrative with social justice concerns, plants with people, and domestic life with environmental activism is like a literary garden. For anyone who has wondered if one person tending one small plot of land is worth the effort, Soil shows what’s possible for us all. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read in exchange for an honest review.

At the center of SOIL is the theme of interconnectedness— how all the elements of our natural and lived worlds are deeply dependent on each other. Israel calls this book “MacArthur Genius” level, and I felt that impact. SOIL is the story of Camille’s garden and also the exclusion of Black folks from the discourse of nature writing. It’s about family and also the larger question of how and where we root ourselves supports or hampers our ability to cultivate imagination. It encourages us to build community with people and nature as a way to combat the disconnect that is embedded in our society.

I was able to ask Dungy about the writing process, and the ease of the moment between the personal, the natural and the historical. Dungy said said that to match how she thinks and experiences the world, the book had to be written in a multivalent, radiant way—finding ways to mimic the patterns of how she thinks. As her editor, Israel intentionally created a performance around this, always knowing where they were leading the reader.

SOIL is a book to give to your family members, to your community, to spur deep conversations about family, about groundedness in each other. SOIL allows me imagine building a future that more intentionally celebrates our cultural histories and pushes us towards an optimism about or environments.

Soil, Camille Dungy

Soil is alive. In a park, under your feet in the woods, in a garden you tend, even beneath all the green lawns, soil swarms with life and holds all that living entails – story, history, tragedy, and triumph.

Soil, Camille Dungy’s new memoir about her deepening relationship to the land, is an astonishing exploration of who we are and how we live. Dungy tells the story of creating a garden that reflects her history and imagination as the only Black woman in a white suburb with strict horticultural rules. Shifting through the various lenses of history, botany, and social justice, Dungy builds on the narrative with a wild curiosity and the juiciness of a poet’s voice.

Nature writing explores the deep call and response between the land and the human spirit. Nature writers see things we miss when we aren’t paying attention. They move us beyond the quotidian into the mysterious and then, like magic, they make that mystery part of our everyday lives and our days are suddenly more textured. They inspire us to, as Henry David Thoreau pronounced, “live deliberately” through awe, enchantment, and wildness.

Yet, so many nature writers such as Thoreau, Edward Abbey, and John Muir, speak from a solitary experience – a white, male solitary experience. Dungy isn’t having it. Soil is a nature writer sinking her hands into the story, history, tragedy and triumph that permeates the land – she fleshes out its life.

The experience of awe is transcendent. It takes us out of ourselves and our individual concerns and into a collective engagement with something else. Dungy leverages this awe experience, so available in nature, to bring our attention not only to the stunning and surprising more-than-human life that surrounds us but also to the oppression that is inherent in the land.

Dungy unearths, quite literally, the people who have long been, not only excluded from a place, but erased from their histories. She lays bare the elimination of women, especially mothers, from nature writing and spaces of the imagination. She reminds us of the lie of Manifest Destiny. And if language helps us shape our imagination, she asks, what does it mean when the 2008 revision of the Oxford Junior Dictionary removed words such as minnow, mussel, wren, heron, dandelion and replaced them with blog, broadband, celebrity, voicemail, and chatroom?

Weeds and invasive species become powerful metaphors in Dungy’s telling. We treat them with disdain, fight against them, poison them and prevent them from assimilating into our manicured spaces. Much as we do with Immigrants, people of color, queer and trans people, and anyone, really, who doesn’t fit the cultural narrative. This, Dungy reminds us, is our history…of weeds and invasives and it is deeply embedded. To acknowledge this and let it change us is also awe.

“A weed,” Dungy quotes her father, “is a plant that is growing in a place or way you don’t want it to grow. That’s all the word means.”

Soil is about acknowledgement and resistance. As much as it inspires us to grow, it also warns of the dangers when we sunder the land from the very thing that keeps it alive – then we’re only left with dirt. There can be no real relationship with the land – no awe – if we don’t listen to what it has to tell us. At one point, Dungy says, “One way I experience love is as delight in the flowering of another’s ideas. I want this book to offer such a flowering.” Accept this offer and our lives are richer for it.

I really enjoyed reading this memoir by Camille. It connects with the type of work that I want to do as a researcher and I was excited to be approved for it.

