American Gardening

I promised, a while back, to write a bit about skills we all may need in the very near future, when, and if, the economy again collapses. Not to panic, but with the Stock Market spinning up and down like a yoyo, China obviously in deep muck, and Europe trying to figure how it can deal with massive immigration, all topped off by the continued Mid-East madness, it may become necessary to do a few things the old way.

Gardening, growing a few vegetables, berries and fruits may not be a bad idea even if things take a sharp upturn. Nothing compares to fresh produce right off the vine. To eat a tomato, picked at the peak of ripeness is to realize what tasteless junk we have been eating. A melon, grown in your own patch will make you realize that waiting for melon season to roll around is worth it. The melons you buy in January are picked green and shipped 1000s of miles and taste like slightly sweet Styrofoam.
Also, there are health factors, beyond the obvious nutritional ones. Produce grown by some of our neighbors to the South has, with increasing frequency, proven to be contaminated with various bacteria that result in you missing work to sit in the bathroom.

Further health benefits are gained simply by getting off your rear, turning off the TV and computer (after you read my blog, of course) and moving around in the Sun and fresh air. Vitamin D is a hot nutrient (these change from month to month, tomorrow it may be some rare mineral) and just a bit of Sun a day takes care of that. To those who use treadmills or stationary bikes or any of the countless other overpriced workout equipment, a bit of digging and hoeing, of spreading fertilizer and pulling weeds is far better exercise simply because you use all of your muscles in coordination with each other. You will build as much strength while building healthier muscles by moving compost as opposed to lifting weights.

To those without a yard, apartment dwellers like me, you can grow a lot of small vegetables and almost any herb in pots. There are communities in urban areas who get together and grow produce, quite a lot, on building rooftops and in vacant lots. Why not? Besides health and financial benefits, it helps build community, something g America is sorely lacking.

Gardening is also a fine way to get kids away from gaming and cell phone addictions. You might have to push them a bit, use a little leverage, but, simply and as gently as possible, remind them that you are the parent, and thus, the boss.

Ob top of all that, there is a definite spiritual aspect to gardening. It connects us to our ancestors, reminds us that food does not just magically appear in the grocery store as if winked into existence by the Creator and dropped if the freezer aisle by angels. In gardening, you are participating in the on going creative process of the Cosmos.

And, you certainly do not have to stick to produce, feel free to grow any of the wide range of flowering plants and perennial shrubs. I have seen gardeners who worked with ferns and have even seen, small scale moss gardens that were fascinating.

So, while I think everyone would be advised to learn how to do at least some basic gardening, just in case thing take a nose dive, I also think that gardening is a fine way to promote physical and spiritual health, something we can always use a bit of.