Marchelle Farrell, Gardener, Psychotherapist & Psychiatrist
Marchelle, whose Instagram Bio reads 'Gardening as a Subversive Act. These are the things my garden told me' and I first connected over a post in which she said she was ‘her ancestor’s wildest dream’.
This resonated with me as I imagine I am too, as the descendent of 2 young Jewish men who made their way to England from Eastern Europe in the mid 19th Century to find safety and a better life..
We had a thought provoking and moving conversation in which we gently explored what it means to her as a black woman of mixed heritage to be gardening in Somerset in the UK, and how she comes to terms with her heritage - that she has both ancestors who were slaves and ancestors who were, mostly likely, slave owners - and how she makes sense of this.
Our conversation flowed through her delightful sounding garden on a hill with a stream all the way to ancestry and slavery with many interesting stops along the way.
Marchelle’s Instagram @afroliage
Special Time: Concept for relationship making with children. Virginia Satir
Jamaica Kincaid on the act of naming as an act of possession.