After a long thought process (If you only knew what screwy brain-maze my thoughts run in!) I've come to the conclusion that there really isn't one. A middle ground in the gardening and hunger conquest, that is. It makes me nuts.
There's the Plant A Row For The Hungry campaign from the Garden Writers Association. Ed Hume even sends free seeds for it. Many garden centers give free seeds, tools and soil at certain times of the year for it. Lots and lots of gardeners give their extras to the food banks. (Major kudos to those of you that do!)
But what about all those, like me, who are stuck in the middle? We have space, are willing to work at it (some of us have done it all our lives for pete sake!) and do it simply out of the necessity to have the produce to put in our freezers - or go hungry.
If I have enough change in my pocket to either buy vegetable seeds or milk, well, guess which will be the priority? We don't not buy seeds because we don't want to, we don't buy seeds because they are expensive.
Imagine all those seeds that get tossed from the stores and garden centers each year right into the garbage because they weren't sold. What a waste! A few of those seeds could result in feeding a family at least a couple of good meals. Maybe not instantly, but in the long run there's nothing better than opening a freezer and finding vegetables you never would have been able to afford to buy at the store.
I really wanted to grow some sweet corn last year, but the only seeds I could find around here were at Agway for 5 bucks a pop. 5 bucks? You know how many loaves of bread that will buy?
So, the thought process eventually got around to: Why aren't there places for all those stores, garden centers and gardeners that have all that leftover seed to send them to, instead of tossing them in the trash? They'd be a lot more work than ready produce, but just because people aren't well off doesn't mean they're slackers, or aren't willing to work hard for their food if they already have somewhere to grow it. A small plot of land can produce a large amount of food.
You know the old adage; Teach a man to fish...
Oh, and I think changing to blogger beta might not have been a good thing-I can't post comments to non beta blogs now. Figures there would be a catch.
4 comments:
I always wonder what they do with the seeds that don't sell. For some reason, I thought they sent them back to the seed company, who might repackage them after certifying them as viable still.
On the beta blogger thing, you can post comments to blogs that have not converted, at least I can. You have to sign on with your new Google account, not the old Blogger account. (Hope this helps)
I think that Carol is right... when I worked part time last summer at a local garden center, we sent the seeds back. It was probably too late to have grown most of the veggies successfully anyway, now that I think about it, by the time the store gave up on them.
The thing about the seeds, though, is that if you keep saving seeds from things year after year you don't have to keep buying them! That's what I like--I didn't buy tomato seeds for years until I moved into this new house, unless of course I found a new variety that I wanted to try.
Carol,
yes, you're probably right, they must send them back. Well, unless it wouldn't prove cost effective?
I always signed into blogger with my google account, but it keeps telling me I can't comment to non-beta blogs. AFTER I've written out the comment. Boogers. I'll just have to keep trying, I guess!
Kim,
I usually do save seeds from year to year, but we went through some things for a few years that prevented us from gardening and the seeds didn't do too well when I finally did get them planted. Thankfully, next year will be back to the grow-collect-grow-collect cycle. Yay!
PS
Carol,
You were so right about the comment thing! Except that I have to stay logged into my own blog at the same time as commenting. Eek!
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