The Modern Victory Garden

I live a busy life.   I don’t think I am unique in that regard.   The technology and work ethic that makes us efficient and productive as a nation, means that the responsibilities of work and family often become interwoven into every waking hour of every day.   I embrace the technology that we have at our disposal.   It allows me to share images and thoughts with all of you about something I feel quite passionate about (home food production gardening), and it allows me to be a high performer in my professional life.   Those are good things.   It does come with a burden though, and some risks.          

The intensity of a typical modern day life can result in a serious erosion of time for just being “still”.    Ironically, it is my belief that the value of such time is inversely important in relation to the time available to devote to it.    The less you have of it - the more we need it.   My own experience is that I am most honest with myself and am more likely to find the hard answers to problems that are troubling me – when I step away from the constant noise and demands on my attention and allow something quite foreign in our society to occur – being alone for a while and savoring a moment of relative silence.   I say “relative” because even if all technology were to magically disappear and the cars, planes, and other mechanical noises that are in the background of all but the most remote locations were to disappear, there would still be lots of sounds that are occurring in our natural world.   They are just hard to hear sometimes because the other noises and demands on our attention, drown them out.   Sometimes our own inner voice of reason and truth are similarly drowned out.                                             

People often ask me (with genuine incredulity I might add) -  how I can possibly fit food production gardening (and related tasks that typically come with such an undertaking such as preserving and cooking from scratch) into a life that is demanding professionally and with it’s share of family demands as well?    To this I must respond, “my success in all the daily roles I fulfill can only come if my body and my mind are well nourished and periodically refreshed.”     It is the very act of physically working in a non-technology based effort; producing something tangible for my efforts; and having regular periods of time spent outside (away from the phone, the television, the radio, the computer, and the mobile phone) – it is those very things that make my effectiveness greater when I then step back into them again.   My attention is greater, my mental state more steady, and I bring greater energy to bear on whatever is currently in need of attention.   In addition, my family eats an abundance of quality, nutritious food, and I believe my general good health must be largely attributed to that fact, because it certainly cannot be attributed to any adherence to a regular exercise regimen!     In short, choosing to have a food production garden be a daily part of my life is an investment that I think pays many dividends. 

I hope to be able to garden until the day that I am planted into the soil myself.    I wish for others the same oasis of calm and nourishment in their lives as well.   I think it is missing in too many lives today.   That is just one (of many) reasons why I share my garden and part of my life with all of you through this site.   In the hope that perhaps others might be encouraged in their pursuit of food production gardening and that they too may discover how truly wonderful it is to simply be “still” in the garden and allow our mind as well as our bodies to be well nourished and refreshed.