It is getting so that, with all the ridiculous regulations that corporations are putting upon food production, it appears that our governments and the corporations might be in cahoots to keep us from becoming self-sustaining individuals. As a gardener I find this appalling.
I feel that if someone is able to feed themselves by growing their own food, then that person is less of a burden on society as well as on our planet. It is not okay to insist that people only have one source of food production. As citizens of this planet it is our innate right to grow our own food and consume said food.
Having said that, I do not grow ALL of my food. I grow what is fun for me to grow. So I grow things like tomatoes, spinach, lettuce, carrots, beans, sweet peppers, parsley, chives and herbs. The reason I do not also grow potatoes is that there is a lack of room in our back yard for a garden plot. So we grow things in garden boxes and in pots and containers. I would dearly love to put a garden plot for potatoes and onions and such in the front yard, where there is plenty of space. But it is my understanding that bi-laws are in place that prevent this in our neighbourhood. What a waste of perfectly useable soil! It burns me to have to water GRASS. What a waste of water.
So my gardening is limited to the space available. This is awesome in a way because it also allows me to have fun with it and to not have the garden become something to which I am a slave. And it is really amazing to me how much can grow in a garden box! Things flourish in a box! Just keep it watered so it does not all dry out and you are GOOD TO GO! Just this afternoon I was able to pick two bags of lettuce and one bag of spinach…and that is not nearly as much as is available in the box in which they grow. We are going to have salad coming out of our ears, I tell ya.
Part of why I enjoy gardening so much is that, for me, it is meditative. I get very Zen within when I am weeding, watering and harvesting. I get that way even if it is the flower beds that I am attending o
r the shrubs that I am pruning. I feel a deep connection with nature and with the earth and the “standing people” while I am attending to the needs of my garden. That is where I am most at home in life.
I remember as a child I was growing up on the family farm. My mother was an avid gardener and had a garden plot about 50 feet square. It provided food for our large family for most of the entire winter. Although I did not enjoy working in the garden when I was in the blistering heat, early in the morning or early in the evening were prime times for anyone to find me out there. My father wanted me to join the 4-H Club and learn about raising cattle. My brother was interested in that and my father thought that we could set up a little competition to see who could raise the healthiest calf. I was not at all interested in raising cattle or in competing with my brother. So I declined. My mother then suggested the gardening part of the 4-H Club. Now THAT was something that I could dive into!
It was so much fun learning about different plants and seeds and soil types. Having an “in” with how nature worked was fascinating to me. And then at the end of the 4-H season we all got to tour each others’ gardens. It was amazing to me how the same plants would be planted in such a variety of ways. People really do get creative with their garden space. There was one classmate of mine who was in the 4-H Club with me and she planted her garden in a circle with pie shaped wedges for each of the plant types. When the instructor asked her why she did that, she simply replied that she liked circles instead of lines. It was not until years later that I discovered the Perlanda Gardening Book and how circular systems of gardening actually harness the earth’s energies more efficiently thus creating more plentiful crops. My classmate was 50 years ahead of her time.
One day I am going to try out that circular gardening style. I will be placing crystals in the center and around the edges so that the growth happens with the energy of the crystals infused in the food right from the get go. I already do some of that in the boxes and containers, but on a much larger scale it is going to be absolutely magnificent!