How Does Your Garden Grow?
Mary, Mary quite contrary how does your garden grow? This childhood song showed the connection that people had to the soil that grows our food. Today that connection has been lost. Less than 2% of americans live on a farm. In Fresno we don’t have a single farmers market in the county. A bike route between the 99 and I-5 was suggested and farmers are protesting against it. When is the last time you visited a farm? Do your children know how food grows?
I recently talked to a 19 year old who didn’t know that potatoes grew in the ground, she thought they grew on trees. Last night we had the privilege of watching a pre-release screening of Symphony of the Soil. This movie is being made by Debra Koons Garcia, the director of Future of Food, who did an amazing job showing us how main stream food is being produced. The movie showed us how our soil was created but more importantly how our soil and our treatment of it affects our aquifer water storage below the ground and how flooding and water care above ground are also affected by our treatment of the soil.
What does soil have to do with you? First we’re made of soil, at death we return to the soil and during our lifetime nutrients from soil sustain our life. Since we rely on soil so much it should be a priority to know something about it. Most kids today have an aversion to soil, they don’t like “dirt”. Parents constantly want to stop children from getting dirty. We don’t walk on the soil anymore. First we wear shoes everywhere we go and secondly we walk on pavement, asphalt, carpet and wood. When is the last time your feet touched the soil?
Growing up I worked in the garden every summer with my mother, planting, weeding, watering and harvesting. As one of seven children, my mothers time was limited and I cherished every moment I got with her. We would go for walks early in the morning and we would leave our house with our shoes on. When we got to a park, my mom said we needed to take our shoes off and walk on the grass and soil barefoot because this contact with the soil was essential to life. Today, naturalists have discovered the truth of this age old truth that Indians have known from centuries ago and grounding mats are being sold.
The movie showed how we could tell the health of our soil by how it felt beneath our feet, if it was spongy or hard. How our soil smells tells us about it’s vitality. My children have spent years on a farm and they’ve seen mom trying to farm ankle high in wet soil. They’ve played and worked in the soil. They’ve felt the excitement of seeing the seed they planted push out through the ground. They’ve seen blossoms turn into fruit or vegetables. Held a tiny watermelon in the palm of their hand. Eaten bell peppers off the vine. This contact with the soil that gives us life is vital.
May you make it a priority to make soil part of your life. Visit a farm. Our farm day will be in May and we look forward to having adults and children alike play in organic soil. May the soil of your body be nourished by soil that someone has cared for with love rather than with pesticides.
Yours in health,
Tara Hamilton
www.organicfresno.com, www.makelovinthekitchen.tv, tarahamilton@me.com, 559.497.5085[[posterous-content:wjGtiowdJnFghHmvnnog]]
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