Food glorious food.
I first wrote this several months ago as an inivitation to meetings at the infoshop. Today I use it to herald in the new year after being at several inspirational retreats and planning sessions for gardens around the city. Drop us a line and we’ll connect you up. Create your own project and you can post it here. sincerely kareng

I seem to indulge in eating as a hobby every day. But it’s much more then that. Where would we be without food. That’s a major issue facing people every day now. Seems we can’t live without it. Then there are the quality issues and the availability issues. It’s got a lot of people worried. Here’s what I think about it. We need it. It should be good for us. And we should enjoy having it.
Unfortunately this is not the case unless you believe all the advertising on TV and think the vast amounts of processed prepackaged stuff at the store is good for you. I don’t. I’ve had colon cancer. I’m overweight and my parents and many of my not so much older relatives died because of food related diseases. Some changes need to be made. Here’s what I suggest.
Support local community gardens and farmers. I know for a fact after much research that this is the way to go. You need exercise. Then go double dig and weed a garden for yourself and a friend. You don’t want heart and stomach problems. Eat more whole grains, fruit and vegetables. That’s basically it. Doing these things will lower your health care costs, food budgets and reconnect you to your community. Why don’t we have local food anymore. Because like sheep we let corporations and high paid business men steal our wealth. We allowed corporate grocery chains and farms out west and down south put the family owned grocery store out of business. Do these big businesses really provide jobs with benefits. Do you know any of your neighbors when you go shopping. Does self service mean you get the highest quality possible at the lowest price. Can you tell the difference between a strawberry picked yesterday down the street from what’s coming from Florida or Mexico. I sure can. I remember picking fresh and eating super sweet berries. Not like the bitter ones from the store today. And just how much pesticide is on this stuff from other countries. Do you know? I dread to think.
So the next step is to learn how to localize food and finding space to do it. I have many ideas on this subject. There have been many different ways used to accomplish this for many cultures and groups of people who are into good health and good community. In Europe the Allotment gardens have been an integral part of community. A large percent (in comparison to the USA) of food is home grown in the permanent garden. They include shed’s, water, fire pits, shared expenses and even inheritance rights for being passed on within the family or sold as shares to new “owners”. France, Italy and most other countries still support a large market garden business community for profit on small plots that range from one to 5 acres. America created Victory Gardens during W W II. Some of which still exist. During the depression the government stepped in with many WPA farms to shore up local communities. Even theater companies owe their success to requiring actors to work a garden. The Black Panthers were and are food coops despite their reputation as “terrorists” With the way things are. We may need to return to this. It’s living and eating in community that has been forgotten by most Americans. One can even join the growing number of Guerrilla Gardeners. A time honored profession since the 60’s.
Now’s the time to sign up for a vacant city lot, plan your garden and order some seeds. The Growing to Green Program is gearing up at Franklin Park. 4 Seasons City Farm is making plots available as well as many other newly formed and forming garden groups coming to a neighborhood near you. For more specific info drop us a line.