posted 1 month ago
While responding to the thread asking if growing your own was worth it, I started thinking about the "aha" moments in my life that led me on my permaculture path.
The very first moment was when I was probably eight or nine and my great-grandmother was spreading chemical fertilizer over whatever it was we'd just planted. I was eager to help and she said I couldn't unless I had gloves on. That prompted me to question why we would spread something that required gloves over what we intended to eat? I believe the response was "that's just what we do." As an adult I used fertilizer the first year of our garden as my first husband insisted because again that's just how things are done. I was already an avid reader of Organic Gardening magazines and had spent many hours reading the back issues a great-aunt always passed on to my grandmother, so I knew there was alternatives to chemicals. The garden quickly became my responsibility and I took a stand and never used chemicals again and while it may not have initially produced as well as it did that first year, it never completely failed to produce.
My father-in-law was also a firm believer in chemical fertilizers and ranted that we were wasting out time planting without it. I planted beans in his garden and spread fertilizer to his specifications and then went home and planted beans out of the same pack in my garden. His beans produced enough for two meals nmy beans produced enough for both families through the summer.
My grandmother's garden consistently got worse every year and I truly believe the soil was depleted. We trucked in a couple loads of rotted cow manure but unfortunately we also trucked in a lot of weed seeds too. Her health was declining and I was working too much and had little time to help her tend it, so the next year her garden consisted of a single tomato plant in a washtub of rich soil and compost and it flourished! The following year she asked for more containers and she added a pepper plant which also flourished! Unfortunately the following year she was diagnosed with cancer and passed away in June. My daughter and I moved in temporarily and that container garden expanded even more. It became a thing of joy for my grandmother as she tried to make a trip outside every day to see the progress. Neighbors mostly shook their heads when they heard I wasn't using fertilizers and seemed disgusted when I showed them the smelly bucket of comfrey tea. I had plans to start piling leaves, grass clippings and anything else I could get my hands on to her old garden area to try and rejuvenate it, but my parents decided on a new garden area and unfortunately my dad insists on chemical fertilizers too.
So while my initial "aha" moment came at an early age, the latter two were simply a reminder that if you don't take care of the soil, the soil won't be able to take care of you. And I do have my mom converted to no-till, mulch and organic fertilizers on her small vegetable plot at home.
Forever creating a permaculture paradise!
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