A working day at Planting Justice
Following the people, intricate nursery work and shared spaces behind a food justice organization.
Following the work
Planting Justice connects growing food with living-wage work, education and community healing. We spent the day photographing the people doing that work, moving between portraits, the greenhouse and the everyday activity of the nursery.
We wanted the collection to feel rooted in the organization. Conversations among the trees, a worker moving through the rows, plants filling the spaces around them: these moments show the people and place behind the name.
The care in a small task
At the propagation bench, we photographed the patient work of preparing cuttings to grow new plants. Moving closer lets the hands, tools and small decisions become part of the story.
Planting Justice's propagation work includes cuttings that develop their own roots and scionwood used for grafting. With apples, wood from a chosen variety is grafted onto rootstock so the new tree will grow that same variety of fruit. The nursery depends on this kind of careful, skilled work long before a plant reaches someone's garden.
Keeping the setting in view
We also photographed the greenhouse and farm store, from densely planted benches to shelves of seeds, books and garden supplies. These spaces give the portraits a home and help explain how much goes on beyond any single task.
Together, the photographs give Planting Justice a collection that moves from the individual to the wider organization, with its people and daily work at the center.
