Hungry?

 I guess one of the nice things that should come with age is experience. Of course, it doesn’t do much good if you don’t learn from it or aren’t able to pass on something good from it. Personally, I don’t like repeating mistakes whether they are mine or mistakes I’ve seen other people make.

In this case I’m talking about the hard times we are in from the recession. At 51 years old, this is my third recession. All recessions look a little different at first but they are all from lack of foresight, greed and apathy on a few people’s parts. Either way, there are some solutions for some problems. I have a solution for the food problem. Grow some. It really isn’t that hard.

Think about this. If you are buying tomatoes for $3.00 a lb. and it takes two tomatoes to make that pound, you just paid $1.50 for a tomato! Unless you like eating out of boxes and cans filled with genetically engineered “foods” that are radiated and loaded with pesticides and herbicides you can take a limited amount of space and grow a good amount of food.

Americans in particular need to shed this image that gardening is something that losers and poor people do. Seems like keeping the image of the car and living space is so important and doing something like growing your own food means you aren’t successful and a failure. Guess what. There are a lot more people, more successful than you are that just failed and got bailed out recently and you are probably cutting back on your spending as you read this.

Back in my first recession in the ‘70s I lived in Arlington Virginia, next to Washington D.C. People in different neighborhoods had gardens in their back yards, vacant lots and grew stuff in pots on balconies and porches. At the end of the growing season they either canned or froze what they grew for use through the Winter and Spring. It takes a little work to get started but the time spent watching TV could be put to better use.

Speaking of TV, I saw something that led me to believe the major marketing industry really thinks the American people are very stupid. They said the current economic situation could lead to a global food shortage. Sorry but they have to tell me something different. I’m not buying that one when I look into the garden I’m eating out of. If anything, I expect to see more gardens in the neighborhood. Now I live in South Florida and we have the opposite growing season as I did in Virginia. Here we grow from October to April. Its still six months of growing. In the Summer we have plenty of fish, coconuts and other tropical fruits to break up the variety of eating the canned and frozen food of our growing season.

If you don’t want to go totally organic you can buy seedlings from your local nursery and plant them in your area. Nurseries tend to use the artificial fertilizers and potting mixes when they start the seeds. If you don’t want to do any of this you can keep hunting down those $1.00 Happy Meals at Mickey Dees.

Gardening isn’t that hard. You dig up an area and plant stuff. Before you dig you look at the plants that are already growing there. If you have green grass or plush green weeds, the soil is good. If you have straggly looking weeds, the soil needs help. After you dig up the area of existing plants, you rake the area level and cover it with organic compost that you can buy at Home Depot for about $2.00 a bag. A little goes a long way. The following year you won’t have to work as much as you did the first year because you already have your area started. If you live in a condo or apartment you can use pots and window boxes.

Here are a few pictures of my recent garden. It’s an area behind my little cottage that was just weeds and trash when I moved in. I used broken pavers, bricks and coral rock to make the tiers to utilize the hill.

It took me a few days with a shovel to get it ready to plant and about a week part time to haul rocks and build the walls of the garden. In the meantime I started my seedlings in trays until I was ready to plant. In less than a month I am eating salads from my garden.

I plan to have enough food by the end of the season to last till next season. I’m growing different lettuce, chard, different types of squash, tomatoes and beans.

By the way, most of the food sold in the grocery stores is genetically engineered with the open air terminator gene, meaning the seeds that you get out of what you buy will not grow into anything. You will likely have to either buy organic produce or buy your seeds from a distributor.

I saw this recession coming the whole time Bush was saying we were not in a recession nor were we going into one. About ten or so more years we will get close to or go into another one. That’s the pattern I’ve been seeing. Maybe by then the younger people that experience this one will have a system to get through the next one. I learned my system from the generation that planted “Victory Gardens” after World War II. Our economy now is about the same as it was then. To a lot of that generation, this is their sixth recession and they are still doing their gardens.

The other thing I like about growing my own food is I get to send the people who want to run every aspect of my life the message that I still have some control over me. I can even help other people get out from under their grip by sharing the information. I’m growing extra food and I’ll have even more seeds next year. No Happy Meals for me!

I don’t see how gardening is that hard. If you go at it with a killer pace without food or water it could suck. A beer in the shade now and then does me good.

I’ll show you a couple examples how things can transform quickly and with little effort and low costs. First you need an area you want to grow in.

Someplace like the above picture. A place that looks useless. These are my favorites. In reality this just has a few deck sections on it and a load of snakes and scorpions under them.

Before you know it, there will be tiers of flowers and food growing!

Let’s get started Goober.

See what I mean? Wasn’t that easy?

OK, there was a few steps in between. I had to find some free material to build the tiers with. Wasn’t too hard. Cinderblocks can make good planters too. I like to plant flowers in the blocks to attract bees. Ready for more?

This is the area just left of that sidewalk of the other picture. I start the seeds in trays before I start working on the beds to save time. Check this out.

This area is a hill that was two feet deep in grass and trash. I caught 18 snakes in the course of this garden. I thought I would have a hard time finding material for tiers.

Not so. Once I got most of the grass out, I started to dig.

This is the area just left of that sidewalk of the other picture. I start the seeds in trays before I start working on the beds to save time. Check this out.

This area is a hill that was two feet deep in grass and trash. I caught 18 snakes in the course of this garden. I thought I would have a hard time finding material for tiers.

Not so. Once I got most of the grass out, I started to dig.

A few plants and a picnic table later we are having lunch.

This is what happens when the Naked Farmer gets loose in the hood. He’s moving things around, digging in the ground and planting food in place where no one thought possible.

This is what can happen with a little imagination and effort.

I eat nice salads and veggies from my garden. I had my first salad four weeks after planting. If you direct seed into the ground you can eat as you thin out the seedlings. If you have your replacement crop started in trays you can replace what is dying out immediately with little down time.

Before you know it, your little love shack is the talk of Better Homes and Garden Magazine. OK, maybe Redneck Weekly. Either way you see how easy and practical it is.

Why not make the best out of those places you normally mow? It’s cheaper on gas and you get something out of the area you are spending time on.

Make sense? Look at my little haven. Not much but its cozy and I have my organic goodies right here with me.

Home sweet home. Jed Clamped ain’t got shit on me!

Shaman Hawk