This was the second full garden year up here in the hideout in Blackpoint. The area i chose was overrun with blackberries but that corner of the property has the best soil, least rocks, most worms, etc. Fortunately i brought some seed - pole and bush beans, and peas, - with me from our little farm down near Roberts Creek. Some others like potatoes, corn and spaghetti squash i've been lucky enough to find heritage seed for at Mother Nature, a neat garden store in Powell River. They're all through their second year now, a portion of each has been dryed and stored for next year.
As it says on the bottom of every Mud Report: The single greatest service each of us can provide to our planet, our families and ourselves is to grow our own organic food from non-hybrid seeds. To save our own seed in turn, and in so doing be part of the future solution to the present day destruction being sown by GMO's, agri-business and the bio-technology giants.
Fortrunately 2, i live near and know some real neat folks who raise the minisheep who's manure goes through my compost bins and transforms into the worm casings that power my little organic veggie powerhouse and sequester huge amounts of atmospheric carbon. Little it is, less than 20ft x 20ft horizontally, but, in part by trying to of maximize the use of vertical trellises, it's very productive. The picture above from last summer shows some old 6'5" fart pointing out the 10ft. high peas. Horizontal space is expensive, go vertical.
Hard work isn't a sin, debt is, as Richard Smith says, "Freeing ourselves from the toil of producing unnecessary or harmful commodities would free us to shorten the work day, to enjoy the leisure promised but never delivered by capitalism, to redefine the meaning of the standard of living to connote a way of life that is actually richer, while consuming less, to realize our fullest human potential instead of wasting our lives in mindless drudgery and shopping. This is the emancipatory promise of ecosocialism." What better way to both enjoy the benefits and be part of this revolutionary solution to so many of our woes than to plant a backyard or balcony garden by starting heritage seed, then saving/drying/replanting them each year
