How did you go with Week 1’s read labels and buy local challenge? Time for week 2!

This Week’s Challenge

 

 

This week’s challenge is to plant something edible. Whether you live on a farm, in a flat or in a van, there must surely be one sunny patch where you can plant something that’s edible. Did you know you can even plant potatoes inside? You’d just need a bigger container, but you can. You can also grow carrots, beans, tomatoes, spinach, peppers, ginger, chilli, all kinds of herbs, lettuce, turnips, sprouts … the list goes on! You can even grow lemon trees indoors! Think about what you like to eat the most and plant it! Just one thing. Start small if you’ve never done this before.

If you are on a tight budget, get seeds. Otherwise get a seedling tray for more instant gratification. A tray of 6 edibles is around R35 depending on where you buy. Most people could afford that. You can plant them in old coffee or dog food tins if you don’t have pots. Ask your friends too, you may know people growing stuff they can eat, they will happily share with you too.  Be resourceful. There are endless options here for any budget. Long as you have a window sill that gets 4 to 6 hours of sun, you should be fine. Hit the internet and learn about the thing you want to plant and how to take care of it.

Of course if you have a garden of any size, go big! Skip a few ornamentals and interplant with lettuces on the borders.

If you are an old hat at growing food, then plant something in a pot and give it to friend, colleague, family member or stranger that might need it. Or do some guerilla gardening if you are travelling or between homes.

You really have no excuses in a garden. I lived in shade gardens in Johannesburg for 17 years before moving to this farm. Five years I tried to grow something I can eat, but I didn’t pay it enough attention and it all failed. The last attempt I put stuff in pots and moved them around to catch the sun as it moved. These were my biggest attempt at growing food. It was a total disaster, but least I tried.

Two years later, I planted my first kitchen garden and one harvest made enough food for 14 people! Look what can be achieved with absolutely no experience whatsoever and just a bit of determination. You can do this, just try.

Buffy’s 73 year old mother had a stroke last year, has lived in a flat for years and never planted a thing in her life! She moved to her sister after the stroke and they started a little garden patch for her. She’s been harvesting and cooking from it ever since!  What’s your excuse?

Why is This Important?

Food security is a basic human right, but this is being slowly eroded away from us by the powers that be. The “food” we buy in stores has been packed with chemicals and genetically modified ingredients for years that promote nothing but sickness, (enter Big Pharma to “heal” us).

It does not need to be this way. We can heal ourselves. We can feed ourselves.

If every person planted just one thing, we would have 8 billion new edible plants on the planet. We can share with each other and we can break the reliance on the global food chain. The more we decentralize, the more we empower and future proof ourselves. The planet is not served in any way by the food giants, all they care about is their shareholder bonuses.

What Will Planting Something Achieve?

First, you’ll have the added excitement of watching your new child grow and develop. Seeing something you planted as a seed or tiny plant develop into a mature thing that you can harvest and eat is fulfilling in ways you can’t even imagine right now. Plus it make your space look cool and cleans the air at the same time. You have a better appreciation and understanding of how food gets to your table. It reconnects you with something vital that has being lost in our tech driven world. It gives you a sense of pride and achievement and gives you courage to try other things. It’s going to open your eyes to what true abundance looks like.

Get planting and let us know how you do in the comments.

See you next Saturday for Challenge #3. Check out Week 1 if you are new here.