A focus on sustainability can widen your view of the world. Yes, we need control over our own food supply (as in becoming chicken activists), and yes, we need to help those who live in food deserts do the same, as I blogged about in "Paying It Forward." But the food supply is part of a bigger picture called environmental justice. I just watched a riveting 18-minute TED-Ed video, by Majora Carter, called "Greening the Ghetto." Her talk is intelligent, critically important, and eye-opening. It shows the potential power of grassroots activism.
Local foods, sustainability and "green" practices and jobs are all part of a bigger picture called social justice, not just in major cities, but in rural areas, too. And if, as a nation, we can refocus the conversation to find solutions to these issues, we will make the world a better place.
Consumers in the U.S. support these kinds of changes, according to a recent poll by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. There's a great infographic on the results.
What if we don't know where to start? Let's start with our own backyards, patios, rooftops, or maybe that abandoned lot that is a potential park around the corner. Let's start with a conversation with our neighbor. But let's start.
Showing posts with label sustainable. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sustainable. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
More Reasons to Grow Your Own
Some states have greatly tightened the noose on illegal immigration. The result is that crops are left to rot in the fields for a lack of skilled workers:
http://www.takepart.com/article/2012/05/15/farm-labor-shortages
Growers are moving toward more mass-commodity crops that can be harvested mechanically and away from organic, sustainable methods.
Even with the high unemployment rates, Americans are not stepping up to take these jobs:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44981872/ns/us_news-life/#.T7OOEFKqa25
They cannot make decent money at it, they do not have the skills, and they are not physically fit enough to work like a skilled farmhand.
These farmhands have skills because many have been toughened by farm work since they were seven or eight years old.
That's right!
Children have been working in the fields with their parents to provide income for their families. While most of us in the U.S. have children who go to school most of the year, the migrants' children are in the fields, harvesting our produce, making less than minimum wage, and facing pesticide exposure and other dangers we wouldn't THINK of exposing children to. Farm work is one of the most dangerous jobs in the United States. An estimated 400,000 children in the United States face these abuses, and it's perfectly legal due to an outdated law from 1939.
A new documentary, "The Harvest/La Cosecha," is bringing these abuses before the public's eye.
These are yet more reasons to eat locally, seasonally, and to grow as much of our own food as we can. One of the foods left to rot for lack of workers was asparagus. Well, let's grow asparagus in our own back yards and take control over our food supply and the conditions under which we grow it!
http://www.takepart.com/article/2012/05/15/farm-labor-shortages
Growers are moving toward more mass-commodity crops that can be harvested mechanically and away from organic, sustainable methods.
Even with the high unemployment rates, Americans are not stepping up to take these jobs:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44981872/ns/us_news-life/#.T7OOEFKqa25
They cannot make decent money at it, they do not have the skills, and they are not physically fit enough to work like a skilled farmhand.
These farmhands have skills because many have been toughened by farm work since they were seven or eight years old.
That's right!
Children have been working in the fields with their parents to provide income for their families. While most of us in the U.S. have children who go to school most of the year, the migrants' children are in the fields, harvesting our produce, making less than minimum wage, and facing pesticide exposure and other dangers we wouldn't THINK of exposing children to. Farm work is one of the most dangerous jobs in the United States. An estimated 400,000 children in the United States face these abuses, and it's perfectly legal due to an outdated law from 1939.
A new documentary, "The Harvest/La Cosecha," is bringing these abuses before the public's eye.
These are yet more reasons to eat locally, seasonally, and to grow as much of our own food as we can. One of the foods left to rot for lack of workers was asparagus. Well, let's grow asparagus in our own back yards and take control over our food supply and the conditions under which we grow it!
Sunday, May 6, 2012
How to Grow Gardening: Paying It Forward and Local Foods
"A food desert is any area in the industrialized world where healthy, affordable food is difficult to obtain" (Wikipedia). I checked the U.S. government's Food Desert Locator, and to my surprise there are food deserts located not far from where Don and I live in Chesapeake, Virginia.