This memoir explores the connection between humanity and the natural world, specifically the soil beneath our feet. Camille has done a great job highlighting the importance of the environment and it's relationship to Black folks. I really enjoyed Camille's personal reflections and experiences with the environment and how historical and cultural contexts impacted her relationship with gardening.

Overall, Soil examines the ways in which humans have both nurtured and damaged the soil over time, and how our relationship with the earth is integral to our survival. I will be constantly pulling from this book to use in my own personal research.

Soil: The Story of a Black Mother's Garden by Camille T. Dungy

336 Pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Release Date: May 2, 2023

Nonfiction, Memoir, Biography, Gardening, Colorado, Multicultural

A Black woman returns to her home state of Colorado with her husband and her daughter. She chronicles her gardening with world events. I am not sure how to describe this book. The author talks about moving from California to Colorado.

She discusses the global pandemic, homeschooling, along with every day current events. She details her gardening, preparing hard soil, composting, and a soil delivery on a windy day. I felt like I was sitting on a stool next to her while she was talking and gardening. Her writing style is very conversational, and I look forward to reading more of her work.

A metaphor for the plan and relationships between human beings. Love the fact that nurturing black characters are being presented. A necessary read for anyone who cares about the future of the planet.

It’s been a month full of books about nature, gardening, and climate change for me, and SOIL fit perfectly into this theme!

Part memoir and part an examination of the importance of diversity in nature writing, Dungy outlines the seven-year process of converting her Fort Collins, Colo. garden into a thriving, free-flowing prairie appropriate for the surrounding natural landscape. Interwoven with this story is an exploration of the field of nature writing, where Black voices have been excluded or erased, and the daily responsibilities of motherhood and housework are rarely mentioned. Throughout it all, Dungy explains why diversity (in nature writing, cultivating a garden, and addressing climate change) is critical to forging a better path forward.

First off, this cover is STUNNING— and perfectly matched the content and feel of the book. Dungy’s prose was also lovely, really bringing to life the plants making a home in her garden. She is both a poet and a professor, and both of these roles were on full display in this book. Her writing was lyrical (and she included several beautiful poems), and she skillfully explained a wide range of topics, drawing connections between them and larger social issues.

I learned a lot from this book, about the historic lack of diversity in nature writing, the challenges of gardening, and the stories of the individual figures Dungy highlights. It touched on so many critical topics of today, from her experience quarantining during the early days of the pandemic, to growing concerns over wildfires and climate change.

The book did move fairly quickly back and forth between topics and time periods, and at times I wanted a bit more information, and a more structured narrative. Overall, though, this was a beautifully written, informative read that made me extra excited for spring flowers! 3.75/5 stars

How do I love this book? Let me count the ways! Thank you to the author, Camille T. Dungy, the publisher, Simon & Schuster, and NetGalley for an eARC of Soil: The Story of a Black Mother's Garden.

Before I talk about the contents, JUST LOOK AT THAT COVER! Isn't it beautiful? I was a bit worried the words couldn't live up to the promise of the artwork. They do. I fully acknowledge that this particular book dovetails with my particular interests - other readers with other interests might have a completely different experience reading it. For me, this book does everything and more I want in a reading experience: I was led down intellectually interesting paths, I felt so many real and earned emotions, I learned about topics I was already interested in and some I didn't know I was interested in until Dungy introduced them to me. The cover art, illustrations, and poetry all work to support and enhance the text.

First, this book has nuance. I don't know if I realized how much I was craving nuance until I found it here. Dungy tackles difficult topics, topics without easy definitions or morals. As someone who lives in community and is interested in the ecology of place, I live the tension between a garden which speaks to the neighborhood and one which honors the needs of wildlife. Second, this book earns its emotional beats. The picture of Dungy's mother, doing the dishes and talking about how her high school wouldn't let a Black girl be valedictorian will haunt me for a long time. Third, anyone who wants to explore any of the ideas discussed will find suggestions for further reading scattered generously throughout the pages. Dungy lives and writes in community and deliberately names the people her ideas are in conversation with - some already personal favorites and some new to me. Fourth, I really enjoy learning. I like learning the names of things. The history of a place. How things work. It is all fascinating, give me all the learning. A favorite from the book is finding out there are teams who deploy after a wildfire to help the landscape recover. Fifth, the personal, if told true, is universal. The glimpses into marriage and parenthood, into family and community life, all of it is told with such specificity, it becomes a shared experience. What a gift!

