| Home |
| Taking Responsibility |
| Global Warming |
| Local Food |
| Grow Your Own |
| About Start Now and Glenn & Jean |
| Contact Us |
|
Start Now Gardens on Bloomington Avenue
Gardening makes sense – Gardening makes us happy
We are even starting to see more gardens. The local food idea is taking hold around the country, around the
world for that matter. See the local food news reported here. People
Imagine vegetable gardens in every yard, and big ones in public spaces. If we have the will, there is a way.
|
|
|||||||||||||||||
| See The Victory Garden Revisited, Kitsap Sun, Aug. 17, 2006 |
There are some flower beds along the sidewalk
outside the fence, and along the front of the house. Otherwise, vegetables grow in the yard at 1134 Bloomington Avenue, and also on the roofs of the garage, the carport and the back room of
the house. Oh, and some fruit also. This is how we feed ourselves, and raise some food for others as well, but mainly, this is how
we make the point that lawns are pretty much a wasteful relic of the value system that preceded global warming. This is a time of massive readjustment in how we live our lives.
Suburbs and commuting don’t work any more. Heating and cooling costs are rising dramatically. Shipping (and packing and refrigeration and storage) takes a larger
and larger share of dollars spent on food. Many of the ramifications of climate change are negative and beyond our direct
control, but growing our own food is something we can do, and doing it reverses global warming in our space, and brings a cornucopia of benefits
at the same time.
Gardening is America’s favorite hobby.
At first our goal was to grow our own food. That was easy. Then a
neighbor who loved gardening but no longer could gave us space in her yard
for garden beds, and the neighbor on the other side who didn’t want to
have to mow the inconvenient front strip of his yard gave us more space. More beds on the roof, more beds along the alley, and soon we were
raising enough vegetables and berries to stock a table at the farmers
market. We are now the proprietors of an urban farm, set right in our busy neighborhood!
People walking along the sidewalk stop to
look. Some ask questions. Maybe they are getting the idea that they can do something similar
at their homes. When we go for walks we see lots of yard space that would work just fine for gardens.
are understanding the powerful ecological reasons to eat local food, and
realizing that besides doing good, it IS good, the very best food there is! We know now that “fresh” produce shipped from a distance isn’t fresh. We can all tell the difference.
Eating local food is important, and it’s possible.