Kitchen Gardeners International: March 2006 Newsletter
Read the full newsletter here: http://www.kitchengardeners.org/newslettermarch06.html
Dear Kitchen Gardener,
Welcome to my neighborhood and my not-so-private fantasy.
The green rectangle represents current kitchen gardens (i.e. mine), the red rectangles future ones (i.e. my neighbors'). I'm going to have to ask for your utmost discretion because my neighbors don't know yet that they will be planting these gardens.
My subversive plot to win them over is to use my subversive plot, all 1000 square feet (93 square meters) of it. Fear not: it will be a peaceful neighborhood revolution based on what I call "Sun Gold Diplomacy". My thinking is that once they get a taste of my Sun Gold cherry tomatoes on Kitchen Garden Day and see me harvesting fresh salad greens (the same ones they're paying $5-$7 a pound for at the store), they'll start looking at their yards in a new way.
I'm old enough to know that I won't win them all over, but I settle for one or two this year and a couple more next year. To the extent that you are willing to carry out similar campaigns in your neighborhoods and communities, the planet and I would greatly appreciate it (see below)
Collectively, we've got our work cut out for us. According to the latest data from the US Department of Agriculture, the level of home food production is at its lowest point in US history. As "Geography of Nowhere" author James Kunstler points out, you know it's bad when those who grow food for a living don't even grow their own food:
Having turned farming into just another industrial enterprise, Americans have lost the culture of agriculture. Where I live there are still dozens of dairy farms in operation. On hardly any of them will you find a household vegetable garden. The farmers have vinyl swimming pools in their side yards, recreational vehicles parked next to the house, motorcycles, TV satellite dishes, but no Gardens. Like the rest of us, they get their food at the supermarket. Perhaps they are ashamed to put in a garden – afraid the neighbors might take it as a sign that they are too poor to go to the supermarket. Perhaps they have lost the knowledge and skill to garden. Perhaps they are lazy. In any case, their behavior is a symptom of a degraded agriculture.
If you take into account the historically low level of home food production and historically long distance the average mouthful of food travel from field to fork in the US, I think it is accurate to say that Americans have never more more removed from the origins of their food than they are today.
Europe is better off, but has its own challenges. My 10 years of living and traveling in the EU leave me more optimistic about Europeans' ability to remain closely connected to their food. Even in Europe, though, there has been a remarkable erosion in cooking and gardening skills as more people succumb to the siren song of convenience foods.
Given all this, there's only one thing for us kitchen gardeners to do: UNITE!
If that ain't a rallying call, I don't know what is. I'm hoping that some of you will answer the call by volunteering your efforts below.
May all your "dirt-y" fantasies come true this season,
Posted by KGI on March 22, 2006 9:07 AM to Kitchen Gardeners International
----------
Kitchen Gardeners International is a 501c3 nonprofit organization that relies on the financial support of individuals to fund its educational and outreach activities. If you found this information useful, please consider becoming a KGI member. Thank you.