Community Gardens and Farmers Markets to the Rescue!
Industrialized agriculture comes at great ecological cost. We will foster more resilient communities if we grow as much of our own local food as possible. Let’s enjoy this desperately-needed, multi-day April rain and snow storm. Then, let’s tend our plants and vines.
Happy Spring, readers!
And Hallelujah for this multi-day rain and snow storm! It won’t be enough to refill the lakes, but it certainly brings sweet relief from the dry dustiness that crept into February and March. I’m hopeful it will delay wildfire season to mid-summer. At the very least, we have beautiful snowy peaks to admire once again.
I’ve been thinking about food security quite a bit lately. The largescale agricultural system in this country is intensive and productive, but at great ecological cost. Whether through soil erosion and nutrient depletion from over-tilling, lack of crop rotation, altered hydrological cycles and deepening droughts, or plummeting pollinator populations from pesticide use, we are dancing precipitously close to a cliff edge.
We know that planting cover crops, reducing tillage, and utilizing contour cultivation can conserve our soils and prevent them from washing away into watercourses. We also know that glyphosate (an herbicide/pesticide that has been in use in the U.S. since 1974) can be detrimental to human health just as it is damaging to pollinating insects, meaning that we can prevent chemical pollution by moving toward organic farming practices, even if it means a reduced harvest. Lower yields can be offset by eliminating food waste, which is an ongoing effort across cities, counties, and states. Maybe someday we will compost all of our food scraps and utilize the methane generated as yet another energy source.
Many grim forecasts have been made about our food production: 100 harvests left, 60, 30. But I take solace in the fact that these numbers are exaggerated and these outcomes may not come to pass, particularly if we get intervene right here, right now (https://ourworldindata.org/soil-lifespans). We don’t have enough hard, scientific data to determine exactly how long this agricultural house of cards will stay standing, but it’s safe to say that we cannot keep going about business as usual. Not about our carbon emissions, and most certainly not about our food production.
We can worry (I, personally, am extraordinarily good at worrying) or we can act. There is such a great need for all of us to learn how to grow our own food, or how to get better at it. Many people in Trinity have their own personal gardens, and from the few I’ve visited, they are quite literally fruitful.
It’s an encouraging sight, witnessing food grow from the ground. The community garden movement has taken root in Trinity County, with a longstanding garden in Weaverville and a newly established garden in Hayfork: the Riverview Community Gardens and Orchards near Riverview Road. Yes, Hayfork, the garden that used to grow so much food it exported it to other communities, is back up and growing! Many citizens came out to clear the land of junk, plant trees, construct garden space, and organize folks to maintain it. The Trinity Journal published a picture of the activities just a few weeks ago.
This community garden thing is growing, and I encourage everyone with even an inkling interest in gardening to get involved! We could hold regular gardening lessons and strive to organize a harvest dinner (or several harvest dinners) in autumn. Homegrown produce served up by the many hands needed to tend to our vines and plants. Could anything be tastier or more delicious?
The farmers’ markets are also such gems in this community, and I think we could expand upon the magic of growing our own sustenance and sharing it with each other. Both Hayfork and Weaverville have markets, which can and do feature locally grown produce every week. We have many organizational tools available to us to benefit from local and regional food production, and this gives me tremendous hope.
We have hard times ahead of us, but we will weather the storm better if we weather it together. The planet is a miraculous gift and good blooms in the hearts of all humans, who—like sturdy, healthy roots, shoots, and stalks—thrive when they are well-tended.
Special thanks to Colleen O’Sullivan, editor of the S.A.F.E. newsletter for her extremely helpful contributions on this article.
Be safe and well, dear readers. Until next time.