British town grows its own vegetables

[Eddie]

Here's an interesting story of people taking matters into their own hands and improving life for all citizens through a simple expedient: growing fruits and vegetables anywhere that space permits, and allowing passersby to help themselves at no charge!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/articl...L-veg.html

[Ruth]

What a lovely story, Eddie. Thank you for sharing this. It is very exciting!!!!!

Do you grow your own food? Or some of your own food?

[Eddie]

What a lovely story, Eddie. Thank you for sharing this. It is very exciting!!!!!

Do you grow your own food? Or some of your own food?

I try to grow as much of my food as possible; and yes, I share it with my neighbors (and with those who come to LLResearch Homecoming). I have two large gardens, 14 fruit trees, and a blackberry bed; I'll be adding raspberries and asparagus in the spring.

In the future we will see more of this, as food prices rise, and people become disgusted with corporate food monopolies. Most people in the U.S. no longer know how to produce and store food, but there are a few of us here who do, willing to share what we know.

[Ruth]

Now that you say that I think I recall us talking about growing food in another thread. Sorry. I have that CRS thing going on. LOL! I am most concerned about the GMO produce, especially corn. It's nearly impossible (from what I understand) to find corn that is not tainted with GMO genes. Even the really good heirloom seed companies are finding it difficult to keep the corn seeds pure.

I believe, as you said, I've seen more people regaining an interesting in growing and storing food for themselves. I had never done any canning until last year, so I'm one of the newbies. Fortunately, I "inherited" my all of my Mother & Father in-laws' recipes and equipment, and live in a farming community where I have many friends who've done canning and dehydrating all their lives. Rich heritage to draw on.

Thanks again for sharing this and for talking food!

[Diana]

This is awesome! I love it!

It reminds me of the Aztec Empire. The only "crime" punishable by death in certain areas was stealing (aside from the other practices such as sacrificing to gods). This was because the first 3 rows of corn, or crop, were free for the taking. So no one would starve, or have a reason to steal, besides greed.

[Monica]

Oh I love it I love I LOVE it!!!

What a great idea! I've heard of towns starting community gardens, where everyone pitched in, sharing in the work and the bounty. But this takes it even further! They don't really say much about who's doing all the work, and it's amazing that they're just letting anyone and everyone just take as much as they want, and people aren't abusing it by hoarding.

So what’s to stop me turning up with a huge carrier bag and grabbing all the rosemary in the town?
‘Nothing,’ says Mary.
What’s to stop me nabbing all the apples?
‘Nothing.’
All your raspberries?
‘Nothing.’
It just doesn’t happen like that, she says. ‘We trust people. We truly believe — we are witness to it — that people are decent.’

Is that cool or what??

Check this out...a family in CA grows all their own food...totally self-sufficient. Amazing how much food can be grown in a small yard! Can you imagine if everyone did that? All the world's food problems would be solved.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJjWcOyGVrw

See also:

Food Not Lawns: How to Turn Your Yard into a Garden And Your Neighborhood into a Community by Heather Coburn Flores

An idea whose time has come!

[Ruth]

Thanks for sharing those, Monica! I've ordered the Food not Lawns book. Can't wait to read that one. I just wish I'd had the time and inclination to study up on all these beautiful solutions when I still lived in the TX/OK area. The climate down there is much more amenable to producing all of your own food than it is here in NW Indiana where our growing season is fairly short. Still, we're making progress!

Light and love!

[Monica]

Thanks for sharing those, Monica! I've ordered the Food not Lawns book. Can't wait to read that one. I just wish I'd had the time and inclination to study up on all these beautiful solutions when I still lived in the TX/OK area. The climate down there is much more amenable to producing all of your own food than it is here in NW Indiana where our growing season is fairly short. Still, we're making progress!

I've been attempting to do it here, as much as possible. I have a garden and some dwarf fruit trees. I have a very tiny yard so I'm trying to cram as much as I can. But, we had a horrible drought this past summer, so there was no produce. I was barely able to keep most of the trees from dying! And still lost some of them...all the raspberry, strawberry and dewberry plants died.

We're finally getting a bit of rain but it remains to be seen how next summer is.

One advantage you have up north is that, with a greenhouse, you can compensate for the cold a great deal. I got a huge greenhouse online for $300. It's 12 feet tall! I have my papaya tree in it and plan to grow stuff over the winter.

Or, one could be built very cheaply, if one has the skill and inclination (which I don't, so I cheated and bought one).

[Ruth]

Yes! We're planning to add a greenhouse area, but where we live we are limited by deed restrictions to how many out-buildings we can have, and we have to get permission even to convert an existing covered carport into the desired greenhouse. Then, of course, there is the expense of it! Sigh. So I'm exercising my patience and working on my powers of creation to manifest it. Manwhile, and this is why I'm anxious to get the book you referenced, I'm "preaching" organic to the neighborhood. It's a struggle since our home is fairly new and does not have an established lawn. Difficult to get it going organically, much easier to convert to organic once the grass is established and the weeds are eliminated.

The gentleman in the video has inspired me, though, to create more and larger "garden" areas even in the front. So many herbs, chives for example, have such beautiful fragrance and flowers!

One step at a time!

[Oceania]

i stay in bed.