The threat of food shortages is a common and recurring theme on mainstream and social media. Fear and hysteria dominate the headlines.
Like most people, however, I have difficulty believing that we could see widespread hunger. Certainly not in the West and definitely not in 2022!
As unimaginable as it seems, let’s not pretend we’re invincible. We’re not immune to disasters, diseases, and the crushing effects of inflation.
For this reason, I think it would be prudent for us to take these headlines seriously and do whatever is in our power to avert disaster.
This year, we’ve added six more acres to our production of vegetables bringing us to just under 30 acres in cultivation. Fringe areas of the farm such as edges and awkward corners have been turned into food producing gardens.
It’s a formidable task maintaining an organic, mixed vegetable farm of this size with a modest budget and limited farmers. But our resolve, we hope, will motivate others to join the movement.
We’ve been weeding non-stop since sunup on Monday morning and won’t stop until late Saturday evening despite the heavy rains. This work comes on top of the regular planting, seeding, and harvesting. We tire, we sometimes despair but we never complain.
We continue to encourage anyone with a plot of land or even a balcony to grow their own food. And if you can’t produce your own, please support your local farmers. They need it now more than ever. This has been a difficult year for many farmers, especially here in the Fraser Valley of British Columbia.
And finally, please stop expecting salvation from government. They promise much and deliver little. Today it’s up to us as individuals to band together and build food-secure communities founded on transparency, trust, hope, and care.
A shared dependency on each other and on the land is the best way to build resilient, healthy, and vibrant communities that can endure the storms of our time.
I’ll be hosting the next Q&A Zoom meeting webinar for our members this Saturday, June 11, at 10:00 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada). I am opening this one up to the public and invite you to join us. The access details are posted on our public webinars’ page at https://localharvestgardening.com/webinars
It’s titled “Planning your fall & winter gardening” and will cover the steps you should be taking now for your fall & winter harvests. If you’re interested in achieving greater food-security and learning how to grow your own food for a year-round harvest, I encourage you to join us.
Learn How to Achieve Food Self-Sufficiency, Build Soil Fertility and Grow an Abundance of Nutrient Dense Food Year-Round.
Access personal Q&A support with Dan (market gardener) and Jack (edible landscape designer) to answer any of your growing questions through our members’ discussion forum and live Zoom meeting webinars (March-Oct).
Access a fresh stream of seasonally adapted video releases as the growing season progresses (we’re located in the Pacific Northwest).
