Farm Your Yard, Growing Food as Resistance

(Still trying to get John off from Substack so, with his permistion, I'm(Bob) publishing this here.)

Scanning this week's ad from our neighborhood Safeway made me realize how out of reach fresh produce is for many of us. Prices from $1 to $5 for a single organic tomato. $3.50 for a head of organic lettuce. $3 for one organic green pepper. I could go on, but you get my point. We have a wonderful Famer's Market, which we fully support, but, again, prices are out of reach for many, although they do a great job of mitigating some costs with SNAP add-on benefits.

I understand there are cheaper options to organic, but those items come with an unseen price. Factory farms, chemical fertilizers and pesticides, picked before ripeness to survive transportation, and flavor that often resembles wet paper. The corporations that control our food supply would have us believe that we are completely dependent on them to provide us with our dietary needs. They would have us believe that $5 is a fair price to pay for a tomato. Now that I have you completely depressed about this, let's consider the solution.

Grow your own food. Seriously. It is an easily learned skill that anyone can do, sun or shade, yard or balcony, in the ground or in a pot. Do you have a spot that gets 6-8 hours of sunlight per day in the summer? Great! You can grow anything! Tomatoes, peppers, every herb imaginable, and more. No sun? Great! You can grow lettuces, cabbage, carrots, potatoes, and any other root vegetable. No time? It takes minutes per plant per week to ensure healthy growth and high yields. It costs too much. My little garden cost about $15 per planter: pot, soil, and seedling. No excuses.

Finally, there are the incalculable benefits. Getting your hands dirty, watching a seedling grow a little every day until maturity, having whole hearted conversations with Nature one plant at a time, tasting the full flavor as intended, maybe for the first time.The joy found in sharing an abundant harvest with family, friends, and neighbors, in providing fresh food to those less fortunate.

This is resistance. We have the power to transform our food system a block at a time and divest at least some of the income we give to the corporate food machine. If you have questions or need encouragement to start your own garden, or, if you need help getting started, please reach out and we will be happy to assist you. Spring is here! No better time to get dirty!