Hello garden gals and guys! It’s been a long time….I know. Last year my blog stopped abruptly when my garden inexplicably gave out on me despite having a soil test done and following the instructions to the letter. More about that in a minute. Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot more about what we put into our bodies. When I go to grocery stores, I look to see where my food is coming from. I often wonder how long we can sustain this industrial food system we are living in. I was so hurt when my garden died on me…again…last year. I missed my tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, and cantaloupes. But prayers are answered! I was doing some light reading in one of my garden books and happened to flip to the back and saw a picture with a wireworm in it, something like this:
I didn’t think anything of these little creatures…just threw them out of the garden to the birds. But these varmints eat at the roots of your plants and burrow through root crops. So I am hoping that I have found the culprit of my garden’s demise. I am going to grow again this year. But as I dust off my garden blog to start afresh, I am thinking differently about food thanks to this book:
Vicki Robin, the author and courageous cancer survivor, talks about her experimental 10-mile diet. Yes, she only ate foods that were within a 10-mile radius of her home, giving herself four exceptions for lemons, coffee and two other items. It made me think differently about foods. She asked a question that has been swimming in my head all night: where would we be without packagers, distributors, shippers and grocers? Think about that. We go to grocery stores and rather flippantly just expect the shelves to be magically stocked with all of our cravings. But most of these items are processed foods in boxes, cans and bags and aren’t good for us.
I gained a new appreciation for meat and seafood as I began hunting three years ago and fishing a year ago. You gain a new reverence for food when you not only grow it, but take its life with your own two hands. You carefully prepare it all the while thanking that animal (or fish) for its life.
So as I grow this year, I want to continue to be more aware of what I put into my body and the bodies of my hubby and kids. I’m going to attempt to grow enough of a variety (if my garden will cooperate) to not have to buy any produce from the store (other than lemons and limes). As for meat, my venison stash is low and my striped bass is gone, but I know of several farms within an hour’s drive that I can get my meat from. And of course, I will get my apples and pumpkins from a local farm as well.
I’ve been saying for years that I want to grow enough to can so that I can have vegetables through the winter months. This year, I plan to do just that. It would be great to go through the winter with meat and fish I hunted and caught myself, and veggies from my own garden.
I am editing my post to add some photos. Here is my hubby with a striped bass (rockfish) that he caught in the Chesapeake Bay:
This picture is not for the faint of heart. This is me skinning a deer that we hunted. It was a very humbling experience to field dress my own meat. We often become so disconnected from our meat. It doesn’t just magically appear in the meat department.
So, that’s it garden gals and guys! Now off to peruse my seed catalogs and make a list of things to grow!
