Comments on: Gardening for Food Security

By: Willi

Willi — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 15:34:29 +0000

Grace–I completely agree and well said. I think investing in educating kids of good food choices is so important!

Lorene–Thanks so much! It really was an eye opening experience.

By: Rooster Shamblin

Rooster Shamblin — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 22:31:27 +0000

http://roostershamblin.wordpress.com/ would you please spend a few minutes and check out my blog. I am a farmer who has been raising over fifty breeds of chickens for forty years.

By: Lorene

Lorene — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 19:24:03 +0000

Willi, thank you so much for this post. On one hand it's so obvious but most of us need to be reminded that the REAL reason for growing our own food is EATING our own food. Food prices makes me blanch. Good for you and Jon for showing us a very real problem right in front of our noses. .-= Lorene´s last blog ..Meet me at the Soiree… =-.

By: Grace

Grace — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 04:18:46 +0000

Hi Willi

Regarding your last paragraph:

Of course, gardens will not solve the hunger problem alone. We need to ensure that there are grocery stores in every neighborhood and that bus routes connect people to those stores. We need to bring farmer’s markets into underserved communities. We need to teach people how to cook in school. But we also need to ensure that every citizen has the opportunity to learn how to grow their own food and a space to do it.

We must also teach people to eat. The school lunches that are served are terrible, mushy stuff. I can’t believe we feed them on just pennies, when we should be investing in good choices, and better health.

I teach my kindergartener how to choose good food, and we send him to school with home-made. He gets to choose a “school-meal” once a month, from the calendar they send home, so he doesn’t consider it ‘forbidden food’. If we could raise a whole generation of good eaters, then we’ll raise a generation of people who demand healthful, fresh food from local sources.

By: Willi

Willi — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 23:40:17 +0000

Ann–I’m so glad this inspired you to keep your garden and share the bounty. Good for you!!!

Nurit–Hello! I’ve been following you in the challenge too Thanks so much for mentioning me in your post!
.-= Willi´s last blog ..An Edible Front Yard =-.

By: Nurit - 1 family. friendly. food.

Nurit - 1 family. friendly. food. — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 22:02:38 +0000

Why not use what you grow and take it off the budget?
Hi Willi! It’s Nurit (remember me?). I’m taking the challenge again as well. I love your approach and discussed it a bit in my post today. I’ll add a link to this post ot it.
.-= Nurit – 1 family. friendly. food.´s last blog ..Hunger challenge 2010 – Hungry, not only for food =-.

By: United Way of King County Blog » Blog Archive » Hunger Action Week Day 2 Round-up

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 21:31:32 +0000

[...] Diggin Food: Willi had a great post about the value of gardening and it’s role in helping relieve hunger. She was also on KUOW Radio talking about Hunger Action Week and gardening. You can listen to the broadcast here (she starts around the 15 minute mark). [...]

By: ann

ann — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 16:12:58 +0000

Yet another inspiration. I was going to ease off of such a large garden this year. I used two plots at my sister’s house in addition to my own yard last year and did more work than I could handle alone. I will just invite someone else to help and share in the bounty!

Farm City by Novella Carpenter is another good way to get your inpirational juices flowing.

3.49 for chard? Dh will be amazed. We always grow it ourselves.

By: Willi

Willi — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 16:08:16 +0000

S–Gardens can absolutely save money, and like anything you can garden on a budget. Buying seeds instead of seedlings is a good way to start!

Del–Interesting stats. I had no idea that we spend less money on food now then ever before. And of course, most food has an artificially low price (especially processed foods) do to all the ag subsidies.

Justine–The challenge has definitely been a challenge, and more eye opening than I thought it would be!

Gardenmentor–I’m always surprised at the cost of them,too. I usually have so much that I rarely have to buy it, but a lot of my greens bit the dust during that cold weather because lazy me didn’t cover them up!

By: gardenmentor

gardenmentor — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 22:09:39 +0000

Chard and Kale prices never cease to amaze me whether at the farmer’s market or at the grocery store. These plants are soooo generous. And, it seems they store and travel fairly well. So what gives folks? Why the high prices? Is it to balance out lowering prices on more difficult crops?

Keep up the good work on the challenge Willi — good thing those eggs and carrots will keep beyond this week!
.-= gardenmentor´s last blog ..Free Ticket to the 2010 Northwest Flower and Garden Show =-.