Growing Food Everywhere - Generous Gardeners
Tom and Teddy prepping our garden for Spring!
Originally posted in Yellow Springs News:
If there is a place to weather well the predicted spread of COVID 19, it is certainly Yellow Springs. I am grateful to be here, and to be able to witness the coordinated planning of the Village, the Community Foundation, and the YS News, as well as the outpouring of support--both emotional and physical--for neighbors who are suffering with the sudden loss of jobs, the fear of sickness and an uncertain future, the debilitating loss of routine.
Arthur Morgan, founder of Community Solutions and much else in Yellow Springs, wrote of the Village—"No one person does much by himself in Yellow Springs, every achievement is a group achievement, in harmony with the life of the community. When people are alive, then life can be a shared adventure, and community living will thrive.”
In his many books and essays, Morgan also wrote presciently about globalization and urbanization, which he saw as endangering democracy and the foundations of rural culture. Now, nearly 80 years later, we can look back over the long arc of global financial and political history and see how many environmental and community ecosystems have been sacrificed in the pursuit of cheap goods, including food. Our current crises, not only of COVID-19 but of climate change and disrupted weather patterns, are reminding all of us of the fragility of the supply chains that feed us and support our health-care system. And when we are all out of our homes again in weeks, or months, these supply chains are not necessarily going to be recreated quickly. Likely challenges for food supply include what is predicted again to be a rainy spring in the midwest, national borders closed to agricultural workers and imported goods, and possible transportation disruptions. On the health end--beyond the strain on hospital systems--many of the pharmaceuticals that we rely on are dependent on ingredients from China and other nations impacted by the virus.
Luckily, we live in an area with abundant agricultural soils, abundant water, and many experienced farmers, gardeners, and herbalists—true community wealth! Community Solutions, along with many community partners, is working on a ‘Generous Gardeners’ program to be implemented when we are out of quarantine. The goal is to link up the community assets we have with those who want to start gardens, large or small, indoor or out. Workshops on building raised beds, hands-on education on growing medicinal herbs and food at Heartbeat Learning Gardens, Agraria, and elsewhere, and linking gardening mentors with beginning gardeners are in the works. A ‘grow a row’ program will ask existing gardeners to add to their plantings in order to provide fresh food to our food bank. Skillsharing on jam making, drying food, and canning will help gardeners preserve some of their harvests for the winter.
You can go to the YS Gardening Facebook Page to share information on what you have to offer—growing spaces, seeds, help, etc, as well as what you’d like to do. We are also developing, and will post widely, a coordinated gardening calendar of educational opportunities and planting basics. This group will be coordinating to help supply fresh food to the community (Grow a-row program, etc).
If you are interested in working on more systemic food issues, several regional groups, including Community Solutions and Tecumseh Land Trust, are hosting educational events and working eams on rebuilding our local food system.
A reminder that our wonderful local farmers will soon be selling online while the Farmer’s Market is on hold (write to yellowspringsfarmersmarket@yahoo.com to be added to their list) Supporting our local farmers and food businesses is key to our long-term food security.
For more information on growing food locally, or on how you can contribute to rebuilding our regional food system, check out the Facebook page or write to me at sjennings@communitysolution.org