The
Reroot
USA
Series
The
Community
Garden
PREFACE
For a long time I
thought America
was plagued by
foreign influence,
lifetime politicians
and lawyers. I was
a
full
time
subscriber to talk
radio
and
the
nearly belligerent
screaming
and
hollering. It fed my
frustration
and
created empowerment by giving me the ability to lay blame. Problem was, I blamed
everyone but myself. It wasn't until my son was born did I realize blame solved nothing.
That year Reroot USA was born.
Taking the opposite approach I began to look at myself and those around me for
answers. I came to a few conclusions.
1). Between lobbyists, lawyers and greed it's very rare that anything is developed in
Washington with the people and our best interests in mind
2.) A violent revolution is good for no one.
3.) Instead of affecting change from the crooked Capital down we must better our lives
from the ground up.
I guess I can put it another way and a little less thoughtful. We have been had and living
well is the best revenge. By living well I mean clean fresh food, options outside of the
volatile dollar, community interaction and getting off the couch and out into the world
again.
We have to get away from the left/right pretense that keeps us running in circles. We
aren't supposed to agree on everything. We are not a colony of BEES! Instead we
I can hear your frustration already. "This all sounds great James but how the hell does
any of it work into my life? I work 60 hours a week, have two kids, no money, and am
thankful for the four hours of sleep I get a night."
In the Walton house I have enough trouble managing my own life. I am in no position to
write a book on managing yours. All I can say is looking at your kids and calculating the
dark and vicious future that could become their reality always helps me dig a little
deeper or be a little more judicious with my time.
This book in particular will focus on:
Your community garden
Why now is the time to grow your own food
What else GROWS from a community garden
How to fund it
How to get your neighbors involved
I hear people, all the time, talk about how we have no power. 'One party system'
'oligarchy' 'capitalist cronies' 'big this and big that' are the phrases of our time. We gave
these things life and we can take it away. If you want to feel real power get seeds in the
soil!
ITS TIME FOR FOOD INDEPENDENCE
How many different ways can you craft this most simple argument?
We have to have food to survive yet we depend on these grotesque systems to fill our
freezers and cabinets. They shellac our apples and spray our vegetables. Still, we keep
buying. Somehow producing our own food has become an almost mystical challenge. I
have seen literal awe from people at the idea of RAISING chickens and growing
mushrooms.
Food independence is not about living on a farm and growing all of your own food. It's
more about not being cornered into making food choices. No company or producer
should be able to monopolize what you feed yourself or your family. You could go to
farmers markets, raise your own chickens, bees or even nurture a small backyard
garden.
Of course the challenge is many Americans don't have space of their own to grow a
substantial amount of food. Inner cities, suburbs, and even some home associations
create challenges for renters and owners. When you look into how hard it is to raise food
it's actually pretty ridiculous.
Lately I have been having real trouble understanding why our country hands out millions
of dollars in food stamps instead of growing food in every lot and median, rooftop and
backyard. Why we aren't teaching self reliance in communities instead of dependence.
It's through hard rewarding work that humans grow and achieve. When we are coddled it
tends to bring out the worst in us.
It's not a coincidence that so many people are making the move to food independence.
This is the future. This is exactly why starting your community garden will be a huge
success.
A GARDEN THAT GROWS MORE THAN VEGETABLES
Of course we are growing something even more important than food with this
community garden. As the earth is tilled relationships are built. While you plant seeds
with your neighbors your community begins to strengthen. Uniting to achieve a common
goal is possibly one of our best traits. What to remember with the goal of growing food in
particular is, though it's a very important one, the uniting is just important.
The community garden could be the beginning of so much more in your community.
Wonderful things you never dreamed of will be proposed by your neighbors. Of course
with this community will come new opportunities. Opportunities for preparedness on a
community level. It all can grow from a simple radish seed.
One example is Yoga in the Park. It happens on Saturday's when the weather is right.
Neighbors come together in the park that contains our community garden. One of my
great neighbors teaches the relaxing class which is a great experience outside of the
dark gym showrooms where yoga is often commonplace. A $5 donation is encouraged
and do you know where that $5 goes? It goes right back to the garden.
You know understand the potential of a few raised beds and some passion. That first
year when you may only handout a few radishes and some tomatoes you will be setting
deep roots in your community. The sky truly is the limit when it comes to the off shoots
of your new community garden. At the end of the day we are looking to build community.
Of course people are going to disagree every now and then but between the now and the
then beautiful things are bound to happen
RAISING MONEY
Like any other "bright" idea all of this looks great on paper and sounds even better in
theory. Of course the trouble comes when it's time to pony up some money. When you
break ground and find out your soil would be better suited for making pottery than
growing anything edible. After you have pitched the idea. Gathered the team and
determined the location come the point when you start accruing costs.
This is not one of the more fun aspects of this process but determining how your
community garden will be funded is a very important step. It's probably one that will
change over time and there is nothing wrong with that. Every community will be different
because each garden site will pose different challenges.
