Plant something...Anything
In light of recent world events, as well as the continuing scarcity in our grocery stores, I felt it was important to address some of these issues. This is not a political post by any means. One thing I have felt and noticed since the beginning of Covid, has been fear and panic buying. We have begun to ask ourselves, “Will I be able to feed my family?” I'm sure a majority of us never thought we would ever in our lifetimes have to ask that question. I know that I didn’t. Yet here we are in the middle of Wars, a Pandemic, Inflation and food shortages.
In the past, our culture was to be somewhat self-sufficient with backyard garden’s, canning and preserving. Today, as new generations come into adulthood, they were raised to be dependent on the grocery store for all of their food. They were not raised to get their hands dirty, and when food shortages come up, fear occurs.
Gardens no matter how big or how small, whether it be a container garden on your back porch to a 2000 sqft garden in your back yard can help to supplement your food needs when the prices are driven up at the grocery store, or they are just unavailable to you. In fact, according to oldworldgardenfarms.com, a family of 4 can live off of 480 Sqft of planting space for one year with succession planting. That’s amazing!
There are many options to grow your food, but if you're just starting out, container gardening is a great place to start. you can grow almost anything in a container. However, with this method, your yields may not be as high due to space restrictions. My first big garden in Minot was almost entirely container gardening. I grew Tomatoes and carrots and radishes and lettuce and peppers. You get the jist. When we first moved into our house, the first thing I did was purchase a metal garden bed from Amazon. I immediately erected it and filled it with soil in preparation for putting my garlic in for the year in fall. I NEEDED to feel the soil in my hands. Did you know that gardening has a huge positive impact on your mental health? According to Forbes” gardening has a wide range of health outcomes including reductions in depression, anxiety, and body mass index, as well as increases in life satisfaction, quality of life, and sense of community.” Yet another benefit of getting your hands dirty.
Today, even though there is snow on the ground, and even though my soil is frozen in my small metal frame, I decided to attempt to plant some seeds and see what happens. We are less than 4 weeks out from our last frost and are expecting a 70-degree day this next week. I planted some cold weather crops to include, beets, kale, and radishes. I figure, if they don’t come up, that’s ok, seeds are not expensive and I will have been able to boost my mood playing in the dirt and tending to any starts.
(excuse my face. I didn't know when the timer would go off lol)
After I used a stick to dig in the frozen dirt, I dropped my seeds in, covered them with soil and then used the leaves next to the bed as mulch over the top to retain heat and moisture. I am also using the hügelkultur method in this bed by taking chunks of wood and leaves at the bottom under the soil to slowly break down over time continuously releasing nutrients to the soil. Peyton even came down to see what I was doing and offered to help. Showing your kids these methods allows for a future of knowledgeable, self sustainable generations that have been lost in electronics and the internet.
In other news, we had a whole bunch of wild turkeys in the yard this morning. I think I counted 14. So cool!
Another thing I love about living where we do is that my son can go outside and burn all the boxes from my Amazon shopping problem. He enjoys it, and it gets him out of his room and off the phone. It's the little things.
I want to leave you with this. Plant something. Anything. It can help in more ways than just your wallet. It can help you physically and mentally. It can alleviate the fear in the uncertain times we find ourselves in. When you do plant, I would love to see! Please share with me what your growing!
If you are interested in picking up the metal bed I have please see the link below.
Metal Garden Bed: https://amzn.to/3txJLOH
Forbes article: https://www.forbes.com/sites/lauratenenbaum/2020/01/29/digging-in-the-dirt-really-does-make-people-happier/?sh=b9ba31731e1c