Those are both good pieces on gardening and soils. I wish it weren't so difficult to grow a variety of vegetables year round up here in the frozen north. I've grown kale and brussel sprouts and left them in the garden until after the snow. Both improve in taste even after freezing. Unfortunately, it's too cold to leave root crops in the ground. I've tried leaving carrots and parsnips in the ground, covering them with straw, but eventually, they get so frozen into the ground that you can't pull them out. Cold storage is also a problem here as our house has to be heated, so it's difficult to make a place where the vegetables won't get too warm, or conversely, accidentally freeze some time when the temperature really dips. I'm trying to work on a solution for that for this coming year as I'd really like to put up potatoes over the winter as the ones we are getting from the store are in such crappy shape lately... and, on top of all else, most store bought potatoes have received a lot of spray.
The other reason for growing things yourself is because, I think it's getting more difficult to be sure that crops were grown on soil that hasn't been contaminated with chemicals. So many cities are trying to get farmers to take sewage sludge, and it has heavy metals, chemical residues and a bunch of other things in it. That stuff isn't supposed to be used on land that will grow vegetables for human consumption for something like 20 years, but knowing how poorly people keep track of things...and given that governments are barely watching where this stuff is being taken... I don't have much faith in the system. Also, the run-off from sludged fields can get into ditches that other farmers are using for irrigation. Great way to spread around the mercury, cadmium and other wonderful things. |
