Wouldn't it be nice if everyone was able to grow their own vegetables. It would reduce our carbon foot print, provide nutritious vegetables to our families and save us money in the long run.
When I speak of gardening to my grandmother, who is 93, she remembers the Victory Gardens of WWI and WWII. At that time, the government asked all Americans to help the War effort; the Victory Garden was one of those contributions. After WWII, we were in the midst of prosperity. Our society became one of convenience and disposability. Most back yard gardens consisted rose bushes, shrubs and a beautiful manicured lawn.
Through the 1960's and up to 1981, we would rather go to the store and purchase our veggies from a shelf, rather than grow them ourselves. Our children did not even know where the vegetables came from let alone what type they were. During the 50's 60's and 70's it was rare that the vegetable garden became part of the family life, unless you were a hippie living on a commune. However, many Italian families (mine being one of them), still continued to provide the vegetables to their families from their garden for economic reasons.
As our society went through various economic upswings and decline, so did the family garden. Up until recently, fresh vegetables were left up to the large corporation farms. Slowly pushing out the small family farms who sold their land to real estate developers. Local farming began going the way of the wind.
According to "Sparkpeople - A Brief History of Vegetable Gardening", "White House gardens have always been a point of controversy. From the Roosevelt's, to the Clinton's and up to our current President Obama." In fear, that promoting home gardening would "hurt the American food industry". However, in 2009 the White House transformed part of the South Lawn to the current "White House Garden".
There became an up swing in the importance of local gardening and the procurement of local produce. Our society has become more aware of the tragic end to the local farmer and their wonderful produce that come in the summer heat. Not only have we now started growing our own produce in our back yards, we want to support the small local farms at local farmers markets, we have gotten involved in community farming in urban neighborhoods. Apartment dwellers are utilizing the rooftops of buildings to grow produce. Some communities have assisted in putting in vegetable gardens in local schools to educate children the importance of where their food comes from and the nutritional value of their diets. There are local CSA's (Community Supported Agriculture) for those who want to be involved by purchasing shares and/or volunteer their time on a farm, in return receive a weekly abundance of produce that has been harvested.
There became an up swing in the importance of local gardening and the procurement of local produce. Our society has become more aware of the tragic end to the local farmer and their wonderful produce that come in the summer heat. Not only have we now started growing our own produce in our back yards, we want to support the small local farms at local farmers markets, we have gotten involved in community farming in urban neighborhoods. Apartment dwellers are utilizing the rooftops of buildings to grow produce. Some communities have assisted in putting in vegetable gardens in local schools to educate children the importance of where their food comes from and the nutritional value of their diets. There are local CSA's (Community Supported Agriculture) for those who want to be involved by purchasing shares and/or volunteer their time on a farm, in return receive a weekly abundance of produce that has been harvested.
We need to teach our children that food just does not appear on the
shelves or freezers of our local supermarket. They need to see the care that
it takes to provide food to our communities and the importance of
supporting local family farms.
I am far from a Master Gardener. I am only a beginner or novice gardener, but, I do enjoy picking a vine ripe tomato right from the plant during the heat of the summer. There is nothing like the satisfaction of putting something in the ground that is as small as the head of a pin just to watch it grow and mature into a plant the produces something so luscious.
You know it's summer when you see the vegetable/fruit stands on the side of the road selling their freshly grown produce. I am doing my part, I have planted some seeds and they have started to grow and mature. Follow my gardening page to see how things are going. I'm hoping for an abundance of a harvest. We will just have to wait and see. I'm going to try to keep a gardening diary of my successes and failures. Hopefully there will be more successes. Click on Gardening to follow along
