What I have learned ...

So, my garden is quickly coming to an end. It hasn't been a great year for this garden, but I learned a few key lessons. All of them learned the hard way.

1. Cilantro self-seeds. If you don't want the garden to be infested with cilantro next summer, make sure you pick it all before it goes to see and takes over your soil. But they sure do smell good when you're pulling them out.

2. There is a reason why you should thin the carrot seedlings. Once they start growing, they get big. And envelope each other. And come out in all sorts of funky shapes and sizes.

3. Watering regularly keeps everything from dying. I know, this one is a no brainer. But I forgot. For a while. And my lovely peapods, which were doing quite well, all died.

4. If you can't remember to water things, container gardening is not for you. Everything will die and shrivel up.

5. Pea plants are big, and will overshadow anything growing behind them. There is not enough room in my garden for pea plants and tomatoes.

6. It is more satisfying to pull a vegetable out of the dirt than to pick it off a stem. Not sure why this is, but clearly the kids and I both enjoyed pulling up radishes and carrots more than anything else.

7. I really miss having a good crop of cherry tomatoes. They will be a priority next year.

8. Zucchini and cucumbers take up too much room for my tiny garden.

9. When you tell the kids they can help pull out weeds, you need to watch them closely, or else they will joyfully pull out every living plant in the garden.

10. Those of us with blackish thumbs should probably simplify. Already planning next year's garden: Carrots, cherry tomatoes, and sugar snap peas. And that's it. Plus, I will set up electronic reminders to water the garden ...

Collection update:

We are up to almost 130 pounds of produce collected and dropped off to Food Gatherers! Such great news! And we're always looking for more ...

Hiatus over!

I'm not even going to count up the months it's been since my last post (you can do the math if you so wish ...) I could say I got busy, or got kidnapped by aliens, or involved in a national tabloid magazine scandal of some sort, but the truth is, I got a little busy and lost a lot of initiative for this project.

But I got a swift kick in the behind a few weeks ago from a dear friend, and now I am proud to say that we have already collected 51 pounds of food and delivered it to Food Gatherers! Amazing! That's the draw in just two weeks, with contributions from St. Joseph Church in Dexter and some neighbors in Huron Farms.

We need/want more! Food Gatherers has seen a 50% increase in demand for its services, so anything we can get there will be helpful. I can make daily runs to the dropoff point, and am willing to take whatever we can get. Food Gatherers has taken zucchini without any complaints, so if that's what you've got, please pass it along.

"We were fat"

This is Clara. She's 91 in this video (93 now, in later videos) demonstrating how her mother cooked cheaply during the Depression. They ate a lot of potatoes and pasta, she says. If you listen closely, at one point on this video she says, "We were fat, we were eating potatoes."

Odd, that statement. We were fat. During the Depression, when people stood in line for food and one year, 25% of the population was unemployed. We were fat. You know why? Because not everyone who's struggling to eat is actually starving. Some folks have enough money to buy some food, and they choose what suits them best: Food that lasts, food that is high in calories, and food that leaves them feeling satisfied, at least intially. 

That's phenomenon is called "food insecurity," and it's something that's spreading in Michigan these days as more and more people lose their job or struggle with pay cuts. Food insecurity is not neccesarily hunger, but it's one of the issues that food banks try to address. Food Gatherers recently published a study on food insecurity in Washtewnaw County. Among their more interesting findings: 

* Fresh vegetables aren't easy to access in poorer neighborhoods; Detroit and the city of Ypsilanti don't have supermarkets within their borders. Of the 124 stores in Washtenaw County that accept food stamps, only 36 sell fresh produce. 

* National studies show that high fat, high sugar foods are much cheaper than fresh fruits, vegetables and lean protein. To that point: $1 can buy about $1,200 calories in cookies or chips, but only 230 calories of carrots. 

* There's a clear link between poverty and poor health. In our county, about 32.1% of the general population has high cholesterol. But of those making less than $35,000 a year, 64.7% have high cholesterol. Just over 18% of the general population is obese, but 26.5% of the poorer population is obese. 

* Low-income families have an extremely high rate of food insecurity, with about 92% of parents saying they saying often skip meals or dole out smaller portions to make food last longer. 

That's where planting a row for the hungry comes in. If we can bring the produce from our harvest to Food Gatherers, they will distribute it to food banks, pantries, and to where ever else there is a need. The discussion on food insecurity makes me think about all the food I've donated to food banks in the past -- boxes of stuffing (lasts long, but is it all that healthy?), cereal, canned vegetables, soup (filling, but very high in sodium.) It would be lovely to help people feed their families the same way I try to feed my own: With healthy foods. 

Still, all that said, I love Clara and her Youtube cooking lessons, and am really tempted to make the Poor Man's meal for the kids. Hot dogs and fried potatoes -- oh my!