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zero-waste essentials :: 01 :: grow something

5/13/2019

2 Comments

 
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It's been raining for weeks, but today the sun was shining when we woke up. I couldn't help but smile. There's nothing like a garden to make us realize just how dependent on the weather we really are. Too much rain can wreak as much havoc as too little. My tiny stakes don't begin to compare to a farmer's, but they do open my eyes to the enormous effects of climate change on our food supply.
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​Growing our own food is one of the most zero-waste things we can do. From a little paper packet of seeds come whole bunches of the freshest + tastiest food. There is no packaging + no transport emissions. There wasn't even a trip to the farmers' market. Not all of us have a patch of dirt to cultivate, but we might be able to grow a pot of peppers on a balcony, basil in a windowsill or onions from the core of a used onion. 
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Eating food fresh from the garden is pretty amazing! Never are the radishes so spicy or the chives so pungent as when they've been harvested minutes before that first bite. 

Planting + watering + caring for + harvesting + tasting our own food just must be one of the best ways to share a connection with our planet...with our children. I felt it imperative to be able to let my girls pull a carrot out of the soil...pick strawberries off the vine...dig potatoes out of the ground. I'd done it as a child + there was just no way to explain the pure magic of it to them. Before having our own garden, we made sure to find pick-your-own apple orchards and strawberry + blueberry fields. We ate things straight away, and we made jam + apple sauce too. Establishing connections between the land + weather + farmers + our bodies is crucial. These connections form our thoughts + attitudes + actions...and the connection is there whether we acknowledge it or not.

Love,
​Jane
2 Comments
Dorothy McLeod
5/14/2019 11:38:52 am

I so agree with you growing is the connection to the earth. I do find however that talking about it to some of the young is an exercise in patience. Usually the eyes glaze over and the name of a big box store is uttered as the solution to vegetables and fruit. I am still trying to walk the walk as well as talk the talk...perhaps it is the examples they will remember. If it were easy more would do it right?

Reply
Jane link
5/14/2019 04:48:53 pm

It can feel deflating when we don't get to see the sparkle in a young one's eyes, but experiences often create memories + enthusiasm often makes an impression...whether we get to see the results or not. :) I know this from my own experience + from my girls. Pulling a carrot out of the dirt even once connects carrot to soil...rather than only to a plastic bag at the grocery store. Hearing exclamations over the taste of fresh tomatoes (even we don't like them ourselves) connects the idea of enhanced taste with the garden. Hopefully both enhance consideration for farmers + the planet, whether we choose to invest in a garden or not. Love + laughter + positivity are great complements. So glad you are making all the connections!

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