Obviously your first year will be the toughest. The costs will be high and you will be
selling only an idea. Some people will have a real problem with this and you cannot
blame them. If you take nothing else from this book, please, take this advice. Year one
KEEP IT SIMPLE!
Of course begging is always an option. Going door to door and pitching the idea to some
neighbors you know. Hopefully you know more than one of your neighbors! This can
garner some early support but you will probably need more to get your garden off the
ground. I think year one we spent somewhere in the ball park of $300. We did three
raised beds with a nutrient dense organically mended soil. We did a summer and fall
planting.
Civic Association
If your neighborhood has a civic association there is a chance that within that treasury of
dues they collect each year their may be a little chunk for your garden. It never really
hurts to get the civic association involved. In my case it took their permission to get the
whole thing started. They gave us most of the money we needed in year one and after
that we were on our own. This is why I mentioned diversity in your fund raising.
Sell Your Product
Depending on what type of space you start with and what kind of yield year one brings
you could sell what you've grown. I wouldn't count on this one too much. Your veggies
are a great recruitment tool for garnering support for the garden. If you come out of the
gate charging you may scare some folks away.
Get creative
If you have read this deep into my short spattered ideas about starting your own
community garden than you must be something special. You must have passion for this
and I am sure you are full of creativity. Use this to your advantage. I am 28 at the time
this is being typed. You may have more or less experience than me and I am sure you've
ideas of your own. Think outside the box, use social media or maybe approach the local
government. Their could be grants for this sort of thing.
PLANNING AND PRESENTING
It all starts with the land on which your garden will be grown. The soil that will be planted
and where are very important considerations. It's important, yet again to think outside the
box. Not every neighborhood is going to have a plot of land set aside for digging and
growing. Walk the streets with your garden team and look for underutilized or
underutilized land that may be part of the neighborhood but not to any neighbor in
particular.
We have a great park, we are lucky. When we asked about creating a garden in that park
our civic association was very supportive. Again, very lucky. This chunk of park that we
claimed has grown about 5 times the size in just over a year. It's now a matter of how
much of the parks do we want to take over.
Look for corners and medians, fields and edges of forests. All of these are great areas
that could be cultivated. If the soil is too ugly to work with consider a raised bed system.
If none of this is possible you will have to get creative. Consider a potted garden. These
can be collected and set anywhere the sun can get them. They are also very easy to
move.
I guess we should talk about the sun. After your plot there is nothing more important
than the sun. Cheat your plants out of sun and you will have small plants all year long.
Yes you will have plants but it will take them forever to mature.
Its also very important to discuss what you are going to grow. As there are acidity, soil
and watering conditions to consider. This is not a gardening book so I am not going to go
into detail about soil amendments. However we should talk about water.
One of our biggest challenges to date is water. You see any plot of land with decent soil
and 6-8 solid hours of sun can support most of the subsidized plants out there today.
The problem comes when it's time to water those plants. There may not be access to
water at that corner plot. There in lies the problem.
This issue is a big and often overlooked issue. I have seen several water catchment
systems to contend with such a problem. Catching rain is definitely an answer and it's
also great for the microbiological life in your soil. This life would otherwise be killed by
the chlorine in your tap water. There are chlorine filters you can attach to yours ur garden
hose that will eliminate that chlorine and the damage it does to microorganisms.
We have discussed the costly idea of running a city water line to your location. Again this
has its pros and cons. Watering is crucial. It's shouldn't be a chore although you may
have to get a little creative with your methods.
Once you get all that ugly stuff out of the way you can begin the fun part. You can sit
down with neighbors and decide what s going into the ground. This is the best
opportunity to engage folks. Let the flower crowd grow flowers and the veg crowd have
their space as well.
THE FUTURE
Gardening those delicious annuals is a lot of fun. It's also a ton of work each year. They
often sap the soil of nutrients and put nothing back. This means every growing season
you must amend soil. If you and your group enjoy working with the soil each year than
this situation is ideal for you. If you are looking for a more self sustaining situation look
into perennials. There are many that offer great edibles, herbs and flowers
The perennial garden takes even further planning. You want to include plants that
provide you with great food options like tree collards, Egyptian walking onions, berry
bushes, sea kale and asparagus. There are also many great perennials that provide
flowers and food. Things like sunchokes, lavender, and various other herbs offer some
great flowers and additional uses. The other important part of a great perennial garden is
the ground cover. Choose ground covers that break up the soil and impart nitrogen and
other nutrients.
Perennials do need minimal upkeep but return each year to be harvested again. Add
some small dwarf fruit and nut trees for a real bounty each year.
AUTHOR AND SHOW
If you have stumbled upon this book there are a few things you should know. I am the
host of a weekly podcast called I AM Liberty. I discuss self reliance, preparedness,
health, art, poetry, social observations, hunting and whatever else comes to mind. On my
site www.iamlibertyshow.com you will find much more than a podcast. I write a weekly
web series, I have great sponsors and affiliates, I write poems, articles and have
extraordinary guests on the show. Check it out and please support I AM Liberty. Tell your
friends and join the effort to Reroot America! www.rerootusa.com