Outrageous Gardens!

Recycled metal flower bed at 4th Street.

Our bag garden fitted with strawberries.

We’ve had a couple of very successful new gardens set up in Albuquerque in the past month.  I’m busy balancing the writing of my book, consultations and workshops.  Somehow spring seems to be bypassing us again in Albuquerque, pushing winter later into the year and now with near 80 degrees coming toward us by the end of this week, we may just fly over that season all together.

Here are some photos from our workshops on 3/21 at the North 4th Sustainability Center and on 4/18 at The Source on South Carlisle both in Albuquerque.  Above-ground gardens are so much easier to start and maintain in our changeable and quixotic landscape. Straw bale gardens maintain a more even soil temperature and moisture so plants are less stressed. Tire gardens can be set up nearly anywhere–on a roof or under an eave or tree.  Try it! You can see how happy they make folks….

The mighty sheet mulchers on North 4th Street from New Mexico Youth Organized

Starting the lasagna beds

Filling up the straw bale

A crop of happy gardeners at The Source!

These words from the Haggadah, the traditional re-telling of the story of Exodus, are spoken during the annual Passover Seder. Many Jewish families still follow the instructions and invite total strangers to their table to partake of the story, the food, the ritual that dates back thousands of years.

I know myself that the sweetest moments in my life have come when I lifted something from the soil–a new carrot, a beet or radish, the first tomato off the vine, new potatoes attempting to hide inside damp earth from my probing fingers–and offered these to the first person I met never thinking for a moment that I should have the first nibble from my labors.

It is an act of grace to be able to offer sustenance to someone, especially a stranger.  Within this act of offering food–particularly to someone we may not  know or meet again–is the essence of nourishment, not just for the body but the soul and heart as well.

So who are the hungry in America?

This year in Albuquerque I’m hoping to revive the concept of growing extra food and offering it to food banks in our area. The program is called “Plant A Row for The Hungry” and it began in 1995 by the Garden Writers of America.  It’s success continues to grow (no pun intended) and to date more than 14 million pounds of food have been contributed to foodbanks and pantries in the US and Canada.

The concept is quite simple:

• Plant or glean vegetables, fruits, herbs or flowers.
• Deliver the harvest to a food agency near you.
• Give a PlantARow brochure to anyone who could help.

The need is great and increasing as the economy remains precarious. According to America’s Second Harvest, the nation’s largest charitable hunger relief organization, 24-27 million Americans rely on emergency food services annually and I’m confident that number will be larger this year.

Roadrunner Food Bank (RFB) of New Mexico is the state’s largest non-profit organization dedicated to ending hunger in New Mexico. In 2006, Roadrunner distributed nearly 14 million pounds of food through a statewide network of over 700 partner agencies and six regional food banks. RFB converts every $1 donated into $9 of fresh produce, bread, meat and non-perishables for hungry New Mexicans and since 1980, has distributed more than 150 million pounds of food.

Here are the statistics for New Mexico:

• New Mexico is first in the nation in the percentage of people who must sometimes wonder where their next meal will come from (16.7%).  Each month in New Mexico, 89,000 people visit pantries, shelters, and soup kitchens in search of emergency food for their families. Some are turned away because there is not enough food for them, but, thanks to the state’s food banks, most receive help.
• New Mexico is fourth in the nation in childhood poverty (27.5%).
• Last year, Roadrunner Food Bank, through its statewide network served 238,000 children and adults in need of emergency food assistance.
• Hungry people lead a fragile existence and make difficult choices among life’s necessities–rent and utilities over food, medicines over food, even clothing over food. And of course nothing left over for music lessons, movies, or tutoring their children.

In lean times everyone can do something to help alleviate hunger and one thing garden-minded folks can do is PLANT SOMETHING! (And if you still aren’t convinced you can garden anywhere, please spend more time on this site.)

If you already have a garden space or participate in a community garden, insist that some area be reserved for this program. And remember: NO contribution is too small.

For a list of agencies providing food in New Mexico, visit New Mexico Association of Food Banks

Hunger IS simply unacceptable and if each one of the 88 million gardeners in the country would simply plant a little more to give away, we could easily supply fresh produce to every one of those in need. I’m encouraging all new gardeners at my workshops to participate.

For more information on the PAR program, contact Garden Writers Association PAR office at 1/877-492-2727.

To learn more about the PAR project here in New Mexico or to consult on ways you or your organization can begin to grow food for this program, please contact Yvonne Scott through my email address outrageousgardener [at] yahoo dot com with “PAR” in the subject line.