Where Does Your Food Come From- Part 2, Backyard Gardens

Backyard gardens have gone from a necessity to a hobby and now are maligned by certain people we will call, “globalists.” Claims that backyard gardening has a carbon footprint 5 times greater than commercial growing have been published along with a lot of other rubbish, as if the amount of carbon you make growing plants makes a difference in the global climate. The fact is that plants need CO2 to produce oxygen and to grow. In any case, we need to eat and during WWII, Great Britain would have gone down and during the Great Depression, there would have been more starvation without backyard gardens. Today, we are faced with a similar situation where much of the food we can buy is not good for us and is getting less and less affordable. Whenever times are hard, gardens become increasingly important by providing cheap, nutritious sources of food.

I grew up with gardens. I even had one at an apartment complex where I was living. People laughed at my little garden- a container of tomatoes, two of peppers, and a bucket of potatoes, until the tomatoes came on. Home grown tomatoes outshine store bought any day. When I started my own family, I also started a small farm on 1/3 of an acre. It was already planted with oranges, plums, cherries, peaches, grapes and artichoke and asparagus beds. I added a spectacular variety of vegetables, a couple of ducks to eat the slugs and snails and a little coup of chickens. Our grocery bill was the lowest on the block.

Now I understand that this would not be possible anywhere. It was in California, in the Central Valley where the growing season is long. However, no matter where you are, you can grow something. Fruit and nut trees are seasonal, but they produce each year and only need minimal care. The same goes for many berries. Asparagus and artichokes will also produce as long as the beds are taken care of, and the winter temperatures are not super cold. As far as the super cold is concerned, I read about one family that lived in a very cold, snowy area and raised winter crops in a greenhouse heated by rabbits. That’s a two for! The point is that where there is a will there is a way.

If you’ve read some of my other articles on food, you already know there are plenty of reasons to have your own garden. The biggest reason is that it’s your garden and you are in control of what methods to use, and what chemicals, if any. The second best reason is that the food tastes better and is more nutritious than that grown in large monocrop fields. Then there is the time you spend outside, collecting vitamin D from the sun and getting a little exercise. There is a food shortage already happening. With the crop failures, the movement to stop meat from being produced, farmland being taken out of production, and other problems, it is getting increasingly difficult to be able to afford nutritious food. It may at some point get difficult to find at all.

In light of the above, having whatever garden one has the room for, or can make the room for, is going to be important. I know many are not able to have gardens because of space and other reasons. In that case, community gardens, farmers’ markets, or just getting to know a farmer through doing business with them would be a plus. As for those who have the space but claim to have black thumbs- My oldest daughter claimed to have a black thumb yet when she took over management of a small 7-acre farm, she not only raised many animals, but her vegetable garden was an unqualified success. She used the internet, other gardeners, and books on gardening as her guides to achieve this success.

A wealth of information exists on different kinds of gardening, The internet, of course, has a ton of information. People around you can also be a source of information that is more local and can give you tips based on the locality. Rodale put out a series of gardening books with some great information as have a number of other publishers. Local groups organized around the planted seed can be contacted as well as your state agriculture organization.

I understand that some of you live in the city where space is at a premium. You might not have a backyard to plant in. Container, vertical, roof top, and hydroponic gardens are an answer to this problem. The point is to start thinking about your food now. Just stocking up will only be a temporary solution. Fresh food needs to be added to the mix both for nutrition and to make the preserved supplies last. My advice for anyone able to do it is to bury some seeds.

If there is a subject you would like to hear about food, food production or even stories about my experiences in the food industry, and I have some great ones, drop me a line by accessing my contact page on my site: https://irawhite.com/contact/