by Jayne King
Agriculture chair, Sierra Club
Food. Glorious food. The origin?--China, Honduras, California, grocery store, Green market. How about our back yard?
It's environmentally tragic that one of the largest crops in the U.S. is sod grass. That water guzzling, fertilizer inhaling, weekend-buster, American status symbol is hogging land that could otherwise be used for locally grown produce.
So startling that the greatest use of oil occurs during commercial food production and distribution. Between the chemicals in pesticides, fertilizers, hormones, the tractors, trucks and more mechanical equipment, refrigeration, packaging—just eating is an environmental hazard! If you think shopping at a Green market is safe, check the boxes. There are all types of corporate logos indicating their source was certainly not local.
A movement has been burgeoning across the country and finally in South Florida to take back our lawns and start planting more fruits and vegetables. The journey of 1000 miles begins with the first step. One makes a commitment to take that journey. For those who live in apartments or rules prohibiting food gardening, the journey can still be taken using containers with good drainage.
Back, knee problems can be mitigated with raised soil beds. I saw an article recently where a man in a wheelchair was gardening on waist high tables. How great it would be to get everyone on board with this movement!
Think about the greater self-sufficiency.
We start with developing the compost to produce richer planting material to mix with our Florida sand. There are various ways to develop compost. If you are unfamiliar with the process, check with the Cooperative Extension, local composting classes, urban farmers or contact me for assistance. Using worms from the bait store to break down our fruit & vegetable peelings material with layering and rotation is the preferred method. You can also supplement the soil with manure from a local animal farm. This is an alternative to buying packaged fertilizer—even if it says organic on the bag—you still have not supervised its production. Bags are not local and require fuel to produce and transport.
Start small and make it manageable—clear a 5 feet by 8 foot plot of land in your yard which gets sunlight for part of the day. Your water source can be watering cans using captured rain water. Try making or collecting some sort of barrel for the rain. Some people attach hoses to their barrels. Other people collect water from their air conditioner condensation, which is a great reuse of water. Any way you can tap into reused water—go for it! Some cities have a reused water system where pipes can be directly connected to private homes. Use any water from your well sprinklers or city pipes with caution. While vegetables require much less water than sod, they do not need to be over watered.
Get some starter plants from someone you know or use organic seeds you produce yourself. There has been much controversy over Genetically Modified Organisms(GMO's) which have been effecting seed, so it is always a good practice to know the source of your food—right from the start. Some people buy seeds over the Internet. Once again: Proceed With Caution. Check your source. I feel more comfortable when I know the origin of my seeds. Besides, Internet purchasing will require shipping and handling, which is not an environmentally friendly process. Keep it local.
Make raised rows to provide for good drainage and diversify the growing of a wide variety of plants. The selection is endless. Planting can be done in late August, early September for vegetables, even October, November, generally with a six week yield. Many tropical fruit trees bear fruit in the summer, citrus in the winter.
It would be great to swap seeds, plants and have locally grown pot luck meals, even an urban farmers booth at every Green market! Experiment and have fun!! Once you harvest your first “crops” invite me over for dinner!