Hey Ladies! Nice Tomatoes!
A girl can dream, can't she? Although they are now just 4 inches high, our 24 tomato plants in 8 varieties will soon enough be bearing fruit in ripe peach with red shoulders, apricot, green and yellow stripes, red with yellow speckles, brown, purple, and yes, plain bright red. They will have shapes like baseballs, sausages, walnuts, and tiny bean bag chairs. They will tower over children's heads and be just a little high for a rabbit to reach.
Thanks to Lauren and Katie, first-time Spirit Gardeners and tomato planting extraordinaires, we got all of them in the ground and off to a good start.
We're so pleased to be able to take part in these Tomato Trials, not only because we are supporting Turkey Hill Farm, but because we are adding to the scholarship of sustainable living and biodiversity. We're going to be taking notes throughout the whole growing process to find out which heirloom varieties do best here in Tallahassee, but also to be able to share with others what we did well, what we futzed, and what innovations we made to overcome obstacles.
Such information is useful on an astonishing number of levels. Imagine that "Organic Vegetable Growing 101" were part of every, say, 7th grade science and ecology class in Tallahassee. (I'm dreaming here, so allow me the "ecology" part.) Armed with that know-how, perhaps 50 percent of the residents would grow 20 percent of their own vegetables on their property, in pots on their balconies, or in FAMU's community gardens.
And then what would happen?
* Our reliance on chain-store produce would decrease significantly, forcing Publix or Super-WalMart to rethink destroying that oak stand and wetlands to build yet another mega-super-storeparkinglot.
* Tallahassee residents would significanly decrease the amount of pesticides they injest every day, and combined with their increased consumption of irresistibly tasty and good-for-you vegetables, would lead the nation in physical health.
* There would be no such thing as a food shortage in the Second Harvest Food Bank, and our homeless and hidden homeless would have full bellies, just like the rest of us. Of course, the working poor and near-homeless, with the means of proper nutrition at their disposal, would need less state-sponsored medical care and therefore "cost" taxpayers less.
* In a worst-case scenario following a foreign relations botch job, Tallahasseeans would have a most basic and valued survival skill.
So we have high hopes for these Tomato Trials. But I don't think they are too high. There is something about gardening that makes one feel very powerful, and very much a part of the good and the bad things that happen on the earth.
Drop by periodically as our plants grow tall, and whisper your hopes to them. We like big dreams in the Spirit Garden.
Thanks to Lauren and Katie, first-time Spirit Gardeners and tomato planting extraordinaires, we got all of them in the ground and off to a good start.
We're so pleased to be able to take part in these Tomato Trials, not only because we are supporting Turkey Hill Farm, but because we are adding to the scholarship of sustainable living and biodiversity. We're going to be taking notes throughout the whole growing process to find out which heirloom varieties do best here in Tallahassee, but also to be able to share with others what we did well, what we futzed, and what innovations we made to overcome obstacles.
Such information is useful on an astonishing number of levels. Imagine that "Organic Vegetable Growing 101" were part of every, say, 7th grade science and ecology class in Tallahassee. (I'm dreaming here, so allow me the "ecology" part.) Armed with that know-how, perhaps 50 percent of the residents would grow 20 percent of their own vegetables on their property, in pots on their balconies, or in FAMU's community gardens.
And then what would happen?
* Our reliance on chain-store produce would decrease significantly, forcing Publix or Super-WalMart to rethink destroying that oak stand and wetlands to build yet another mega-super-storeparkinglot.
* Tallahassee residents would significanly decrease the amount of pesticides they injest every day, and combined with their increased consumption of irresistibly tasty and good-for-you vegetables, would lead the nation in physical health.
* There would be no such thing as a food shortage in the Second Harvest Food Bank, and our homeless and hidden homeless would have full bellies, just like the rest of us. Of course, the working poor and near-homeless, with the means of proper nutrition at their disposal, would need less state-sponsored medical care and therefore "cost" taxpayers less.
* In a worst-case scenario following a foreign relations botch job, Tallahasseeans would have a most basic and valued survival skill.
So we have high hopes for these Tomato Trials. But I don't think they are too high. There is something about gardening that makes one feel very powerful, and very much a part of the good and the bad things that happen on the earth.
Drop by periodically as our plants grow tall, and whisper your hopes to them. We like big dreams in the Spirit Garden.
posted by Honey Youngblood at 6:42 PM
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