When a City cannot sustain it's People,..People learn to sustain themselves!

 A lot of Global factors are beginning to come into play regarding this idea of people being safer in the long run,(all around) on a locally produced, and sustainable level.
With talk of oil prices surging ,which are always coupled with the possibility of petroleum-based-fertilizer shortages,we get in the end food shortages too!Now,..if you want this situation to be a "those poor guys "type of thing,(MEANING it doesn't effect you),or a "What can I do to help I wonder?" kinda thing,..then you must certainly have your backyard garden plotted and/or your community garden well planned and underway!Because,..lets face it..if the trucks of food stop coming to the store,..that food is going to have to come from SOMEWHERE isn't it?
Enter Community Gardening,
Backyard Gardening,
and CSA's (or Community Supported Agriculture) grow efforts!
Enter the Urban Homestead!

A locally sustainable and implementable "plug" in a fragile food "system"!Not much of a system,..if the way that it "works" actually inevitably fails due to its shortcomings!

Though my vision began as a plan-of-good for self-bettering folk,whom perhaps also don't want to harm the environment,and enjoy a simpler existence with perhaps more priceless rewards..it is quickly becoming a plan-of-action to save a peoples ability to sustain at all!
The commercial model of food production leaves a lot to be desired in sustainability, believe it or not!
There appears to be an obvious price to pay for reaping heavy rewards(i.e..Our Modern Grocery store Cornucopia) in disproportionate ways out of our lands the way we do, via most commercial farming efforts and operations.We're quite simply stripping,killing and otherwise ruining the topsoil and nutrient rich layer of much of our once easily sustainable Earth!

Here is what I am saying,..in order to feed all of "us" the amount of food that "they" anticipate being "needed" to have,..Farmers, Growers and Agricultural Producers "do what they have to do"! They grow in wide, wide swaths of land where the Earth is unable to take a breath of her own in between anywhere ,even!And to cut down on costs for labor, avoiding paying people for doing things like weeding,..producers use lots of chemicals of a variety of colors and
noxious-ness-es,..to kill the weeds, the critters and boost the soil(since most likely, the way they over work,plow,..and abuse the soil,..it'll need a HECKOVA lot of those petroleum "nutrients" won't it now?(Ahem,..Sorry,..I get a little upset-ish about the idiocy of some of the problems that I see at hand,..and,well, I am not about to let my irritation for the problem to anything less than solve it!!) : p


The worst part of the irritation though is that there don't seem to be a lot of people to blame! The people is us!We are our own worst problem! Some are too pre-occupied with the other "important" things in their lives to even remember how to grow their own back-porch tomatoes anymore!
I had no CLUE myself,..until that Summer,..just a few years back!Ha!
And then, after a few raised beds,built with friends, and waaaay more produce than I could eat by myself,..I started seeing the "bigger picture"! The bigger idea was how to solve a big problem like lack of food with such a little solution!..Like, a garden, where grass just sucked water up once and did nothing for me!: p

I took a walk through my neighborhood (which had a lovely alley-way system,..a few backyards with alley-gardens of spinach and zucchini,maybe some raspberries)..and as I walked,.. I imagined what the production of food in a neighborhood my size might be,..if say,..half of everyone's lawn was a vegetable garden,as well as the alley ways. I imagined chicken coops with small colorful exotic hens taking naps,..and running about in between house gardens,....the City began to fade,..I imagined Living again on the land beneith my feet!I wanted to FEEL HER,..Instead of just covering her up!No!It was time for Communing with the Earth and my stronger, wiser self even,..through this simple act of self sustaining!
And by my bounty's overflow??,..I couldn't help that Summer but to meet all of my tomato-loving-neighbors and my lettuce-loving-neighbors,..and my bless-ed zucchini-loving-neighbors as well!(Truly!lol,..the WAY those Zukes yielded was ridiculous!)
And all Summer,..I only ever walked as far as the local co-op Grocer for Dairy items and that glutinous, occasional micro-brew!;)Gas? What gas?I didn't even have a car!Ha!I gardened, worked,played with my son outside, wrote music,sang and otherwise enjoyed a most peaceful season,..mostly in part to my reconnection with the Earth and my own strengths and capabilities in shaping and creating that garden space,..juuuuuust SO!:)

So,..though I believe The Community Supported Ag-Village is how we save ourselves,eventually as a hungry people..I also see it's multi-facted application and how one might apply it willy-flippin-nilly via Personal, Community and CSA Gardens EVERYWHERE!
I mean,..Why have food shortages??..when dirt, water, Love and intentional attention to seed can prevent them?Go BUY SEEDS!And then,save some of the seeds from a couple of choice specimens that you grow for NEXT year!(Seed Savers Exchange is a favorite organization of mine that I highly recommend for all of your back to the Earth, food growing (and related)educational needs!)Look them up on FB,..or Google them!:) Love and Dreams of Growth to you each! More later! :)..Kat Sol