People, plants and soil : an ethnography of urban farming in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Growing food is an important part of food resilience, not only because of food security but because of the connections between people, plants and soil that growing food engenders. This thesis is about such connections between people, plants and soil. It seeks to explore these connections in ways that decentre the human. Situated in the urban farm, Cultivate, in Ōtautahi Christchurch, this thesis explores ways in which people can ‘think-with’ plants and soil. To do so, I trace some of the everyday tasks at Cultivate that show care towards plants and soil such as weeding and repotting plants. I demonstrate that these everyday care tasks generate ways of thinking-with plants and soil that both decentre human language as a form of communication and also moves towards thinking of soils as heterogeneous entities that do more than produce crops. Thinking with care, I weave a story of people, plants and soils that opens up possibilities of connection with the more-than-human