Yes! I already sowed short rows of spinach and radishes (pushing the season here in Saskatchewan) and planted peas this morning. When we moved to the house we currently live in, we replaced the back lawn with pea gravel and nine raised garden beds. It is my summer sanctuary and it feeds us well.
Yes to Liberation Gardens! Your garden is beautiful. I can just feel the love and attention you bestow on it. No wonder the plants grow and grow for you! Though I do not garden, I support local farmers who grow produce, and our grass fat beef comes from a local ranch. Thank you for all you do for local food and getting it out into your community.
I like how you connect the growing of food to "resistance and resilience. Also, don't recall seeing that photo of your garden before--it's a good'n. You must have been in an elevated position when you took that pic...what were you standing on?
My husband and I moved to a small rural town three years ago. Last year, we planted our first garden. It was so rewarding. And soon we can plant again.
Thank you for commenting, Paulette. I love the anticipation of a new garden each year. To plant a seed and watch it grow is one of life's greatest wonders.
As a lifelong gardener, from native plants to vegetables and fruits, I'm totally supportive of your views in this excellent piece! Seeds and plants will go in the ground for my summer garden in late May (in Quebec) and I'll be harvesting fruits of all sorts through the summer and fall.
We don't need big gardens, though, to grow a lot, as you point out. Raised beds and containers can grow more vegetables that we sometime realize.
Gardening is grounding. Keeping out there brings such sustenance, even as I spend less time there, due to circumstance and physical limitations.
I loved volunteering in a local community garden, really a community farm; such good work and abundance to be shared.
We don't need big gardens; for years, I grew a small portion of my food. When I designed my permaculture design for my homestead, I chose not to have animals or fruit trees because many in my community have hens, and I can get eggs weekly. I live in a region filled with historic orchards, and each fall, we travel the Hood River Fruit Loop to buy apples and pears. Far more enjoyable than pruning and spraying them in late winter! Thank you for contributing here, Lisa.
We only kept chickens for a couple of years in Quebec, where we had room and a coop - much easier to buy eggs from local farmers - and less traumatic not to lose hens…
My pears and apples benefit from low-humidity summers, but still aren’t without blemishes. I won’t be spraying at all, of course, just managing what I harvest. Fortunately, our old trees aren’t TOO productive.
"Raise hens. Trade your eggs for vegetables from gardeners. (Bonus: Watching chickens is fascinating.)" If you don't already, check out civil discourse, Joyce White Vance, on substack who shares her chickens with her readers. My Gardening is rewarding even if I don't succeed in my expectations. I have enormous respect for the farmers who didn't have a grocery store to resort to if the garden failed
I love Joyce's posts but her chicken ones are my favorites! I have been growing plants for over 35 years and each year I deal with problems - just like life!
I wholeheartedly agree you - our ancestors deserve respect for their agricultural efforts. As I trudge through today's garden tasks, I am always mindful of the farm workers - most who are migrants - planting, weeding, and harvesting on our farms. Thank you Meredith for contributing to the discussion.
To that end: I'm volunteering at 3 community gardens and helped fill up the library's seed library with a pal. 2 of the 3 donate produce to small families, the food pantry, and so on. The third is a renovation of a small church garden. Benefit of a community garden if you aren't a gardener is that it's not ALL on you to make it work, you just pitch in a few hours and voila!
Alsoregarding the comment about natives plants! I signed up for local Firewise activities for my community (have some background with it and sometimes mow fuel breaks or pick up sticks or help arrange temporary grazers to remove grass fuels for elderly or disabled friends in the neighborhood.
I'm also watching all the Executive Order litigation cases to see if we can band together to help with specifics for the most injured people.
Example: I know that AARP helps folks with basic taxes, and is a NEAT model for, say, helping people without internet (yup, quite a few) do tasks that are being jerked around, whether it's helping fill out forms online or arranging rides to the nearest SSA office (75 miles away). Also thinking of hiring a local counselor to do a burnout class with the leftovers from my (rabid GOP) mom's estate, which I mostly used to keep her from getting herself killed when her dementia got her into harassing cops. (Long story.)
There are so many practical things we can do. Home grown organic peppermint tea and sketching, anyone? Otherwise, Viva l' dirt digging!
Oh, Kathy, you are a ball of energy! Yes, many benefits to a community garden especially for older people. And thank you for your service to the unseen and undervalued in small rural communities. Family estate stuff is always emotionally challenging. I don't think I have heard one person describe it as smooth sailing. Thanks for contributing here.
Yes! Quoted and restacked. And let's also remember to plant native plants as companions with our edibles, to feed the pollinators and songbirds who help maintain healthy garden ecosystems. Thank you, Sue!
Thank you, Susan. Native plants are definitely important. I just came in from transplanting some native berry-producing shrubs in a hedgerow design. In between, I am planting culinary and medicinal herbs.
Yes! I already sowed short rows of spinach and radishes (pushing the season here in Saskatchewan) and planted peas this morning. When we moved to the house we currently live in, we replaced the back lawn with pea gravel and nine raised garden beds. It is my summer sanctuary and it feeds us well.
