Thoughts on sustainability - veggies
Jan. 19th, 2007 10:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
helwenWas poking around on energybulletin.net (some good stuff there, but thick reading at times) and found an article on small scale farming/victory gardens, by Sharon Astyk. If you want to read the whole thing, you can find it here: http://www.energybulletin.net/24634.html
I've pulled a section from it for here...
"Small scale agriculture is, in fact, at least a partial solution to many of our most intractable problems. For example, David Holmgren points out that a realistically achievable rise in humus in soils around the world would sequester an enormous quantity of carbon, reducing total carbon build-up in ways that could potentially be comparable to getting rid of a large portion of the world‘s auto fleet. For most Americans, the single act that would reduce their fossil fuel consumption, carbon output and ecological footprint the most is not to buy a more efficient car, but to cease buying supermarket food. And small scale, sustainable agriculture can produce outputs of dramatically more food and fuel than industrial agriculture can. If we move away from the large farm model, we may be able to feed the world, despite declining fertility and rising costs for fossil fuel inputs.
Now I know this talk is supposed to be about “large scale gardening” but I keep speaking of farming. That’s because there’s an untenanted space between the word “gardener” and the word “farmer” that needs to be addressed. A gardener is usually someone who grows things for their pleasure, from the sheer joy of it. When we talk about farmers, we usually mean someone with a profession is growing food on a large scale. But somewhere in between them is the idea we need to grasp with language – that there could be someone who grows a lot of food to eat, but still takes pleasure in the act, who may sell food, but whose work cannot be traded on the commodities market.
Or perhaps we don’t need a new word, because we have one. In nearly every nation in the world small scale or subsistence agricultural producers are called “farmers“. In English, the word derives from the word for “earth,” as in “firmament” or “terra firma,” but it also shares its origin with the word “form” to mean “to shapes or creators.” . It occurs to me that right now, we need to become a nation of people who see themselves as creators rather than conquerors or consumers, people who see our central work as the maintenance and sustenance of the earth and human cultures. "
She talks about being creators, not consumers, and I think it would be marvelous if more people grew at least some of their own food. Most folks I know don't have enough land to grow all their veggies and fruit, but I imagine even a small garden would not only be useful, but really there's nothing more tasty than veggies straight out of your own garden. I usually grow one grape tomato plant (if I can get one -- otherwise, a very sweet cherry tomator will do), simply because I find them to be great snacks, esp. when I'm out gardening and starting to feel a little peckish. And lettuces are remarkably easy to grow.
Spinach is much more demanding, as I found out when reading one of my new books on gardening. So, armed with the information I'll get out of reading more about gardening, I'm going to try growing it one more time. I love my book _Gardening When it Counts, growing food in hard times" by Steve Solomon. He gives options on what to do for working/improving the land, including options for different levels of available funds. A good thing, as growing food shouldn't cost more than buying it at the market.
Even if you live in the city, it's possible to grow things in pots by the window. Although tomatoes aren't happy unless they're outdoors on a porch at least, or an open window -- they need to resist wind and other outdoor weather in order to toughen up, stand up more, and thicken the stems. And even buying a little tomato plant rather than growing it from seed will still save you money, btw. They can be great producers. If you're concerned about adding to the water bill, container gardening doesn't use much water, and you get a little exercise tending to your plants. It's all good.
Of course, aside from not having enough land, I'm not a vegetarian and don't have the inclination to raise chickens (yet, anyway), so there will still be trips to the supermarket. But the less I have to buy there, the less I'm spending on food that's travelled who knows how far to get there. Holyoke has a farmers market on Thursdays, and in Massachusetts there are many farmers markets all over the place. I expect other states have them too.
THE PLAN
I have a plan for this year, we'll see if/how it works out. After Birka I'll post to Freecycle looking for more gardening tools - hoes, shovels, etc. There are a few people who garden or are interested in gardening in our area.
Now, I realize most ground preparation needs to happen at around the same time so this may have to be led by more than one person (working two places at the same time if there are lots of plots), but I want to have group groundbreaking parties and planting parties. Depending on the amount of land needing to be tilled, we could probably do 2 to 3 garden beds in a day, or 3-4 in a weekend. Mixing more and less experienced people, we can get the work done quickly and newcomers won't be so intimidated by the project. People can grow what they like, and if folks end up with more food than they can handle (not all things can be stored), other people will probably be happy to take the excess.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
fitzw and I take home some of the extras from his folk's veggie garden every summer. First time I ever liked wax beans was fresh from their garden.
We'll see what happens!
I've pulled a section from it for here...
"Small scale agriculture is, in fact, at least a partial solution to many of our most intractable problems. For example, David Holmgren points out that a realistically achievable rise in humus in soils around the world would sequester an enormous quantity of carbon, reducing total carbon build-up in ways that could potentially be comparable to getting rid of a large portion of the world‘s auto fleet. For most Americans, the single act that would reduce their fossil fuel consumption, carbon output and ecological footprint the most is not to buy a more efficient car, but to cease buying supermarket food. And small scale, sustainable agriculture can produce outputs of dramatically more food and fuel than industrial agriculture can. If we move away from the large farm model, we may be able to feed the world, despite declining fertility and rising costs for fossil fuel inputs.