Soil is part memoir, part nature writing, part political treatise, part history of race in the U.S., part theological rumination, and all of it is thoughtful, wise, and compassionately collectivist.

A beautiful representation of nature through her eyes, Dungy provides a beautiful and informative look at flora and fauna from the African-American perspective. Through her voice and beautiful prose, we receive an inside look at nature and how it impacts our lives in the past, present, and future. I truly enjoyed her memoir as it was very informative by bringing to the forefront unsung African-American heroes who championed for the preservation of nature and the education of people of color in history. Topics are rarely discussed or banned altogether. There is a lot in this book that pulled at my heartstrings….black motherhood, motherhood during the pandemic, and memories shared with my grandfather – an avid gardener. I spent many of my childhood summers with my grandfather planting flowers and listening to stories about his life and his knowledge of flowers and farming. Moments I truly cherish and share these with my own children now. And it was so nice to hear about Dungy’s experiences during the pandemic, relatable both as a mother and woman of color. I found myself saying out loud “That’s what I was thinking” or “That’s exactly how I feel” to her descriptions of racial justice and black motherhood. And as an added bonus, Dungy provides some beautiful poetry to accompany her writing which adds even more to an already brilliant memoir. I truly walked away with so much more both intellectually and emotionally, I highly recommend Soil by Camille T Dungy for your next book read. A big thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for the advanced reader copy.

This book has left me speechless in its profoundness . In all honesty I cannot do it justice in a review it must be read .The depths to which this poetic and lyrical author uses prose like cycles of nature and as symbols for deeper truths for cycles of violence against people of color in America ..

To this author the Guggenheim grant awarded support with intense depth in their insights regarding race, environment, femaleness , mothering and gardening
This book is one that has forever changed my thinking and opened my eyes to the patterns of so many things the overextended majority culture does and the underlying messages it sends .
I am carefully trying not to spoil this book in any way . This book is about gardening and yet so much about the magical ability for gardening to heal us when we need it most .
I look forward to purchasing my own copy when it is released . Thank you Netgalley for granting me access to an epub file in exchange for an honest review .

Soil: The Story of A Black Mother’s Garden
By Camille T. Dungy

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

In 2013, Camille T. Dungy accepts a university position and transplants her family from Oakland, California to the predominantly white community of Fort Colins, Colorado. Her family has history with the town she left when only a toddler. In Soil, Dungy imparts her seven year journey to dig up her south lawn to create a drought-tolerant flower field and haven for pollinators. Like so many passages in her memoir, diversifying her garden reflects her heritage, and is a metaphor for the need to move away from the homogeneity that threatens society and the future of our planet. Soil is a compilation of Dungy’s personal reflections on her life, the history of women and nature focused writing, scientific facts, African-Americans in the diaspora and their connection to the earth, as well as socio-political implications for preserving the planet.

Soil at times reads like a diary and at other times scholarly treatise. The reader will have to be up for both. In its personal and socio-political scope, Soil brought to mind Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass. A perfect read for Spring!

Look for it - Pub Date 02 May 2023. I’d like to thank @CamilleDungy, @NetGalley and @Simon&Schuster for the gift of this digital arc.

Poet and Scholar, Camille T. Dungy takes us on a journey alongside her family in her quest to create a garden in a predominately white neighborhood in Fort Collins, Colorado. Dungy relates her own personal history to the wider experience of navigating race in America and the importance of the connection between Black people and the land.

Her stories deeply weave history, resilience and resistance into a fabric of gardening. Her very garden, in a sense, resistance in a community that wanted to regulate what residents could and could not grow. Reminiscent of the idea of HOA workers that walk around with rulers to measure the grass height. But we see Dungy’s persistence. There is determination to create a thriving garden, even through hardened soil which can be likened to the struggle of Black people for centuries.

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from a book about soil, but I have to say that Dungy’s writing is both informative and enticing. She keeps you reading with personal moments like injecting the commentary of her husband Ray which feels like the right annotations at the right time while also giving deep lessons in history when discussing figures like Anne Spencer recounting her time in Lynchburg, Virginia.

It’s a book best taken in doses. Taking time to actually reflect on the poignant case Dungy makes about the connection of the whole of the African Diaspora and the land. Somewhere along the way, it has been portrayed that environmental justice is not a fight of Black people but the author reminds us it is and always has been.

