~SUSTAINABLE LIVING FOR CHALLENGING TIMES

[sumisu]

**D*A**, excel and others,

The story about Julie Bass being reprimanded for having a garden in the front of her house shows how far we have drifted away from our agrarian past. Fortunately, Ms. Bass is receiving strong support from those who read the article and most of her neighbors. There will always be those who will frown on her gardening activities.

We know that we are entering into a permanent era of scarcity. Coincident with this scarcity will be a probable collapse of the financial markets. I could be wrong, but rather than be caught off guard, I plant, plant, plant. [I planted so much that I need two more water barrels; another will be added within the week.]

After learning so much from the people on this board, I now look back and ask questions. To digress somewhat, I have learned from my Peak Oil research that it takes five to ten year years to develop a large oil field after discovery. Using this benchmark, I focused on developing my Peak Oil garden in five years. Did I succeed? I can only say that I have made great progress, but now I have an idea of how far I need to proceed from here.

This summer I planted an asparagus patch; it will be ready in another two years for consumption. I have not planted a small orchard; I need to start next year and it will take probably five years to develop. My Heritage strawberry patch goes in next year and my raspberry patch will will be expanded with ten Heritage raspberry plants from a neighboring gardener.

I often go out with a gardening neighbor, Bruce, in his truck to nurseries, etc. We make it a point to take back roads when possible. I do most of the viewing and have to admit that many many houses which could have gardens do not have gardens. I attribute this absence to our society and there is no food emergency to push people into gardening to aid in their survival.

I am happy to report that in my many walks, I have seen a surprising number of new, raised-bed gardens. One in particular was greatly expanded from last year and water barrels were added; I will try to speak to this person.

Last autumn I sighted a chicken coop with four chickens in the next village. I am trying to convince Bruce to build one on his large piece of property. I will propose to pay half of the expenses of this new project in exchange for eggs and chicken manure.

I once mentioned here my formula for gardening: S-cubed plus water plus bees. The "S" component includes sun, space, and soil. Water and bee are self explanatory. Throw in experimentation and research to round out the gardening experience.

Gardening is a legitimate skill. Current and past posters to this board include two farmers and a good number of what I consider to be master gardeners. I mention this fact to pay tribute to those who have developed the gardening skill. My maternal great grand parents had this skill and a small farm to take them through the Great Depression.

In my learning process for gardening, I often hearken back to the first paragraph of "The Tale of Two Cities," which reads:
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only."

The latter paragraph expresses the up and down gyrations that I have traveled particularly in the past five years. For instance, gardening has represented the best of times for me. But two year's ago when my tomatoes were wiped out by a blight, it seemed to be the worst of times. Out of this dire circumstance, I turned to mixed gardening to avoid the devastation of a blight to my primary vegetable, the tomato. Was this wisdom; not really, as I called my Mother and she told me what my Grandmother's garden was like and it was very varied and there was room for crop rotation. I have implemented a new approach, many vegetables and many garden beds for crop rotation. I'm still incredulous at the action of insects and animals on my garden, which requires action.

I purposely point out my experiences to demonstrate that people need a long lead time to establish a garden before a possible crisis. The earlier you start, the easier it will be and the later you start, the deeper the hole to crawl out.

My point, made in too windy of a way, is to show that people like Julie Bass are taking a significant first step toward some sustainability, but it is still a first step. Yet to be thwarted by local authorities is tough to sustain a momentum toward sustainability. I wish her success; it she retains her front-yard garden, it will be an important precedent for her locality.

I hope that others in other localities do not meet front-yard restrictions. I find some convoluted logic that allows people to apply nature-destroying chemicals to their green lawns and the water that is wasted to keep them green. The latter versus growing food for a family shows how far that parts of our society have sunk into hopelessness.

sumi

PS: I have a garden on part of my front lawn and I planted a garden on my neighbor's front lawn, so far without any problems.