Gardening

Something We Can All Do

Do you find yourself looking at the world and feeling overwhelmed with it all? There are simply too many issues to list and still have time to post a modest blog entry.

Anyone with half an eye on current events will notice that we are constantly exposed to the message that the ship is sinking and we are headed down as a civilization. If you have had your eyes and ears closed to our very real dark and dangerous situation, step back and take a series of 5 deep breaths and be sure to exhale twice the time that it took you to inhale. Then open your eyes to the very real issues that we must face with sobriety and resolve. (Yes, I do have a flare for the dramatic).

After those breaths you may still have that sinking feeling in your stomach, but this is a good thing. It means that you are beginning to accept that the world is changing and that the end of it all has been with us since civilization began.

What to do about it? What can one family or individual do in the face of insurmountable challenges and global systemic breakdown? The answer is to do what our ancestors figured out: pick up the watering can, grab some seeds and start planting your first little piece of the solution to all the world's problems: gardening.

Urban Homesteading vs Gardening

What I find striking is that we have lost so much of our "traditional" skills, like gardening, that many folks think that gardening is a elite sport that only the few can play. In reality, small scale farming and gardening has helped win wars (Victory Gardens during WWII) and helped folks find zen in the hectic modern life. The reality is that gardening is one thing that almost anyone can do. One of my permaculture mentors is confined to a wheel chair and has done more than most of the people I know!

I think back to the time of the pioneers that occupied the wilds of North America and I think of the quiet of the pastoral life-style, the smell of a warm summer day, and the warmth of a comforting wood stove. Then my mind begins to wander and I think of the competition between tribes for prime food growing areas and the fighting that happened over land, water, and other gifted natural resources.

Of course, back then North America was already colonized by the First Nations and it was only from the First Nations' knowledge of how to survive long winters and other challenges that the European homesteaders and colonists were able to make a living from the land.

More often than not, my ancestors’ attempts at feeding themselves would have ended in disaster and hunger. Think Irish potato famine and homesteading in the Canadian northern prairies of the 1800’s.

My romantic delusions started to wear down after my first gardening attempts ended in failure, and in another time my family would have starved because of an unexpected frost, aphids, cabbage maggots, too much nitrogen in the soil burning my precious plant roots, wire worms and slugs feasting on my radishes, potatoes and salad greens.

I have also experienced illness and have been kept out of the garden while I lay in bed with a gripping fever. Imagine trying to keep the hut warm in the early fall with unseasoned firewood, while trying to harvest the bounty of summer when you cannot even stand! Good luck without the help of your neighbours and family you would be joining your ancestors in the grave.

Little Steps

Most folks think that gardening has to be some sort of skill that only can only be done by the highly skilled and well versed monks of the carrot patch.

I am here to say that my experience with growing my own food has been an eye-opening experience because of one lesson: Gardening is a life-long reskilling process, which will comprise of many failures and disappointments.

Close the Waste Cycle

Compost is another key solution to a global issue of top soil loss and erosion. This is another discussion entirely, but we all need to do more to process and use our local resources in a more intelligent and respectful manner.

Use All Your Resources

Use the knowledge of other gardeners to help get you on the right path. Many communities have gardening clubs that can be a great resource to start you on your way to a successful gardening experience. I am lucky to have a professional gardener as a neighbour who also is willing to share his truck with me.

Of course, I am trying to use organic methods of growing and my neighbour uses more industrial solutions. I try not to criticize too much with respect to that and I have found that taking the friendly approach pays off in the end better than getting righteous and trying to force my beliefs on others.

Being humble pays off, and so does listening!

Start Doing

The most important thing that you can do is to start doing. Drop the fear of failing and just try planting some peas or carrots or whatever you think you would like to eat.

I have a friend and permaculture mentor whose one saying is fail early, fail often. We learn by failing and trying again. The more I learn about the history of agriculture and civilization the more I realize that much of what we have today was learned via trial and error, and the mistakes of the past keep getting repeated.

I started with salad greens and radishes. They are quick growing and by starting them in the early spring, you will help feed some of that spring fever that hits most gardeners.

Fair Share

Gardening is a slow solution to our food security issues that we face. My thought is if everyone grew at least a couple of different vegetables entire neighbourhoods would be able to share and trade what they have grown, which would be helping to increase your local food security.

Get Help

Until this year, I have always taken on too much in the spring and I have regretted the work required to get a decent harvest. This year was different because my wife did all the planning for the garden and I provided some labour building garden boxes and gathering materials. We also received help from WOOFers for planting, building new beds and maintaining what we already had.

In the city, the community garden may be a place where you will be able to help others and have them help you as you collectively work together to solve larger problems.

Conclusion

The key to gardening is little steps. Start by collecting your food scraps and composting them in your yard. Then plant a raised bed or some herbs in containers on your deck. One day it will hit you that you are planning your gardens, saving your seeds and eating greens in the middle of winter. I have had the taste of intermittent success and after 4 years of gardening, patterns are beginning to emerge and I feel I have an idea of what to expect. Happy plantings!