I am a local-foods enthusiast, so I have been wanting to play a role in helping other people grow fresh, local, sustainable food for themselves. If the people I help are in need, so much the better. I very much admire the work that Will Allen and his Growing Power has been doing in major cities, and I wanted to do something similar in some small way here. I also remember when I first moved into my previous house in North Carolina, a divorcee with lots of needs and barely two dollars to rub together in my pocket. I wanted a vegetable garden because gas was $4.00 a gallon and I wanted to avoid driving to Walmart for veggies I could grow at home. At that time members of the Freecycle community there took me under their wing and shared cuttings, seeds, and advice with me.
But how to start here? I am new to Chesapeake, and I know almost nobody in town.
My answer came in the form of a plea on the local Freecycle list. This particular request was for vegetable seeds, flower seeds, cuttings, and anything that could help someone who knew very little about gardening to get started. The request came from South Norfolk, an area of Chesapeake that is needier than other parts of the city.
I exchanged a few emails with the sender of the message. I learned that "Grace," as I'll call her, is disabled and hasn't been able to work in a few years. She wants to garden but has very little money to spend. She has a few pots but nothing over 8".
Today I got to "pay it forward" when I arrived with potting soil, seeds, cuttings of mint and oregano, some tools, a helping hand, pots of various sizes and shapes, gardening magazines, and advice. Grace and her housemate are lovely people, and it felt good to help them in some small way. I finally got the chance to play a role, however tiny, in spreading the local foods movement and to do it in in honor of all the gardeners and Freecylers who have helped me over the years. I also had a chance to clear some unused flower pots and containers out of my yard.
I will be on alert for other opportunities to grow gardening and local foods in my area. The world will be a better place if others will do the same. I'd love to see more towns with the giving, grow-your-own, self-sufficient spirit of the quaint little Todmorden in England.
I am a local-foods enthusiast, so I have been wanting to play a role in helping other people grow fresh, local, sustainable food for themselves. If the people I help are in need, so much the better. I very much admire the work that Will Allen and his Growing Power has been doing in major cities, and I wanted to do something similar in some small way here. I also remember when I first moved into my previous house in North Carolina, a divorcee with lots of needs and barely two dollars to rub together in my pocket. I wanted a vegetable garden because gas was $4.00 a gallon and I wanted to avoid driving to Walmart for veggies I could grow at home. At that time members of the Freecycle community there took me under their wing and shared cuttings, seeds, and advice with me.
But how to start here? I am new to Chesapeake, and I know almost nobody in town.
My answer came in the form of a plea on the local Freecycle list. This particular request was for vegetable seeds, flower seeds, cuttings, and anything that could help someone who knew very little about gardening to get started. The request came from South Norfolk, an area of Chesapeake that is needier than other parts of the city.
I exchanged a few emails with the sender of the message. I learned that "Grace," as I'll call her, is disabled and hasn't been able to work in a few years. She wants to garden but has very little money to spend. She has a few pots but nothing over 8".
Today I got to "pay it forward" when I arrived with potting soil, seeds, cuttings of mint and oregano, some tools, a helping hand, pots of various sizes and shapes, gardening magazines, and advice. Grace and her housemate are lovely people, and it felt good to help them in some small way. I finally got the chance to play a role, however tiny, in spreading the local foods movement and to do it in in honor of all the gardeners and Freecylers who have helped me over the years. I also had a chance to clear some unused flower pots and containers out of my yard.
I will be on alert for other opportunities to grow gardening and local foods in my area. The world will be a better place if others will do the same. I'd love to see more towns with the giving, grow-your-own, self-sufficient spirit of the quaint little Todmorden in England.
Monday, April 16, 2012
Flowers in Vegetable Beds
The more I learn about growing vegetables organically, the more interested I am in growing flowers.
This is not as contradictory as it might seem at first. To garden sustainably and with a minimal use of pesticides, you need several things. First of all, you need good soil for your plants. Then you need the other requirements the plants need, such as sun and sufficient water. After that, mimic nature's wisdom as much as you can. For example, plants in nature do not exist in a monoculture. Without sufficient diversity, plants often lack what they need regarding insect life around them. For example, almond-growers in California fail to plant enough flowers around and in their fields to support honey-bees year round. As a result, honey bees have to be transported from all over the country to pollinate the trees. Otherwise there would not be enough bees when the almond flowers are in bloom, so yields would be greatly reduced. Transporting the bees is tough on the bees and uses a lot of fuel, so diversifying the monoculture would be kinder and more environmentally sustainable.
