Our First Acre

Our First Acre

The Community Garden of Hope

I didn't grow up on a farm. To my advantage, I admit, I grew up in an area where cars share the road with tractors, where little wooden structures line the road boasting modest harvests of tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers; a place where corn and bean fields were a common location of mischievous teenage "bush-parties". For a large part of my life, this was the extent of my interaction with the world of agriculture.

I went to school for biology, wanting to learn about different plants and living organisms that decorate this planet. One of the major lessons I learned was the dire state of conservation due to cultural attitudes toward nature. Nature is viewed as a resource, rather than the source of all things. I knew that whatever I decided to do with my life, it would have to involve preserving some part of a traditional life that works in accordance with nature and in close contact with it. The hope is to gain a greater understanding of how the world works.

Over time I came to an overwhelming realization that traditional mass-production agriculture wasn't living up to my expectations.

Food, managed like a commodity on assembly line, necessitated harsh chemicals without question or thought of how this could impact the invisible web of life including the microbes on the plant, the consumers, or the natural environment. This attitude plays out logically from a system that promotes material wealth at all costs. 

We can all do better as citizens of this planet.

We can make conscious choices of what we eat. We can take greater responsibility for finding a trustworthy farmer and supporting them, or by transforming your lawn into a food garden.