Very empowering, Sue! 💚
Yes to Liberation Gardens! Your garden is beautiful. I can just feel the love and attention you bestow on it. No wonder the plants grow and grow for you! Though I do not garden, I support local farmers who grow produce, and our grass fat beef comes from a local ranch. Thank you for all you do for local food and getting it out into your community.
Thank you , Jenny. I do love my garden...sore back included!
I like how you connect the growing of food to "resistance and resilience. Also, don't recall seeing that photo of your garden before--it's a good'n. You must have been in an elevated position when you took that pic...what were you standing on?
I agree with all your points! But credit where credit’s due: Joni Mitchell wrote “Woodstock”, not Joan Baez.
Thank you Cynthia! A friend noticed my error and I corrected the post on Substack. I love both Joni and Joan and often mix them up.
My husband and I moved to a small rural town three years ago. Last year, we planted our first garden. It was so rewarding. And soon we can plant again.
Thank you for commenting, Paulette. I love the anticipation of a new garden each year. To plant a seed and watch it grow is one of life's greatest wonders.
As always, a good piece, Sue. Thanks so much!
As a lifelong gardener, from native plants to vegetables and fruits, I'm totally supportive of your views in this excellent piece! Seeds and plants will go in the ground for my summer garden in late May (in Quebec) and I'll be harvesting fruits of all sorts through the summer and fall.
We don't need big gardens, though, to grow a lot, as you point out. Raised beds and containers can grow more vegetables that we sometime realize.
Gardening is grounding. Keeping out there brings such sustenance, even as I spend less time there, due to circumstance and physical limitations.
I loved volunteering in a local community garden, really a community farm; such good work and abundance to be shared.
We don't need big gardens; for years, I grew a small portion of my food. When I designed my permaculture design for my homestead, I chose not to have animals or fruit trees because many in my community have hens, and I can get eggs weekly. I live in a region filled with historic orchards, and each fall, we travel the Hood River Fruit Loop to buy apples and pears. Far more enjoyable than pruning and spraying them in late winter! Thank you for contributing here, Lisa.
We only kept chickens for a couple of years in Quebec, where we had room and a coop - much easier to buy eggs from local farmers - and less traumatic not to lose hens…
My pears and apples benefit from low-humidity summers, but still aren’t without blemishes. I won’t be spraying at all, of course, just managing what I harvest. Fortunately, our old trees aren’t TOO productive.
"Raise hens. Trade your eggs for vegetables from gardeners. (Bonus: Watching chickens is fascinating.)" If you don't already, check out civil discourse, Joyce White Vance, on substack who shares her chickens with her readers. My Gardening is rewarding even if I don't succeed in my expectations. I have enormous respect for the farmers who didn't have a grocery store to resort to if the garden failed
I love Joyce's posts but her chicken ones are my favorites! I have been growing plants for over 35 years and each year I deal with problems - just like life!
I wholeheartedly agree you - our ancestors deserve respect for their agricultural efforts. As I trudge through today's garden tasks, I am always mindful of the farm workers - most who are migrants - planting, weeding, and harvesting on our farms. Thank you Meredith for contributing to the discussion.
Excellent piece.
To that end: I'm volunteering at 3 community gardens and helped fill up the library's seed library with a pal. 2 of the 3 donate produce to small families, the food pantry, and so on. The third is a renovation of a small church garden. Benefit of a community garden if you aren't a gardener is that it's not ALL on you to make it work, you just pitch in a few hours and voila!
Alsoregarding the comment about natives plants! I signed up for local Firewise activities for my community (have some background with it and sometimes mow fuel breaks or pick up sticks or help arrange temporary grazers to remove grass fuels for elderly or disabled friends in the neighborhood.
I'm also watching all the Executive Order litigation cases to see if we can band together to help with specifics for the most injured people.
Example: I know that AARP helps folks with basic taxes, and is a NEAT model for, say, helping people without internet (yup, quite a few) do tasks that are being jerked around, whether it's helping fill out forms online or arranging rides to the nearest SSA office (75 miles away). Also thinking of hiring a local counselor to do a burnout class with the leftovers from my (rabid GOP) mom's estate, which I mostly used to keep her from getting herself killed when her dementia got her into harassing cops. (Long story.)
There are so many practical things we can do. Home grown organic peppermint tea and sketching, anyone? Otherwise, Viva l' dirt digging!
Oh, Kathy, you are a ball of energy! Yes, many benefits to a community garden especially for older people. And thank you for your service to the unseen and undervalued in small rural communities. Family estate stuff is always emotionally challenging. I don't think I have heard one person describe it as smooth sailing. Thanks for contributing here.
Yes! Quoted and restacked. And let's also remember to plant native plants as companions with our edibles, to feed the pollinators and songbirds who help maintain healthy garden ecosystems. Thank you, Sue!
Thank you, Susan. Native plants are definitely important. I just came in from transplanting some native berry-producing shrubs in a hedgerow design. In between, I am planting culinary and medicinal herbs.
That's a great way to return natives to our working landscapes, Sue!