A variety of flowers around and in your vegetable beds will mimic nature. This will attract beneficial insects such as ladybugs and parasitic wasps to feast on any caterpillars or other "bad" bugs that would otherwise take over your garden. By avoiding pesticides, you avoid accidentally killing the beneficial insects that will turn the pests into a tasty meal.
This year I plan to put mint plants near my garden beds when they are blooming. I also have sage blooming in my yard. I have just started four hanging baskets: two seeded with impatiens, which grow well in shaded areas under our trees, and two with California poppies. The poppies seem the right size for baskets and are said to withstand drought well. Within my garden beds I plan to plant dill, sunflowers, marigolds, and nasturtiums. I have some other seeds I bought on impulse because they were 25 cents each at the dollar store, and I will be adding those to my vegetable-garden plan as I have time.
The soil in my baskets is an experiment this year. I have read that widespread use of peat moss is not environmentally sustainable, so I am trying to find alternatives for turning organic garden soil into potting soil. This year I have tried mixing leaf mold, organic garden soil, and worm castings together in unscientific "but it looks right to me" proportions. I would guess the mix is about 1/3 leaf mold, 1/2 garden soil, and the remainder is vermicompost. I hope this mixture will give my plants what they need, especially in the way of water retention. Summers here get HOT!
Did I mention I sometimes forget to water my hanging baskets? I find drought-tolerant plants do better hanging in the North Carolina sun, since some of my baskets seem to need watering nearly every day. Hence my interest in the poppies.
This is not as contradictory as it might seem at first. To garden sustainably and with a minimal use of pesticides, you need several things. First of all, you need good soil for your plants. Then you need the other requirements the plants need, such as sun and sufficient water. After that, mimic nature's wisdom as much as you can. For example, plants in nature do not exist in a monoculture. Without sufficient diversity, plants often lack what they need regarding insect life around them. For example, almond-growers in California fail to plant enough flowers around and in their fields to support honey-bees year round. As a result, honey bees have to be transported from all over the country to pollinate the trees. Otherwise there would not be enough bees when the almond flowers are in bloom, so yields would be greatly reduced. Transporting the bees is tough on the bees and uses a lot of fuel, so diversifying the monoculture would be kinder and more environmentally sustainable.
A variety of flowers around and in your vegetable beds will mimic nature. This will attract beneficial insects such as ladybugs and parasitic wasps to feast on any caterpillars or other "bad" bugs that would otherwise take over your garden. By avoiding pesticides, you avoid accidentally killing the beneficial insects that will turn the pests into a tasty meal.
This year I plan to put mint plants near my garden beds when they are blooming. I also have sage blooming in my yard. I have just started four hanging baskets: two seeded with impatiens, which grow well in shaded areas under our trees, and two with California poppies. The poppies seem the right size for baskets and are said to withstand drought well. Within my garden beds I plan to plant dill, sunflowers, marigolds, and nasturtiums. I have some other seeds I bought on impulse because they were 25 cents each at the dollar store, and I will be adding those to my vegetable-garden plan as I have time.
 |
| California poppies |
The soil in my baskets is an experiment this year. I have read that widespread use of peat moss is not environmentally sustainable, so I am trying to find alternatives for turning organic garden soil into potting soil. This year I have tried mixing leaf mold, organic garden soil, and worm castings together in unscientific "but it looks right to me" proportions. I would guess the mix is about 1/3 leaf mold, 1/2 garden soil, and the remainder is vermicompost. I hope this mixture will give my plants what they need, especially in the way of water retention. Summers here get HOT!
Did I mention I sometimes forget to water my hanging baskets? I find drought-tolerant plants do better hanging in the North Carolina sun, since some of my baskets seem to need watering nearly every day. Hence my interest in the poppies.
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