Mmm … Monadnock!

Have you read the latest article by Michael Pollan, called Why Bother?

But the act I want to talk about is growing some — even just a little — of your own food. Rip out your lawn, if you have one, and if you don’t — if you live in a high-rise, or have a yard shrouded in shade — look into getting a plot in a community garden. Measured against the Problem We Face, planting a garden sounds pretty benign, I know, but in fact it’s one of the most powerful things an individual can do — to reduce your carbon footprint, sure, but more important, to reduce your sense of dependence and dividedness: to change the cheap-energy mind.

So what are you growing? What have you planted already? What are you planning? Are you growing more or less this year? How big an area?

I’m trying to grow as much of our produce as I can. There are only two of us, so how hard can that be? I’ve got my peas, parsnips, carrots, spinach and lettuce in so far. I’m planting on the only flat piece of land we have, darn near, where my pigs spent the winter. They’ve tilled up the soil for me nicely, and have it well fertilized!

How about you? Or are you joining a CSA this year instead? I visited Tracie’s Farm last week, and will be writing up a profile of her fantastic operation, and have several more CSA farmers to visit as well. I put out a call on the New Hamsphire Small and Beginning Farmers list, and got back a bunch of responses. This is such a busy time of year for me though, so it’s a little slow going, finding time to write.