Tricia Mazure, Gardener

They say one good deed leads to another. The Dove Project is a series of questions, passed on, by each interviewee, to the person they believe is doing their part to ensure a greener, healthier future, through action and inspiration. Join us as we share earth-loving information courtesy of those who have taken it upon themselves to believe, through action and leading by example, that one person can truly make a difference.

Name: Tricia Mazure
Location: Los Angeles, California, USA
Profession: Gardener

THE GREEN DOVE: Who passed The Dove Project on to you?

TRICIA MAZURE: Patti Penn passed The Dove Project on to me. We met in the dark at a sweat lodge about eight months ago. It is her commitment to healing within herself and assisting others to learn how to do the same that inspires me … and she rides a horse.

TGD: Patti’s question to you was: Why do you care so much?

TM: I honestly believe that we have a fundamental and symbiotic relationship with plants and the more we learn about them and interact with their well being the more they will take care of us.

TGD: What is your green mission?

TM: I would say my mission is to get as many people excited about the life of plants as possible and to consume copious amounts of greens. I have read quite a few books on food as medicine and one quote that resonated is from David Wolfe (pictured right), “If you want to heal the environment heal the environmentalist”. The greener we are on the inside the greener our living spaces will become and who doesn’t love oxygen.

TGD: What green action, big or small, do you take every day and why?

TM: I garden every day and that may mean watering the borage and strawberries, seeding purslane and ojo melons, helping a friend plant a garden or turning compost. Learning as much as I can about our relationship with fruits, vegetables, leafy greens, the seasons they ripen and grow in and why they ripen and grow when they do and understanding how it all serves a purpose.

TGD: What, in your opinion, are the most helpful things the average person can do to make a positive impact on the planet?

TM: Plant a garden and know that this endeavor can be a basil plant on your window sill or a 10 x 3 foot garden bed filled with herbs, squash, green beans, tomatoes, melons, kale and arugula. I recommend sitting outside on a Sunday for hours and watching it grow because something happens when you plant a bean and day by day watch how it bursts out of its shell and notice how one half roots itself to the earth and the other half stretches toward the sky. Plants pull nutrients from the earth; watching food grow out the ground facilitates a consciousness about what we put in to the earth.

TGD: Name books and/or websites everyone should know about and why?

TM: The Freedom Manifesto-how to free yourself from anxiety, fear, mortgages, money, guilt, debt, government, boredom, supermarkets, bills, melancholy, pain, depression, work, and waste by Tom Hodgkinson. I think the title says a lot. This man believes in the importance of gardening and doing nothing. His writing is humorous and gently filled with historical facts. I would also recommend the Ann Wigmore Institute in Puerto Rico. Ann Wigmore was an advocate for the benefits of wheatgrass and consuming highly nutritious greens. I went last year and knowing how the body can change in two weeks is life altering.

TGD: How can just one person make a difference?

TM: By planting a seed.

TGD: Your biggest hope for the worlds future?

TM: To remember to practice________every day.

TGD: Who are you asking to join The Dove Project and why?

TM: Lora Hall because she’s a gardening punk.

TGD: What one question would you most like to have Lora answer?

TM: What are your three favorite things about worms?