Archive for the ‘Real Food’ Category
April 15th, 2009
When we break it down and look at the benefits, it is easy to see that growing our own food provides us with nutritious veggies, reduces our “foot print” on Earth and can also save us money. So if this is true why haven’t we been growing our food this whole time? When did we stop and why has it been replaced with going to the grocery store? It’s very possible that the desire and appreciation for growing food has been replaced by convenience. Or it might be that political lobbying backed by corporate marketing conspiracies in an effort to pull us away from a sustainable food production system in order to make huge monetary gains. These reasons are all plausible and are true to at least some extent. But this article is not about placing the blame or detailing what is wrong and corrupt with our current food production system. This article is about reconnecting with a lost art that at its roots has profound impact on our lives as individuals and for all of us as a civilization. It’s about rolling up our sleeves and getting are hands dirty again. It’s about growing our own food.
Growing food is not a new concept and has been around for a long time, roughly 10,000 years. Agriculture is known to be one of the most monumental evolutionary advancements of the human race. And up until a few decades ago growing food at home was common practice. Now even the white house has joined in and shined a spotlight on a 1,100 square foot plot of land on the south lawn where an organic garden will be cultivated. First lady Michelle Obama under the consultation of Alice Waters, creator of the Edible Schoolyard program, owner of Chez Panisse restaurant and strong advocate for sustainable agriculture are digging out the lawn and replacing it with a vegetable garden. Local school children are helping tend and harvest the garden and using the food in their lunch program. This is not the first time the white house has had a vegetable garden. In 1943 first lady Eleanor Roosevelt built the “victory garden” during the war to promote growing food from home. By the end of the war 20 million people were growing their own food which supplied 40 percent of the produced consumed in America. A film produced during that time titled “Victory Gardens” was used to promote and train people to grow their own food.
Michelle Obama’s garden most-likely came as a response to Michael Pollen’s article in the New York Times titled “Farmer in Chief”. Pollen’s article is a letter to President Obama discussing the problems and solutions for our food production system. 
Alice Waters and Michael Pollen along with many other food advocates, writers and environmentalists have put themselves on the front lines with programs, books and constant activism, contributing majorly to this growing movement. These activists shed light on the need for sustainable farming practices to take over our current food production system.
Growing our own food can come with several “green” incentives with it.
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Eat Green- Home grown vegetables, fruits and herbs are healthier than produce that is transported thousands of miles to end up on the grocery store shelf. We also develop an appreciation for the dense nutrition that produce provides for us.
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Be Green- A vegetable garden is sustainable and relies on local resources, reducing the carbon “footprint”. We can’t get much more local than our own back yard. It empowers us to be socially responsible. We can feel good about showing our self-reliance and stewardship for the land while feeding our families and communities.
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Save Green- There can be a lot of up front costs for creating a vegetable garden for planter boxes, seeds, soil, tools, books etc., but in the long-term, growing our own food can reduce food costs significantly.
The work involved
Setting up and maintaining a garden is a lot of work. The planning, weeding, watering, pest control and harvesting take a lot of consistent effort. But these are far outweighed by the rewards. Getting friends to help can reduce the work load and promote healthy community. There are also many good resources for making growing as easy and effective as possible.
Great books:
In conclusion: Growing our food is an important step in creating a sustainable food system, locally and globally. It is empowering and provides good healthy food for us and our communities and it brings the tradition and joy of food back into our lives.
So this spring we are embarking on our first garden project. With the collaboration of three friends we are coming together to convert 150 sqft of raised bed landscaping into an organic garden of fresh vegetables, fruits and herbs. With little gardening experience between the five of us, this will be a shared learning endeavor. From now until the fall each step of our project will be updated on the blog. We encourage everyone to share in this process, whether it is a small container garden on your porch or ripping up the whole front lawn and installing a chicken coupe (3 chickens are allowed by law). Lets all go garden and go green!
*Tip- From Swansons Nursery. Most vegetables need full sun which means 6-8 hours each day of sun. This usually a south or west exposure. There are very few that can be grown in shade or even partial shade, 4 hours of sun or less.
