Summer’s here and the time is right, for enjoying your home and your garden. So, it’s also time to maybe think about changing the garden and the grass lawn you have to something more useful (not that you have get rid of all your flowers and grass, just convert some of both into a vegetable garden). Now, I can’t take credit for this idea (many have suggested it before and I think it’s great); but recently on The Surrvival Podcast, the presenter, Jack, suggested that roughly 2 million Americans (and I would suggest a corresponding number of Canadians (say 200,000)) should become farmers again and start producing food.
Do I necessarily mean that people have to become farmers; no, I don’t mean that. Though I think farmers and the raising of our food have in the past decades, have been put down as valuable and good work (compared to jobs in the IT sectors or in the ways that schools and universities have angled their educational material away from agricultural pursuits as proper “work”). Without farmers really, where would we be, cities would have a hard time existing and people therein wouldn’t be able to live as well as they do. We pay little heed to farmers and their ways of life, the importance of their work and the results of that labour; we simply go to the supermarket, pick up the groceries and think little of the process that got that food to our table. Taking aside the issue of industrial farming versus small family farms, organic farming and permaculture versus chemical fertilizers, pesticides and genetic engineering of food; farming in a noble and rewarding days work. It’s not easy and by the consumer demanding (either intentionally or by the way we’ve “voted” at the cash register) cheaper food costs, farmers have been bled dry of both the interest for many to continue farming or having new generations looking to farming as a career (the flash of modern city living has likely drawn many a farm kid away from the land and into the city).
So, should farming be subsidized in order to get more people to farm the land; no, is the simple answer. The subsidies would only go to large industrial or established farmers. So, what to do; well, we have to firstly ensure that the current farmers are paid properly for the work they do and that means we, the general consuming public, have to pay more for food. On average, in the US, less then 10% of a household’s income goes towards purchasing food (that’s in all it’s forms, fast food, groceries, pop, chips, etc.; about 5.7% on groceries at home and about 4.1% on food purchases outside the home). In Canada, I suspect the numbers aren’t that much different. Historically, people have paid more for food on average than today and I suggest that as such, treated food with greater respect and wasted less.
So, returning to the farm (whether literally or figuratively by just turning over part of your home/yard/garden) can help in many ways, from provided fresh home grown produce for you and your family, to exercise, relaxation from the days and week’s work and as a way to help cut down both on food-miles and improve your food security by growing it in your yard (or patio, balcony or planters).
The advantage of growing your own food and thereby becoming your own “farm” is that you will appreciate your food more and likely become more interested in where your other food comes from and wanting to help local farmers.
So, what can you do to learn about small scale farming for yourself, try some of the following links and see what ideas start to form regarding getting your hands dirty in your own yard:
- Mother Earth News – a great resource site
- Path to Freedom – the Dervaes family are an example of a mini-farm in the city
- Spin Farming – a style of communal land farming
- Victory Gardens – from the WWII era
- Revive the Victory Garden – an effort to revive the WWII idea
- Vegetable Gardener – a good magazine to use as a resource
- Squarefoot Gardening – for those who don’t have the space for a larger garden
- Journey to Forever – another site with square foot gardening information
Well, have fun this summer and enjoy planning for your future gardening and to mini-farming.
