Gardening and Sustainability

The paradigm shift that’s happening right now in our country has been pretty exciting for us. Suddenly, gardening is popular, “sustainability” is the trendy new philosophy, and people are learning how to be more frugal and creative with their money. The catalyst, unfortunately, is a bum economy, which is causing a difficult time for many people right now. We have a sense of it with Nate’s business, which has been without work since the fall (although we’ve been putting all our emphasis on completing a product and selling it). But if the silver lining of the recession is a healthier, less consumeristic culture, then maybe it’s not such a bad thing?

Nate and I have seen how rewarding a home garden can be, providing fresh, organic produce throughout the spring, summer and fall. Is it actually a savings? I’m not sure; we’ve never done the calculations. But it feels like we’re doing the right thing…growing our own food means that we know where our food comes from, what’s on it and in it, and when we can expect it to be ready for our plates. It just seems like one of those basic, life-sustaining skills that every person should have. What if something happened and we were no longer able to get grapes from Chili and oranges from Florida and asparagus from California? Or if our supermarkets closed down? Yeah, these things probably wouldn’t happen unless a major catastrophy took place, but shouldn’t we be prepared nonetheless?

I want to take my gardening skills a step further and learn how to save seeds this year. I tried it last year with broccoli and cantaloupe. When I planted the seeds this year, the broccoli didn’t germinate, but the cantaloupe did! I’m hoping to broadly expand to other plants this year. The benefit of saving seeds is that year after the year the plants adapt to your climate, soil, local pests, and even water availability. In time the plants become totally adapted to your area, and are better able to withstand things like pest attacks, plus you can grow food into infinity without ever having to purchase a seed. You need to start from high-quality seeds and plants, of course. I use heirloom seeds and then select the best plants of the season to use for saving seeds. It doesn’t work with hybrids, which can never be grown from seed and therefore aren’t very sustainable.

Lately we’ve been discussing the idea of getting some goats for milking. It sounds like a radical thing to do for a girl who grew up in the suburbs, although Nate will probably be the one to do the milking. But it’s just one more step towards better health and sustainability. At this point, we need to learn more about goats and how much work and expense they require. But maybe later this summer we’ll have a new addition to our miniature farm!

It’s been a long time since I posted here, or put up new pictures on the site. Life has seemed very busy these last few months. But I have a lot to share about this topic and others, and it’s a good outlet for me. So I hope to continue to write more about this soon.

~Jen

Eight is Great! The Birds and the Bees