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| The beet goes on... |
Ever wonder what the greatest fear is for an average American these days? Well, according to a recent survey conducted by conducted by Leiflin, Inc for the EcoHealth Alliance, it is economic collapse-and by a wide margin. So while our government along with corporate media continually attempts to distract and buy off the people with bread and circuses, it is still startling to realize that the larger public has figured out, by way of third grade math, that the looming debt bomb is going to ignite one of these days real soon -and it will not be a pretty conflagration. Sad to say, while this will be a frightening and cataclysmic event for many people (and the narrative beyond this occurrence gets worse yet) there is not much that we can do to jam up the gears on this runaway train except... garden as if your life depends on it!
This is a theme I first encountered when I traveled in parts of former Soviet Union in the early 1990's where people had lived under the heel of a completely dysfunctional command economy that struggled to meet even the most basic needs of its subject population. Human resilience and adaptability being what they are, many people learned to grow their own food and a typical house then was not surrounded by useless ornamental shrubbery and lawn but rather a full-blown vegetable garden (often with small greenhouse) and an orchard of fruit trees. Producing a good part of their own food is may be a reason why, even to this day, people over there look a lot healthier to me than the typical oftentimes obese Americanos.
In past posts I have already hammered on the themes of food security and localization so I will not revisit those threads here again other than to say that they are still very much apropos and in effect. Some think that tough times have arrived here in America and they are correct- but even more difficult times lie ahead. Good sense would dictate that we look at people who have been there recently and take a page from their play book and start toughening up for the leaner times ahead. Here on our own family's little patch of the universe, we have labored, year after year in our garden, the results of which I have shared in part, with you the readers of this blog. So with an unusually warm winter winding down, spring fever seems to have arrived early this year and our garden plans and strategies are already underway. One thing I have hankered to do for many years now is to save my own vegetable seeds so, one of my first efforts will be is to grow heirloom (not hybrid) tomatoes this year. I'm using one of those off the shelf starter trays (pictured below) to get my seeds off to an early start indoors rather than attempting to locate appropriate transplants from commercial nurseries later on.. Should be a fun experiment for the tomato patch this year and updates will be posted. In the meantime, give some serious thought to ripping out that toxic lawn (or at least part of it) if you haven't already done so. Eat better and spend some time in your new productive garden meditating with your local flowers and fauna. They will also appreciate the new tranquil environment and will be spared the future sight of a silly, mower riding, hairless monkey tearing up their neighborhood.
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| Getting Started |
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| About 2 weeks later...all pods are go! |
