Treading carefully through tomatoes: embodying a gentle methodological approach

Embodied and emotional gentleness are crucial aspects of interpersonal and more‐than‐human research, yet seldom feature in representations of fieldwork. In an attempt to redress the effacement of gentleness in academic research (Horton 2020), this paper makes its focus the mundane moments of ‘taking care’ (Mountz et al. 2015, p.1251) that are often weeded‐out of academic accounts to make space for theoretical and conceptual content. Drawing on participatory research conducted with ‘seed savers’ (gardeners who cultivate fruits and vegetables, then select, process and save seeds for themselves and other growers), this paper builds on existing ‘care‐full’ (Williams 2017) scholarship on embodiment, temporality and reciprocity to identify what a gentle methodological approach might look and feel like.