Posted on 04/12/2009 6:25:24 PM PDT by Steelfish
Vegetable gardens growing in popularity
By Debbie Arrington
At her modest south Sacramento home, Yemanya Napue tore up her backyard lawn to plant an extensive vegetable garden. In the front yard, she squeezed blueberries, herbs and fruit trees into a flower garden to create an edible landscape.
Napue shared that bounty last year with her neighbors and ended up feeding 43 families. Now, she's planting much larger community gardens, including one on what used to be the lawn of the neighborhood church.
"I've always worked in gardens all my life," said Napue, 52. "This is something I can do, and it's better for you, too. People got to eat."
While Napue's effort is extraordinary, she's not the only backyard or front yard farmer. A mix of bad economics and a desire for good food is driving a new boom in home vegetable gardening.
In a mass movement reminiscent of the 1940s victory gardens, families throughout the region are trying to grow their own food to save money and eat better. The trend has neighbor helping neighbor and communities coming together over cabbages and beans.
Suddenly, growing vegetables is all the rage, with first lady Michelle Obama taking over a portion of the White House's South Lawn for summer crops.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
A lot of people simply like to garden. I made and tended a couple of vegetable gardens when I was in high school. My main influences were Gregor Mendel, the pioneer geneticist, and George Washington Carver.
My early garden has been planted for over a month. I have had a garden for years because I like the taste of fresh vegetables and love going out to pick something to prepare that is very fresh.
Zero’s wife’s garden is for publicity only!
No, I’d say the economy is the cause, it was for me even before she decided to plant one..
But if it helps people become self-sufficient -I am all for it; it’s not a political issue!
Given the sheep herd mentality of most people today this is not at all surprising.
If someone were to come out publically and say Michelle Obama owes her muscle tone and smooth skin to drinking a cup of raw sewage from a certain septic tank, you can bet there would be a line of people there the next day with cups at the ready.
“Yep, everybody is afraid we will starve under her husbands watch.”
I bought manure, mulch, fertilizer just after the election to beat the rush (along with ammo, etc.). I had to wait for the seeds though as they wait until early spring for that stuff. I’m a city boy, but figured it can’t hurt to try it.
PSSSSST, Diana, did you get a gander at this one.
I do believe the headline gets it WRONG. Momma O is copying the rest of us, not the other way around.
“Momma O is copying the rest of us, not the other way around.”
LOL! I love how every shot of her has her ‘gardening’ in black, or spandex or heels.
She WISHES she was as cool as us Country Bumpkins...and she’s mad because we have more fashion sense in our overalls and sh*t-kickin’ work boots. :)
Actually, such a style would actually be rather flattering to her, IMO.
“EAT stands for Environment and Agriculture Taskforce, which is urging city policymakers to be more food production-friendly. That includes rewriting codes to allow front yard vegetable gardens, which are still discouraged in many local neighborhoods.
‘We need to grow food, not lawns,’ Schramski said. ‘The number of people interested in this is exploding on a daily basis. Our biggest challenge is a lot of people just don’t know how to do it.’”
Government GIVETH (local, city, state, town, whatever) and Government will TAKETH. Once these dopes start writing ‘ordinances’ (read: LAWS) about where and when and what you can grow ON YOUR OWN PROPERTY, the little dictators will rise to the top and start demanding their cut, or find a way to tax us on it.
It’s all good clean fun...for now. Keep an eye on this, and keep an eye on your local ‘ordinances’ (read: LAWS).
I’m just sayin’...nothing GOOD ever comes of Government stickin’ their nose into it.
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