Expansive in the stories that it brings to the surface, Soil itself is robust in the harvest it yields. Rich in stories of triumph but not shying away from the reality of erasure, segregation, legacy, and responsibility. Dungy serves us a nourishing meal in her storytelling.

Making dense subject matter into an engaging read is no easy work. I know this as a writer myself. But Soil gives us both great prose and a bevy of important history.

First of all, I must say that I love the cover! This was not a quick read for me, because it was so thought provoking. Diversity DOES matter, both in an agricultural sense and in our human communities.

Poetry, gardening, and social justice collide in Camille Dungey’s beautiful memoir on development of her home garden in the predominantly white community of Fort Collins, Colorado.

Celebrated poet Camille T. Dungy decides to replace her grass lawn with a diverse selection of pollinator-friendly plants. However, her Fort Collins, Colorado community restricts what residents can grow. Lyrical and resonant, Dungy’s memoir and ecological history relates gardening to motherhood, ancestry, and the Black experience.

Much of the book takes place in her home and yard in Fort Collins—weeding, an unwieldy soil delivery, animal visitors are some of the things Dungy describes in thoughtful detail. I learned a lot of interesting facts about Fort Collins and Colorado. But Dungy is an expansive thinker, and the lessons of her garden extend far beyond the local. Dungy can make a propulsive argument, sure, but here, she chooses not to. The garden is both subject and stylistic inspiration; the arguments deliberately meander without losing their strength.

Dungy is among the best thinkers about race and nature, and that is on full display here. In considering her own life and her family’s positionality in a mostly-white place, she wanders through much of the American environmental canon, considering the whiteness of John Muir, Annie Dillard, and others. What space is there for her as a Black mother?, she asks, and then demonstrates it in the loamy richness of the pages. The garden encompasses the pandemic, Western wildfires, police violence, with anecdotes from Dungy’s past lives in California and Virginia adding depth.

With interchapter illustrations of Dungy’s garden and the occasional poem to make us all pause, this is a beautiful volume, and a necessary one. Cottonwoods, cottontails, and Colorado’s racial history are on my mind today, and Dungy’s environmental theorizing will stick with me even longer.

This is a gorgeous book that will both break and heal the reader's heart. While some knowledge of gardening is helpful, or at least a love of the outdoors, ultimately Soil is for everyone who processes hard things by being creative. I highly recommend it.

This is a beautiful book that’s perfect for gardeners, poets and lovers of memoirs. Dungy is a wonderful story teller. Highly recommended.

Soil is the metaphor by which Dungy uses to connect the roots of poetry to Black life; to explore the fertility of love between husband and wife and mother and daughter; to connect classic white literature to Black intellectual life; and to discuss Black life at large. With pictures of different flora and poems interspersed throughout the book, "Soil" is a great foundational piece to dig one's hands into and seed for future fruit.

Readers who enjoyed World of Wonders by Aimee Nezhukumatathil , Mirrors in the Earth by Asia Suler, and African American Herbalism by Lucretia VanDyke will love Soil by Camille T Dungy. Soil tells the story of Camille's connection to the land, her ancestry and the roots of her passion towards caring for the earth and her own home garden as well as her experiences navigating race and the racial landscape of buying a home in a historically predominately White town in Fort Collins, Colorado.

Camille shares with us her own childhood experiences, the racialized experiences she observed her parents have to navigate through as she came of age, and the racial politics of creating and maintaining your own garden as a Black person in America.

Camille writes: "Part of living successfully in community means accepting that people are always motivated by conflicting needs and desires- much as the blue spruce in the corner of our yard needs many things: root space, and water, and birds who thread between branches to open room where light and air can enter the thicket near the trunk. The spruce needs these things, not in some orderly succession, but all at the same time. For the most part, I have no control over whether the spruce's needs are fulfilled. But I can check the irrigation system to make sure it's not delivering too much or too little water, and I can be careful not to crowd the tree."

Using her mastery of poetic language, Camille provides readers with several metaphors to understand life and the life cycle using the art of gardening and the practice protecting, preserving, and respecting the earth to help us understand nature's importance. The best part is that she shares her reflections and experiences via a pro-Black lens that speaks beautifully to our inherent connection to the land and the importance of reconnecting to it.

Thank you to the author and publisher for the e-arc copy!