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People I know who have these fabulous gardens are people who don't really need to grow their own food. There a few back to nature types who do everything with out money but by and large gardeners I see and know are stay at home house wives, retired professionals or music and art teachers who have summer off. They get their plowing and planting done during spring break.
For a poor person time is money. They are better off working a low pay job and using their food money economically.
Gardening is not something you can do flying by the seat of your pants. It takes a certain amount of skill, planning and equipment that poor people don't have. Not to mention that food is very cheap in America since so much of the industry is subsidized. You don't see a lot of skinny poor people anymore do you?
Not to mention that food is very cheap in America since so much of the industry is subsidized. You don't see a lot of skinny poor people anymore do you?
Why put in the effort when someone else is paying for it anyway. Welcome to America.
The urban poor do not have land for gardens. Also, people who live in elderly housing are not allowed to have gardens so how can the poor have gardens? Not unless some organization in the city/town provides the space and if the space is not close to where people live, provide transportation.
I think a lot of poor people would love to grow their own food but you need land. It's happened in a few places that I've heard about where there is land adjacent to the apartment buildings and organizations helped the people to get started. There are people who don't even know how to plant a garden so they would need someone to teach them.
I think it's a great idea but some help is needed to get things going.
Not so in my neck of the woods, thank goodness. Pretty much all the senior living I've looked at has garden space. Some have large areas blocked off for community gardens, others have back doors leading to small patios with small storage areas, outside water faucet, and personal small yards where one plant small gardens. I'm on the waiting list for one of those seniors only complexes. Can't wait!
Today, people are lazy and afraid they might sweat. Most people today have no clue what a Victory Garden is.
Nothing on earth tastes better than a vine ripened tomato. Unless it's fresh snapped, raw asparagus. Or beans. Or peas. Or anything, now that I think about it. New potatoes, green onions.......
...........never mind.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Swingblade
Get a pressure cooker {65-70 bucks} and Balls book entitled Home Preserving and you will be ready to go.
I'm one of those who has never used a pressure cooker. Water bath is good enough, and small apartment sized chest freezers can be bought for around $100. I once had one that was wood grained (more expensive), and even though I had it in a closet, it could have been used as a piece of furniture on which to put a lamp, whatever, much like any other piece of decent furniture.
Because they all start off gun ho and are out there every weekend. Then less and less show up until you end up with one person and their patch among weeds growing in the rest.
And lol at the "wait 4 months". It's all in timing your plantings. I eat seasonal though so I'm quite content to eat when it's ready. Those that crave watermelon in January wouldn't fare well growing their own.
And there's this process called "canning" and preserving which extends your harvest.
That's certainly not the case here in Philly where community gardens in lower income neighborhoods are lovingly tended to. That's a pretty gross mischaracterization and shallow generalization you've got going on there.
And it's "gung" ho. A gun ho is something else entirely.
Looky here, the evil big city: Denver Urban Gardens - Find a Garden
They advertise more than 125 urban gardens. Looking at the map, they're all over the metro area.
Too bad you can't get a joke/ribbing/sarcasm.
****ing lefties. No sense of humor. Of course, if my world view was that human beings are stupid, lazy and incompetent and must be directed at every step of life I wouldn't laugh at anything either.
One way we could make the poor have some skin the game is for them to grow their own food. I've read some articles suggesting such gardening could save Detroit, seeing how there is plenty of abandoned lots over there. I think Urban Farming is something that should be given some serious thought, given the economic conditions in this country.
That's certainly not the case here in Philly where community gardens in lower income neighborhoods are lovingly tended to. That's a pretty gross mischaracterization and shallow generalization you've got going on there.
And it's "gung" ho. A gun ho is something else entirely.
I started off typing "gung" and changed it at the last minute..oh well.
Community gardening has been going on in NYC for decades and yet there's more weeds than veggies/fruits and a lack of urban gardeners.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/01/ga...anted=all&_r=0
In his long career as an urban extension agent for Cornell University, Mr. Ameroso, 67, kept a log with ratings of all the plots he visited. “I remember that there were a lot of gardens that were not in use or minimally used,” he said. “Into the later ’80s, a lot of these disappeared or were abandoned. Or maybe there was one person working them. If nothing was developed on them, they just got overgrown.”
..
“In an ideal situation, we would have gardens with everyone in the community participating,” Ms. McPherson said. “But in fact, a few die-hard people end up carrying the flag.”
..
I just learned we have one in my town; two of my friends have a plot together. I would love to have one and am going to see if someone will go in with me.
If you have a community that provides such things ~ I think it's a great idea but not feasible for everyone (such as the very old, etc).
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