Earth Week

[This next East Coast Guest Post comes from a very special friend with whom I shared the joy of a book called Animal, Vegetable, Mineral: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver. If you haven't read it and really want to get serious about growing your own food, I highly recommend this book.  And now, without further ado:]

By Tracy Bennett

Earth Week in my world can mean a few different things. My kids usually want to pick up garbage around the neighborhood or turn the lights out and “do” earth hour everyday. Unless they are feeling contrary and decide to ignore it and me all together.

As a family, we already do most of the little things that we are supposed to do to reduce our impact on our home planet. Every week is earth week around here. Changing our bad habits was pretty easy. Changing all the products we used was easy. Buying less crap was pretty easy. Changing how we thought about recreation and family time was easy.

Now, this next thing that we want to do…it might not be so easy…we want to grow some of our own food in a meaningful way.

I used to live in Vancouver and had a friend who said that the definition of an optimistic person was an “East Coast gardener.” Admittedly, our growing season is short but you can still grow enough food to make an impact at your table. My grandparents used to grow a tremendous amount of food in their family garden. I can still remember running my hands through the sacks full of dried beans and their beautiful colours.

Photo credit: woodleywonderworks from Flickr

Earth week just happens to fall on the perfect time of year to get your own little veggie garden organized. Seriously. You put in a garden. You grow some food. Your kids learn to be more connected to where their food comes from. Sure, maybe you already go to the market for local food or direct to farmers in the valley and you should. But come on, get your hands dirty and put a little effort of your own into it.

Last year, I tried growing some food and started really small. I tried to grow a few veggies and herbs and I planted some berries and a couple of fruit trees. Some things grew, some things didn’t but I learned enough to try a proper little garden this year.

So, this week I’m making raised beds, putting them in a sunny place and filling it with some good soil and compost. Planting seeds is easy. Just read the packets and plant them. Literally. You will be amazed.

If you aren’t convinced, think about something as simple as garlic. You likely buy garlic from the grocery store. It’s all shipped here from China. Garlic is a lovely little bulb that will grow in any garden as easily as a tulip. Truly. You stick them in the ground in the fall in a sunny spot and that’s it. Harvest them in July or August. Do we really need to ship garlic here from China? Herbs…just grow them and either freeze them or dry them. Last year I grew just two small pots of mint on my front steps and had amazing, free and chemical free mint tea all winter.

The simple act of getting involved in the production of your own food even in a small way, will cause a fundamental shift in how you think about and plan for the food you need to live. This week, plant something you can eat!

Tracy is living a harmonious, happy, mindful life on planet earth, raising two enlightened kids and running Firefly Digital Media company with her husband.