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[EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>]

As some of you know, my brother in law is a Georgian orthodox monk.  He
lives in the RoG part of the time, and in, of all places, Ava, MO part
of the time.  Right now, he is attending Holy Cross in Boston.  He's
traveled quite extensively, and I always enjoy looking at the pictures
of Georgia and other countries of the Caucasus-Black Sea region(Turkey,
Armenia, etc).  This area has been agriculturally active for thousands
of years-recall that Noah's Ark allegedly landed on nearby Mt. Ararat.
The images have an old world feel to them.  The people seem healthy and
content, but worn by a lifetime under socialist rule.  When I look at
the homes in the villages, they all have a small garden area fenced off.
 Many are only perhaps 50 square feet or so.  These areas are so small
that they could be tended with a fork.  They grow their beets and
tomatoes and staple vegetables like beans and carrots there.  It really
is amazing what can be done in such a small space.  You mention the
support of the USSR, so I will present the opposite view.   During the
reign of the Communists, many areas were all but ignored and left to
fend for themselves.  Not providing food and services was a way of
isolating and punishing an area.  Peoples who lived in such areas *had*
to be creative gardeners in order to survive.  Luckily, they saved seed
and shared seed as they had done for centuries.  It is a lesson that
American gardeners should also heed.  Whether we have a fascist Monsanto
state or a _U_topian _S_ocialist world, we should all be saving seeds
and learning which varieties do best under our local climes and
quantifiers.  How many salads *can* you grow in those truck tires or in
that old satellite dish?  How many potatoes can you grow in a drum or in
a haybale?

Bev


Clansgian AT wmconnect.com wrote:

> Take the example of Cuba.  When the Soviet Union's support went away, the 
> Cubans began gardening every square inch of urban land including flower pots and 
> the medians of roads.  The most interesting phenomenon is that much of the 
> rural agricultural land was abandoned at the same time.  When it came right down 
> to having beans in the pot at dinner time, attention and limited fertilizer 
> (compost) was deemed better spent on the vegetable plot beside the apartment 
> building and the tub on the roof rather than the sugar cane field fifty miles 
> away.  "Farms" became two or three acres near the cities.  But most food came 
> from personal allotments, gardens (Sp. 'huerto')   See for example:

--
"The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public
debt  should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered
and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed
lest Rome become bankrupt.  People must again learn to work, instead of
living on public assistance."

--Cicero, 55 BC
http://erthnsky.blogspot.com/