Now I know this talk is supposed to be about “large scale gardening” but I keep speaking of farming. That’s because there’s an untenanted space between the word “gardener” and the word “farmer” that needs to be addressed. A gardener is usually someone who grows things for their pleasure, from the sheer joy of it. When we talk about farmers, we usually mean someone with a profession is growing food on a large scale. But somewhere in between them is the idea we need to grasp with language – that there could be someone who grows a lot of food to eat, but still takes pleasure in the act, who may sell food, but whose work cannot be traded on the commodities market.
Or perhaps we don’t need a new word, because we have one. In nearly every nation in the world small scale or subsistence agricultural producers are called “farmers“. In English, the word derives from the word for “earth,” as in “firmament” or “terra firma,” but it also shares its origin with the word “form” to mean “to shapes or creators.” . It occurs to me that right now, we need to become a nation of people who see themselves as creators rather than conquerors or consumers, people who see our central work as the maintenance and sustenance of the earth and human cultures. "
She talks about being creators, not consumers, and I think it would be marvelous if more people grew at least some of their own food. Most folks I know don't have enough land to grow all their veggies and fruit, but I imagine even a small garden would not only be useful, but really there's nothing more tasty than veggies straight out of your own garden. I usually grow one grape tomato plant (if I can get one -- otherwise, a very sweet cherry tomator will do), simply because I find them to be great snacks, esp. when I'm out gardening and starting to feel a little peckish. And lettuces are remarkably easy to grow.
Spinach is much more demanding, as I found out when reading one of my new books on gardening. So, armed with the information I'll get out of reading more about gardening, I'm going to try growing it one more time. I love my book _Gardening When it Counts, growing food in hard times" by Steve Solomon. He gives options on what to do for working/improving the land, including options for different levels of available funds. A good thing, as growing food shouldn't cost more than buying it at the market.
Even if you live in the city, it's possible to grow things in pots by the window. Although tomatoes aren't happy unless they're outdoors on a porch at least, or an open window -- they need to resist wind and other outdoor weather in order to toughen up, stand up more, and thicken the stems. And even buying a little tomato plant rather than growing it from seed will still save you money, btw. They can be great producers. If you're concerned about adding to the water bill, container gardening doesn't use much water, and you get a little exercise tending to your plants. It's all good.
Of course, aside from not having enough land, I'm not a vegetarian and don't have the inclination to raise chickens (yet, anyway), so there will still be trips to the supermarket. But the less I have to buy there, the less I'm spending on food that's travelled who knows how far to get there. Holyoke has a farmers market on Thursdays, and in Massachusetts there are many farmers markets all over the place. I expect other states have them too.
THE PLAN
I have a plan for this year, we'll see if/how it works out. After Birka I'll post to Freecycle looking for more gardening tools - hoes, shovels, etc. There are a few people who garden or are interested in gardening in our area.
Now, I realize most ground preparation needs to happen at around the same time so this may have to be led by more than one person (working two places at the same time if there are lots of plots), but I want to have group groundbreaking parties and planting parties. Depending on the amount of land needing to be tilled, we could probably do 2 to 3 garden beds in a day, or 3-4 in a weekend. Mixing more and less experienced people, we can get the work done quickly and newcomers won't be so intimidated by the project. People can grow what they like, and if folks end up with more food than they can handle (not all things can be stored), other people will probably be happy to take the excess.
fitzw and I take home some of the extras from his folk's veggie garden every summer. First time I ever liked wax beans was fresh from their garden.We'll see what happens!
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no subject
Date: 2007-01-19 03:53 pm (UTC)There are plants that taste like spinach but are easier to take care of. We had some last year.
Kale grows well here and is wonderful for us. mmm folic acid of joy!
Last year I tried (and succeeded) in growing herbs. This year I am going to try a tomato plant or two. I may attempt beans on strings, but I will see how much time I have to do anything.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-19 04:05 pm (UTC)Green beans are easy, but you want to grow more than one, because otherwise you only get a few beans at a time. I like them and peas too, because once they get going, they keep going for a while.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-19 04:12 pm (UTC)The concept was revived even less successfully during the Second War, those materials are somewhat less excellent though still very useful.
Buy meat at ethnic markets if you have those near. The meat tends to have been raised locally, which means less transport cost. Goats are also good "earth footprint" animals, and cook up much like sheep and deer ( note; not true lamb ).
Freezing food isnt doing yourself a huge energy favor, sadly. I freeze a lot, but I know I can lose it all with one power outage, and that I am adding to consumer drain. Canning is a pain, especially for meats.
I'm planning to install just enough photovoltaic solar to support my freezer, heat, lights and computers. ( www.gaiam.com )
I am a failed gardener, every year I plant and every year nothing happens.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-19 04:24 pm (UTC)I'm not in favor personally of freezing, partly because of energy/emergency stuff, but also because I don't have a big freezer. When we eventually move, the new place will have a cooler room and root cellar. The solar power sounds cool though, I like that. Not in the budget for this year, but we are reducing our use of fuel and electricity through mindfulness and insulation.
Canning I may be mostly reserving for tomatoes, but we'll see. It can be a pain, which is why it's best done in large quantities, to get it over with :D
Good idea on ethnic markets. Ours seem to mostly carry veggies and beans (very small hispanic markets), but worth checking on to see if anything changes.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-19 04:29 pm (UTC)I just stink at it =p.
We dont do tomatos at all, we want beans, peas, melons, squash, parsnips and brussels sprouts. Some day I'll make it work =)