In The Good Old Days
In my parent’s day, they went to the greengrocers and got seasonal vegetables in brown paper bags or dug up potatoes and tomatoes from the garden.
Now, we go to mega superstores and can choose our green beans from Kenya, our kiwi fruit from New Zealand and our vacuum-packed organic goji berries from the high altitudes of the Chinese Himalayas... all shielded by layers of plastic. We have more choice than ever before in our supermarkets.
If we live in a big city, maybe we have a small organic shop nearby where we can still grab locally-grown veg or we might be lucky enough to be in an area where you get an organic veg box delivery...
But the new mantra of sustainability is “grow your own.” Try getting your hands dirty, instead of messing up the planet. Maybe your imported vegetables are racking up more of a carbon footprint than you are?
Oceanographers have suggested that 100 million tonnes of plastic are swirling in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch which hovers between Mexico and Hawaii.
This would be a great environmental outrage, but it’s difficult to see and photograph because the flecks of plastic are so small. However it’s believed that over a million seabirds die every year because of this plastic and naturally it is ingested by some of the fish that might end up on our dinner plates.
But Is Growing Your Own Really The Key To Sustainability?
Garden Organic says that the average organic gardener gets half of their annual fruit and veg from their own garden and they say that a plot as small as 4 x 4 feet could help supplement the weekly grocery shop with vegetables for the pot all year round.
You don’t need a massive patch or a greenhouse necessarily. Even if you grow a few things in a window box or planter you will be making a difference.
Garden Organic is a charity promoting growing your own within the UK. Their Director of Horticulture, Bob Sherman encourages people to check out their green fingers, “People new to food growing shouldn’t be afraid, it’s actually really straight forward, massively satisfying and, more to the point, cheap. To get started all that is needed are a few tools, new or borrowed, some good soil fed by the compost heap, some seeds and a little bit of commitment.”
And what do you get in return? As well as the feeling that you are helping to heal the planet and maybe even rosy cheeks from working outside in the sunshine, Sherman says “By growing and eating organic fruit and vegetables you’ll benefit from higher levels of vitamin C, essential minerals and cancer fighting anti-oxidants. With home grown food you can also guarantee it will be fresher and won’t contain harmful pesticides.”
Some Inspiration
Saf is an organic restaurant in the heart of London with a nod to raw food and less is more – most dishes are cooked below 48 degrees. If you venture into their courtyard garden, you can sit at their living bar. Many of the ingredients that make up their fabulous cocktails and into their cooking are grown inside the bar. The chicest greenhouse you’ve ever seen, this bar is bursting with borage and bergamot, lavender and alpine strawberries and you can be tempted by home-made horseradish infused organic vodka or organic rum with aromatic basil and lime. (
www.safrestaurant.co.uk)
Downtown Detroit was the home of big cars and Motown, but in recent years as cities and suburbs grew outwards, the inner city has slumped with many buildings, warehouses and factories boarded up and huge numbers of people unemployed as the car industry closed its doors.
In an amazing 360 degree shift in perspective and fortune, gardeners have started creating community gardens in the heart of this depressed area. Being dubbed ‘growtown’, big companies are now looking at creating urban farms within the city walls.
It was started as a way of growing food for a local soup kitchen run by Capuchin monks.
As Brother Rick Samyn says, “Earthworks Urban Farm seeks to build a just, beautiful food system through education, inspiration, and community development. As a society, we have become dangerously disconnected from the land and the sources of food that sustain life. We have detached ourselves from the real source of wealth - a respectful and reverent relationship with each other and the land. We seek to restore our connection to the environment and community. It is a working study in social justice and in knowing the origin of the food we eat.”
Earthworks Urban Farms hosts youth outreach programmes – and encourages neighbors and friends of all ages, incomes and faiths to join work in the garden. Earthworks is part of the Garden Resource Program promoting urban gardening. As part of the Garden Resource Program in Detroit, in 2009, over 263 community gardens, 55 schools and 557 families received support and has produced thousands of kilos of food for the people of the city.
And now there is an aim to create the world’s largest urban farm in Detroit to create a green and sustainable economy. The first phase proposed by Hantz farms is to utilize more than 70 acres of underutilized vacant lands and abandoned properties on Detroit’s lower east side by growing vegetables to help meet Michigan’s increasing demand for locally grown produce. “In addition to food and trees, Hantz Farms will harvest wind energy and utilize geothermal heat and biomass fuel from recycling compost.” Detroit is ready to become an innovative and inspiring city again.
In vacant lots and boarded up warehouses crime can grow, but in gardens and urban farms, communities can grow. In our own 4 x 4 gardens or windowboxes, sustainable practices can grow, and as we start to feast on our organic veg and herbs our respect for the planet and each other can start to flow.
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