Poison Free Gardening

My Garden Philosophy

I seem to have a different outlook on gardening and farming than most of the people I know.

Even those closest to me sometimes seem puzzled and surprised at some of the things I believe are important, like poison free gardening.

For instance, my husband made a comment recently that I seem to spend an inordinate amount of time and effort on growing vegetables organically that I could quite easily buy from someone in town.

Hmm.

I could BUY vegetables that are grown organically, on soil that’s virgin, never seen a chemical, let alone had some dumped on it?

I could buy fresh, unsullied produce, that someone else gets the satisfaction and enjoyment of producing?

I could buy food for myself and my family that would be as good tasting, fresh and delicious as what I can produce, with all my effort?

What am I waiting for?

All I need to do is find a really good-paying job, that I can slave away at, and be away from my beloved garden all day long, and only see it by flashlight?

I don’t think so! There seems to be a distinct lack of understanding of the whole holistic approach to food production.

I feel that it’s important, not only for my own health, but for the health of the planet, along with all the insects, birds, small creatures and all.

I do spend a lot of time and effort hauling leaves, horse manure, grass clippings and whatever other free stuff people want to get rid of – I have no idea why they want to ‘get rid’ of it, but I’ll take it.

I spend a lot of time thinking of ways to streamline my processes – such as raising some chicks in an incubator (what an asinine waste of energy; what’s wrong with a hen?

Next year I'll raise some chicks so I can just dump the makings of compost into their pen and let them do the mixing using the deep litter system.

I think of no-till or low-till methods, mulching, cover cropping, stacking and other not-so-unusual methods of fully utilizing the tiny bit of land I have available.

So many people don't appreciate the vegetables that hit the table, still screaming from being wrenched out of perfectly prepared soil, only a few feet away.

I feel sorry for them, that they doesn’t appreciate the effort that goes into it. There seems to be the outlook that we should all just let someone else grow our food, taking no responsibility for feeding ourselves, no satisfaction in providing nutritious vegetables, and no glee in the fact that we’re not only not wrecking the planet to do it, we’re actually improving it.

Carbon locked up in an organic garden is carbon not floating around in the atmosphere. Make your own terra preta or biochar .

Locked in the soil, it can do some good, such as feeding plants.

Even if I never took a bite of any vegetable I grow, at least its providing oxygen to the air, and taking nitrogen out of it.

I get so much enjoyment out of seeing what I’ve accomplished, all the gardens I’ve put in place, all the innovative techniques and engineering I’ve used to do it, and the improvement in the soil in all the areas I’ve been in.

I think I’m doing a good job with my poison free gardening, and an important one.

If one person in each household could put in the same kind of effort, in no time at all our planet would be green once again.

About Jacki