This summer we have had many conversations about the benefits of access to fresh and locally produced food- benefits to community health, social relations, economic development and many more. However, when talking about the benefits of fresh and local food access, it is important to make the distinction between locally produced items and self produced items. While these two categories overlap in many aspects, I truly believe there is an added benefit to self production, no matter how small the production.
I don’t have a garden of my own, but this thought came to me when visiting the home of my boss at the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, Ferd. Before we ate, Ferd and his wife showed me around their rather extensive backyard garden and new chicken coop. The garden included pretty much any summer vegetable you could imagine from squash to a variety of berries and fruit. The couple had begun the garden upon moving into the home 31 years prior. The garden provides the couple with an excess of produce year-round. Although they complained about the many Saturdays spent pruning and weeding, there seemed to be an inseparable connection between the gardeners and their garden.
I connected this experience to the story of Robin Forshee featured on the Why Hunger website. Robin was a recipient of an earth box (essentially window garden) courtesy of the Appalachian Sustainable Development program. As a low income, disabled and elderly woman, she uses this box to grow various herbs and small plants that she uses for making salsas and for cooking. She uses the herbs in ways that her grandparents and family have for generations and she even makes enough herbs to occasionally share with neighbors. Although the plants Robin grows do not provide much in terms of nutrients, she still visits the plants multiple times a day and describes her relationship with the plants as providing her life with joy.
Although these two stories may seem very dissimilar, at the root they portray the same truth about a personal relationship with crop production. The act of personal crop production, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant, provides the individual with a vital personal relationship with nature.
I enjoyed both your post, Erin, and Karen’s response to it. One striking aspect of it was the connection you drew between your supervisor’s home garden and the “window garden” of Robin Forshee. These were quite different in obvious ways but both expressed a widespread human impulse to grow food. This impulse, Karen says about her mother’s potted plants in their Hong Kong apartment, are reminders that food includes both what we eat and how we feel about our lives; gardens help us remember that our own roots, too, are in the earth.
I really agree that personal crop production, no matter big or small, helps build our personal relationship with nature. My mother loves growing plants and would love to have a garden of her own. Although it is impossible as we live in an apartment in Hong Kong, she has found a way to continue. We probably have 20 different potted plants in our home, mostly evergreens, herbs and chili that we often use in cooking. During the weekends when there was more time, she would tend to the plants, change pots, soil and give nutrients to them. It was as if she was tending a baby.
From this, I see the power of crop production. it is more than a link to nature, it is a type of therapy. Living in a bustling city, nothing ever stops. We are constantly meeting new people, dealing with emergencies; everything is very fast-paced. Some people relieve this pressure by running, because your mind is forced to be blank. Similarly, farming or gardening gives us city-dwellers a chance to wind-down and only concentrate on the green and minimize other distractions. Gardening should also be promoted as a stress-relieve therapy for busy city -dwellers to try.