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| Still pretty but some sun, water and lot's of love will make them strong soon |
In our food-supply we have made ourselves completely
dependent on supermarkets. While it is so much more fun to do it yourself.
Before industrialization started most people grew (at least
some of) their own food. There were no supermarkets yet. Let go of fridges and
freezers which could keep the produce fresh for a couple of days. In summer the
strawberries and other fruits where picked and eaten. Special treatments
enabled the people to conserve the surpluses for periods in which less food was
available. Many houses even had special cabinets with a stable temperature in
their houses.
In this period it wasn’t even strange to have a pig or some
goats around your house. Despite the smell people profited from the presence of
these animals. In times when food was plenty, they could eat the leftovers and
grow. In times when food was scarce, the ‘pet’ was eaten. It was a normal
lifecycle which everyone excepted because it was the only way to survive.
Now we in cities cannot really accept the neighbor having a
smelly and maybe also noisy animal in the garden. Eat least not a kind of
animal which you could also eat in cases the supermarkets are empty.
The current trend on food manly focuses on the growing of
vegetables and fruits in and around the city. It is a good trend since finally
people start to value their food again, it brings people together and it saves
energy for transporting the foods you normally buy at the supermarket. But it
can’t feed all of us.
After being interested in the relation between food, people
in cities for four years now, I finally started to bring my theoretical
knowledge into practice: I grow my own food. Well, not really food but
tomatoes. And it is such fun. From planting seeds into the soil, watering them to
the moment the seeds to pop-up. And then the growing process. It’s unbelievable
to see how fast these seeds change into small plants which are - hopefully - within
a few months strong enough to carry beautiful tomatoes.
If there’s too many to eat, I will definitely use some old
tricks to conserve them so I could enjoy my work until next spring. Or I can
call you in. I’ll keep you updated.
