The popularity of private and community vegetable gardens is surging here in the US, as many people are now discovering that growing their own food is a wonderful way to beat the high cost of groceries and to ensure the quality of the produce they and their families consume. There is no better way to have a steady supply of fresh organic fruits and vegetables that are harvested at the peak of nutritional value than to grow your own.
Besides the obvious health advantages, home and community gardening can also provide other benefits. Strictly from a financial viewpoint, it has been estimated that at today's grocery prices, a 20 by 20 foot plot can yield up to $500 dollars worth of produce during the growing season. Savings can be even greater if the gardening is done indoors and year round. Sharing the experience with others is a great way to socialize, and for you beginners out there it is also a fabulous resource for learning about the craft. Having a home or group garden is also an excellent way to introduce the next generation to the joys of gardening. Perhaps there is a silver lining in the current cloud of tough economic times and poor access to quality, affordable food. If Americans are motivated to get back to the basics of home-grown foods, both our bodies and our pocketbooks will benefit.
In addition, how exciting it would be for natural medicine healthcare professionals, chiropractors, etc. that have access to land or garden area to actually grow vegetables and then send each client home with several home-grown vegetables. A very inspiring idea, indeed!
Victory Gardens for 21st century: Interest in home produce grows
Interest grows in both home and community produce plots
By Rachel Forrest
news@seacoastonline.com
May 25, 2008 6:00 AM
Those who lived it still talk about the Victory Garden they had in the back yard. If it wasn't their own, it was mom and dad's or the neighbor who raised fruits and vegetables in whatever free space of land they could find to help out during World War I and especially World War II.
Home gardeners could contribute to the war effort with their home gardens. Indeed, nearly 20 million Americans had Victory Gardens, producing up to 40 percent of the produce consumed in the country.
Now, there's a new type of Victory Garden -- home and community gardens growing produce.
FoodShed Planet, with its drive to draw 2 million new organic gardens in 2008, says the goal is "(to) declare victory against lack of control over the quality of your food."
And with efforts to eat local and reduce the carbon footprint by avoiding foods brought from thousands of miles away, what could be better, and less costly, than picking your own tomatoes by walking just a few feet from your kitchen?
All over the Seacoast, home and community produce gardens are cropping up.
In her spare time, Alison Magill is a co-founder of the Slow Food Seacoast convivium, a group dedicated to fostering an appreciation of "good, clean and fair" food. She also has her own home vegetable garden in Barrington.
"I try to do my part. I've been talking to Wendy Berry at Lasting Legacy Farm (in Barrington). She said, 'I think everyone is going to have to grow their own food, to help out in the food system,' so that helped me to get my own garden going."
Magill has a 20- by 40-foot plot.
"I'm growing garlic, tomatoes. I used to grow a lot of stuff -- onions, peas. I also have a lot of perennial stuff, medicinal herbs, and I'm also taking over a chiropractor's office garden."
Magill is working with the Piscataqua Garden Club to hold a home vegetable garden tour sometime in August.
"It's similar to the successful model of the Pocket Garden Tour in Portsmouth. ... At each garden, we'll have a demo or take-away, some sort of educational piece --how to build a cucumber trellis -- something like that. And, of course, people will have something to eat out of the garden.
Beth Hume is the Conservation Committee chairwoman of the Piscataqua Garden Club. Her garden is in New Castle.
"Most of us in the group are middle-aged and we've been eating the same way all our lives. From everything I read -- the recession, food prices -- it's impacting everybody. Plus, there's the pleasure we all get from eating like this. I'm certainly a foodie, and there's nothing like the pleasure of eating food you grow."
Hume says there are several people in New Castle who have little vegetable gardens.
"I like mixing the vegetables with the flowers. My zucchini comes up with my lilies. Here at the Wentworth, we have tri-color sage, beets or kale for color. I have two raised beds, one 4-by-5 and one 6-by-3 tucked where I can find sun. I enjoy it, especially the tomatoes."
Young families certainly benefit from home gardens, which not only supplement the food on the table, but teach children about how to eat right.
Audrey Gerkin has a home garden in Brentwood, where the family grows vegetables for their children ages 6, 4 and 1.
"I've been gardening for many years. My dad used to have a garden, and even in college if we had grass, I'd put a garden in. Right now, we have less than four acres. We put fruit trees out back and our vegetable garden is 60-by-25."
Gerkin says there's a great deal of satisfaction in growing her own food. "I love to cook and I love to pick the food I'm going to make for that night. This is the first year we're going to preserve some. We're going to try canning and freeze a lot more. And we're going to try to build a root cellar."
Gerkin's children help in the garden and get the experience of learning where their food comes from. She says the asparagus is coming up now.
"We're also growing potatoes for the first time. We planted enough for 100 pounds, but we're splitting it with my friend who also has a garden. We're helping each other and sharing the vegetables. My friend has a totally different eco-system. Ours is an open field with a lot of sun, and hers is at the bottom of a hill with lots of water but not a lot of sun. Her tomatoes are gorgeous. When you garden with a friend, you weed a little more."
That community garden experience is something Jenny Isler knows much about; she's the coordinator for the community garden at Strawbery Banke.
"As far as the 'community garden efforts in the area,' the most striking thing I have noticed since I started the community garden at Strawbery Banke five years ago is we were the only one around then --now there are at least five well-organized ones just in the Seacoast area that I know of, and probably many more that are 'unofficial' -- groups of neighbors or friends growing together, that I am unaware of. Seems like everyone is talking about it.
"But there isn't an overriding authority or organization that connects community gardens. It's pretty much independent initiatives. Peter Britz at Town Hall showed me a map once of all the available land owned by the city that could potentially be community garden space, and I don't think anyone has done anything there."
Isler says it's simple to start a community garden, but offers some tips for starting one in your own community:
1. Have a mission. Appoint a leader or leaders, and convene a planning group (who may or may not all be prospective gardeners).
2. Find usable space. It should include a water source, and ideally be fenced or enclosed. Test the soil for contaminants. If it is public space, get all the relevant authorities' written support for the garden, including any resolutions or required paperwork to be filed by the community garden. If it is private space, ensure that the property owner is protected. Ensure that the space is dedicated to gardening purposes for a set period.
3. Enlist the support and buy-in of all adjacent property owners, businesses and residential neighbors. Get their buy-in for the garden, if not their direct participation in the garden. Neighbors can act as a protective force once enlisted, and the garden can be a source of neighborhood pride.
4. Write bylaws, including liability disclaimer, and get all prospective gardeners to understand and support the bylaws and mission. Encourage the development of community through the bylaws, discouraging "casual" gardeners. Schedule regular meetings or information exchanges in the bylaws or create a schedule.
5. Seek funding sources if needed. There are lots of small grant opportunities (some require an established organizational structure). Community members should be encouraged to contribute time, materials or funding; often, this is all that is needed. Seek informational and support sources, like garden clubs, farmers, cooperative extension. Nice to have someone to call for help and advice.
And lastly, dig in!
To learn more, visit: http://www.victorygardendrive.blogspot.com/
http://slowfoodseacoast.blogspot.com/2008/02/victory-garden-revival.html
www.communitygarden.org.
URL: http://www.seacoastonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080525/NEWS/805250326/-1/PUBLICRECORDS05
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
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