Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["Liz" <liz@allslash.org>]

I wish I knew what would spark people's interest--a larger percentage of 
people, I mean. I read somewhere that gardening was the fastest growing 
"hobby" in the US in 2010. A hobby, of course, doesn't feed your family, but 
certainly some of those people will continue to grow at least some of their 
food.

I'm afraid I think the only thing that will make a real difference is 
skyrocketing food prices, and when that occurs, we'll probably be close to 
the end of this year's growing season again, months from when growing your 
own would help. I can't even get my own daughter interested in gardening. 
She says she has "too much to deal with right now." Translated: it's easier 
to buy plastic-wrapped dinners to put in the microwave.

Believe me, if I had any idea how to get people seriously interested in 
growing their own food, I'd be shouting it from the housetops.

Liz

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>
To: <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Saturday, December 25, 2010 10:19 AM
Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Cities of Light


> Along that same line, last nite Barb was telling me too many don't want to 
> bother with it. It does make sense that If all have food everyone is more 
> secure.  But too many people used to fast food and frozen dinners don't 
> like strange food - or the work of growing. So we concluded the most 
> successful strategy would be getting others to try growing and preparing 
> only the most familiar vegetables. And of course you can have endless 
> variety in meals from just a few basic foods prepared in different ways.
>
> But it does take time and practice to produce food, so the time to start 
> is before shortages or high prices. The time to learn how is not when 
> people are in a panic over the household budget. And of course the lead 
> time between planting and harvesting is months - months of wishing they'd 
> started sooner. So what can spark the interest for those not ready to hear 
> it?
>
> paul tradingpost@lobo.net