Control the Change

Sofar at CtC, most of the focus has been on reducing one’s impact upon the environment by using energy more efficiently, turning off things when you don’t need them and/or evaluating if that new gadget is really something needed. Also, it’s been about looking at what we as a society are willing to accept being done in our name by government.

So, now it’s on to an area that will help anyone improve your quality of life; it’s gardening, whether in a condo, apartment or house. In my case, my wife and I have a small raised garden setup in the backyard that in late summer supplies a nice bounty of tomatoes, carrots, herbs, peas and eggplants for some fresh, home grown food in the Autumn and Winter months. It doesn’t supply as much food as I would like; but given a few years and work, I hope it have it provide about 1/3 to 1/2 of the fresh vegetables used over the year.

So, why did I want to do this; well to be fair, it was a two person process (and I’m more the manual labour than the actual gardener in the family, that honour goes to my wife, Ingrid); also, it helps us fulfil a desire of ours to rely less on imported foods and eat more locally produced items. We have a bookshelf full of gardening books that we refer to constantly to help us figure things out. But mostly it’s a case of stumble along with an idea and see how it turns out.

The websites and books we use regularly use are:

Alternative Kitchen Garden - Emma’s site and podcast are what have piqued and sustained my interest in gardening.
The 100 Mile Diet - the book is noted below; but the website is also a great resource.
GardenGirlTV - Patti’s site and video podcast are broad ranging and have provided ample information on urban gardening ideas.
William Dam Seeds - one of the best websites and suppliers of quality gardening seed for any purpose round your garden.
Seed Savers - though a US site, the intent it to preserve as much of our food’s biodiversity as possible.
Seeds of Diversity - a Canadian charity, who’s intent is to preserver our regional and national food biodiversity.
Path to Freedom - the Dervaes family’s success with urban farming can provide an insight into what’s possible.
Fine Gardening - a great resource

Books:

The 100 Mile Diet by Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon ** the book is available for sale there, it is also a great website

Gardening when it counts by Steve Solomon

Gardening will bring you joy, food and help reconnect you with the world outside. It will also be fun, frustrating, hard work at times and bring you satisfaction that you can start providing for yourself.