Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[Liz <liz@allslash.org>]

At 12:33 PM 12/12/2007, you wrote:
> And these are the communities that are in the most need for the community
> gardens, school gardens and victory gardens.  That is the most important
> piece to the puzzle IMHO.

I think urban communities are wonderfully served by community and 
school gardens, and not just from the food. It's a way to teach kids 
where food comes from, and how to value the work that goes into producing it.

The elderly widows and widowers up in the hollers of West Virginia 
aren't going to be helped much by community gardens, unfortunately. 
They aren't able to travel to help with the gardening, if nothing 
else. Many of them are one episode of illness, or one fall, away from 
being bedridden in a run-down nursing home. There is a community 
gardening model that would help them, but I haven't seen it practiced 
anywhere. It's called "set aside a plot for Great-Aunt Mary and 
Great-Uncle Joe, work it for them, bring them down the mountain to 
see it growing, and take the harvest back to them."

Perhaps the end of cheap oil will make people realize how essential 
it is to foster the communities they have, and take the extra steps 
to protect the vulnerable members, but it didn't happen much before, 
and I think it's unlikely to happen now. Aunt Mary and Uncle Joe will 
be fending for themselves in most places. Sorry, that's bitter, I 
know. I just see so much of it.

Liz in SW VA
http://life-as-a-spectator-sport.com