Grow Your Own: Suburban Gardening: Stocking Up

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Stocking Up

Preparing for winter is not only something that squirrels do. People have been known to stock up on occasion also. Everyone has not always had a freezer to pack away food. Before freezers were invented,affordable, or popular, enterprising survivors had other ways of preparing for the lean months. Farm families canned vegetables and fruits in mason jars. They cured pork and beef for consumption during the winter months. Root cellars were stocked with sweet potatoes, white potatoes, turnips, radishes, carrots and other root crops. Corn was dried, shelled from the cob and pounded into corn meal and grits. Before the first frost all remaining tomatoes, sweet peppers, hot peppers and other lingers on were gathered and pickled into a tangy sweet mixture called chow chow that was served as a side dish for the entire winter.

Whenever there is a threat of bad weather the supermarkets are filled to the brim with shoppers who are stocking up. The place is abuzz with talk of not being caught without the staples in the house. Canned goods and packaged goods sell out fast.

I stock up on salmon. I buy over a hundred dollars worth of the smaller cheap ones. According to the experts the smaller younger ones contain less mercury while still supplying the essential omega 3,6 and 9 fatty acids. The young fish is washed and cut into meal size pieces. The salmon is seasoned and frozen. Lunches and dinners are much healthier and easier when these packets are simply removed from the freezer and baked in a preheated oven with sweet potatoes. Planning for delicious, low salt meals is a cinch, because it is already well marinated in healthy herbs and spices.

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Original Garden Committee Members

The Louie Bacoat Historic Community Garden was made possible by many different groups of individuals who worked hard, who donated money for materials that made the vision possible. The County Personnel was very responsive in the donation of soil, large machinery and labor. The Garden is sustained the same way. We are a group of lifelong learners. Left to Right: Betty Griffin, Esther Babb, Curtis Caviness, Kevin Lake, Richard Stanard, Wayne Hamer, Valerie Hamer, Lucy D. Walker, Crystal Brown, The Gainey Family

Teamwork = School and Community Together

This group of teenagers pitched in at a moments notice. Community donors and volunteers supplied all of the lumber and other materials needed to build the garden. City Council Members, A School Board Member, Members of the Environmental Commission and Families pitched in to build the garden. A construction firm noticed our dilemma and volunteered to build the first 25 boxes. Volunteers from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints contributed time and Carpenters to assist in building the remaining beds.

Gardening is the most rewarding manual labor on the planet

In July of 1990, I received a call informing me that my Mom had passed. It was raining. I went outside anyway. It was very warm and the smell of the warm earth was very soothing. I weeded my flower beds and thought about my Mother. She had left the hospital against Dr's orders. She wanted to die at home. She worried about her cabbage, beans, tomatoes and the various other vegetables that she was growing. Her physicians agreed that work in her gardens kept her spirits up. She was in her massive garden sitting on her little cart rolling herself up and down the row as she picked green beans and other vegetables daily for 3 weeks. She passed quietly late one night in the arms of her companion. She wrote her will on the back of an old envelope giving her small farm to whomever would live in the house and care for the land.

The Louie Bacoat Historic Community Garden

The Teaching Garden at The Louie Bacoat Historic Community Garden is dedicated to contributing to the sustainability of life within Englewood and beyond. There is NO PLANET B. Our children must teach their children to preserve the one we have.

The Louie Bacoat Historic Community Garden is supported and maintained by a Village of Lifelong Learners who have volunteered to aid in the STEAM Education at a Community level of the children in Englewood. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) We support the concept of creating and maintaining a year round School Garden at each School in Englewood and work towards that end in a partnership with the School System.

Pre K and beyond are welcome as we share this journey of moving towards bringing residents closer to nature while incorporating elements that will help them succeed in school. We partner with the Schools and members of the Community to help children understand the value of;

- working together as a community,

- preserving the Environment while

- growing their own food,

- eating healthy

- fighting obesity

- malnutrition and

- giving to those less fortunate.

Everything that we are depends on maintaining a healthy planet. All life depends on the capacity of humans to grow and maintain the land in a clean and healthy way.

We are on a quest to improve the Environmental conditions on our School grounds and in our City. We hope to be instrumental in the formation of a sustainable NJ School System . We are encouraging EPSD to take constructive steps towards becoming a United States Department of Education Green Ribbon School District.

Cabbage: Another of the World's Healthiest Foods

Protection Outside

Be careful of the natural elements and other living things when working, entertaining, or playing in the yard. Chemicals & poison end up in the ground water. They kill the good bees, bugs and helpful garden life. use organic solutions and try not to change your ecosystem. Those same chemicals get back into your tap water.They may cause potential harm to you, your children, your pets and other wildlife. Protect your eyes, skin and hands while you work. Put "off" on your clothes, not your skin. If you have a small yard, use a manual mower.