"Backyard chickens, bees cutting edge of growing local food movement"

I read this article in the news this morning, and thought it was worth posting. It's about the growing interest in do-it-yourself fooding. I tried to write that it was about slow, sustainable, organic, local food, but so many buzz words in one sentence was difficult to swallow.

While keeping your own chickens is in many ways all of those things, I think the reality is that people want to do things themselves. They want to go "back to what it used to be," as the article says, which speaks first to a diy mentality, and second to all of the other positive environmental and social issues that "home fooding," as I'm now going to call it, addresses.

Keeping chickens, gardening in your yard, maintaining bee hives, are all first and foremost ways of being involved with getting food on the table. Fooding. That is the primary objective - delicious, fresh, healthy food, made by the efforts of your own two hands. The consequences of home fooding have really positive impacts on the planet and our neighborhoods and our families, which makes eating the food you help grow just that much more satisfying.

(bread made with home-ground local wheat and local honey, cheese made from local milk, and salsa made with green onions and tomatoes from the back yard - I'm not going to lie, this was an incredibly delicious and satisfying meal.)

what educators, therapists, program coordinators, parents, and sheriffs all know

At the beginning of the summer I met a sweet girl named Laura who works with adults with disabilities.

The program is called Alpine Transition and Employment Center (ATEC).

It is unique in that it is funded by the Alpine School District, but is a day program for mentally handicapped adults. It provides real-life training for adults, and Laura has implemented a gardening program.

In my observations over the last year, I've noticed that educational programs consistently use gardening in their curriculum. From public and private schools to community outreach programs, treatment centers, and homeless shelters, programs everywhere are using gardening to teach real life skills.

I think this is significant.

The local jail teaches inmates how to grow tomatoes so that they can provide for themselves after prison.

The homeless shelter encourages visitors to work in the garden, to provide both a peaceful place as well as healthy, tasty food.

Schools teach children how plants grow by building raised beds and growing vegetables that they eventually harvest and eat.

Less-abled adults are given a shovel and watering can because there's something at once therapeutic and educational about watching something grow.

This speaks volumes about the fundamental connection that we have with our food.

When people don't know how to completely take care of themselves, the first thing we do is teach them how to grow their own food.

I'll just say it again: I think this is significant.

I asked Laura to write a little bit about what she does, and she wrote:

The reason I started to garden with my guys is because we needed something different to do and I had just discovered the joy of gardening. The people I work with are pretty low functioning and may have not been able to understand or appreciate what I was about to show them but it is always worth trying! A couple days before planting we took a trip to the greenhouse to pick up starts and soil, we had found some old pots in the back and decided to use those instead of ripping up grass. I had foundation money (money I donate from my check every month) to buy supplies and help get our little garden get started. Our first year we bought tomatoes, lettuce, broccoli, and peppers. We also used the space in front of ATEC usually used for bushes and flowers to plant onions and spinach. I had a big group of individuals and each one got to plant something. At first some were a little unsure of what to do but others were completely confident and knew what to do. I assume those guys were the "green thumbs." After planting they were peaceful and throughout the growing season some would go out and pick tomatoes and come back in with their loot, some would share and some would gobble up whatever they picked before coming inside! But mostly we just enjoyed watching the plants grow. This year we did the same thing only adding a pretty flower garden in the mix! They like having responsibilities like watering and weeding, and I never have to beg to get help. Someone is always out with me. I'm interested in understanding how systems of agriculture work. I want to know where the food is grown, and who's growing it, and how it's done, but I think the larger question is WHY? On so many levels, being responsible for the food you eat is important. The fact that we teach this process to children and the disabled and the unemployed and the law-breakers and the transients of our town speaks to that overarching question, and what I'm learning is this: being connected to our food in turn connects us to ourselves and to each other. Participation in this act is important for our health and happiness. Laura, along with educators, therapists, program coordinators, parents, and sheriffs everywhere are illustrating this point every day.

So Much Writing

This blog has come to a screeching halt, and I apologize. I am not at a lack for things to write about - in fact, I have a dozen blog posts in the works. But I've been doing so much writing this week. My "thesis" is due soon, but more importantly, I've been grant writing. That's right. I'm asking people for money.

There's a program called Design Ignites Change, which uses design and art to create solutions to social problems. I just finished an application for one of their awards.

Here's a link to the blurb about the project.