Dear Kitchen Gardener,

Downtown and small town.  Urban and rural.  Dense and sparse.  Balconies and farms.  Kitchen gardeners can be found living and growing food in every place imaginable, as well a few unimaginable ones.  Usually, this newsletter (and KGI in general) is all about celebrating what we have in common, those things that cut across country and cultural divides, namely a love of freshly-harvested, hand-made foods. 

In this issue, however, we recognize that our strength is also found in our diversity.  We all lead different lives and accord a different amount of space and time for kitchen gardening. 

I would like to introduce you to two experienced kitchen gardeners who are in very different places both geographically and in terms of their plans for the future.  In her essay, Aditi Gowri of Ottawa, Canada (pictured above in her urban plot) tells us that she wants to scale down her gardening activity and spend more time connecting with people.  On the other side of the spectrum, there is Kentucky homesteader Jennifer Love who already has 4500 square feet under cultivation and wants more (some of you will remember Jennifer as our sign contest winner). 

So who is right?  Both of course.  Kitchen gardening is a lifestyle, not a dogma.  It is up to each us to decide what place we give it in our lives and how we fit in it among other interests and priorities. 

I am giving more talks these days to food and garden groups and doing an occasional radio interview.  One question that often comes up is: "In an age when many people don't even find the time to cook ingredients that someone else produced, how can you expect people to grow some of their own?".  I usually answer that I don't expect people to do anything, but, for people who love yummy fresh food, value their health and that of their family, and who care about the planet, the decision to become an active participant in the food system is a natural one.  Once that decision is made, it becomes a priority around which other things can be worked and arranged. 

Depending on my mood and the crowd, I have a second answer I give which either wins me some points with my audience or confirms to them that I am a complete nutter, as the English say.  I suggest that people go on a "TV-free diet" for a few weeks to see what time that frees up in their day and what activities it allows them to do which they couldn't before. 

15 months ago, that TV-free diet was imposed on my family when we moved houses and, after a couple of months of doing without, my wife and I realized that it was entirely possible to survive without "Survivor" and that life is the best reality show there is because we get to influence the outcome. 

As you might imagine, our TV-free diet has been less palatable to our 14 year old.  At that age, the last thing you want to be is different from your TV watching peers.  I can try my "celebrating our diversity" message out on him too, but suspect it's probably not his idea of a party!

So, I'll close by wishing a happy garlic planting season to my fellow northerners.  I hope to get some "Russian Red" and "German Extra-Hardy" cloves in the ground this weekend...if I can find the time.

Roger