A few seasons ago, I noticed a few square feet of open ground on my patio and wondered what potential lay there? I threw a few tomato and carrot seeds onto that ground, then stood back to see what would happen. After just a few short weeks, the seeds sprouted and within a couple months a had a full blown, vibrant and productive urban oasis.
During each successive season, I’ve added more and more to the small plot and this small plot has thrived more than I could possibly imagine. Carrots, eggplant, cucumbers, tomatoes, exotic lettuce of every variety. What began as a lark is now a full-fledged part of our diet…with an incredible side benefit.
You see, we’ve all forgotten what real fruits and vegetables taste like. Sure we buy these things every week at the grocery store and we pay through the nose if you buy the very same fruits and vegetables at an over priced healthy foods grocery store, but you still don’t remember what a vine ripened tomato with no pesticides or fertilizer tastes like…let me remind you….you cannot imagine what you’re missing.
Oh yeah, the herbs and muscadine grapes and my uber-productive fig plant. As I’m chatting with other folks I’m finding just how easy it is to start providing for yourself. Can you guess how many eggs one chicken makes in a year? 360. That’s almost one egg a day from one little bird in a tiny little coop.
In my imagination, I trade the urban oasis in for a slightly more rural environment…a small plot with a goat or two, a small rabbit hutch and whatever other bounty happens to wander onto the homestead. I’m enchanted by the rural and small farming communities that are spread across this and intrigued about the possibilities that exist for a sort of societal renewal that comes from trading in the fancy leased cars and imported goods for a beat up old Ford and a basket full of what the land provides.
So what’s your plan? What’s your dream? What are you doing every day to thrive in a changing and perilous world?
