| Jul. 30th, 2010 @ 02:34 pm climatic instability |
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The weeds are winning! Fortunately my main weeds are dill, cilantro and Greek oregano. It's been a though year for gardeners here in Oregon. Most of the produce we are eating at our home now is coming from our vegetable garden, finally, but this should have been so a couple months ago. I re-seeded the lettuce four times! The weather has sucked. Actually, the last couple years it's been tough -- the weather instead of following the gradual pattern of warming, which gardeners count on for success, has jumped from hot to cold and back like a politician's opinion during an election. I suspect folks would understand climatic change a bit better if we called it 'climatic instability' instead of global warming. It doesn't make as striking a headline, but I think it better explains the problem we're facing. This is my 36th year of gardening, most of our veggie patches have been very successful. It's satisfying to sit down to a meal where everything you're serving you had a hand in producing. I hope new gardeners (I've seen you there in the seed stores, excited and apprehensive!) are not discouraged by the last couple meager years. I know that our shitty economy is one of your motivations, me too, but there are other huge payoffs if you persevere: food that tastes better than anything you could buy, your children will know how food is raised, and there is a spiritual feeling -- a belonging to the earth. We have to adapt to climate change, no choice there. We need to watch closely to discover what works now, grow varieties that can take the fluctuations, be persistent and ready to try new veggies and fruit. Small independent farms have an advantage in being more flexible, they can make the changes quickly. I see those large grass seed farms in the Willamette Valley and wish they could switch to growing edible produce as easily. Grass seed hasn't exactly been in high demand since the building bust. I long to see fields of tomatoes and cukes in place of the grass. |
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