Why grow food?

Jill Severn portrait

My brief, unscientific survey of why people garden turned up one over-arching truth: There are as many reasons to garden as there are gardeners. Each of us has our own list of explanations about why gardening is, at a minimum, a good idea and, for many, an absolute necessity.

What tops the list? Growing food.

Few American gardeners grow food out of absolute necessity. U. S. consumers spend 11.3 percent of our income on food, and one-third of that is spent on eating away from home. We spend less of our income on food we eat at home than people in any other country.

Still, for some people, homegrown food is an important budget-stretcher. But time is often stretched even more than budgets; time and space to garden can be unavailable.

That’s why it’s wonderful that local volunteers grow food and donate it. For example, the local Kiwanis Club manages three volunteer-staffed gardens that produce 20,000 pounds of produce a year. All of it is donated to the Thurston County Food Bank.

Even people who don’t need the income supplement of homegrown vegetables feel richer when they grow their own. When I stroll through the farmers market in late spring and see the hundreds of perfect lettuces and bunches of spinach for sale, it always reminds me that my little bed of garden greens makes me wealthy. And when there are ripe tomatoes in my garden, I completely lose my humility. I imagine myself striding through the market with a crown and scepter.

But of course, wealth is not the point; it’s wealth’s more generous cousin, abundance. No matter how many years a person may have grown tomatoes, garlic, parsley, or green beans, when they succeed – which is never a 100% sure bet – the sight of harvest-ready food draws joy and gratitude out of our every pore.

Many vegetable growers had a mentor who taught them to pay attention to seasons, sunlight, soil fertility, water, weeding, and the many tasks of plant tending. The mentor probably also taught some things that aren’t true, because the science about pesticides, soil management and best vegetable varieties continues to shift from one decade to the next.

The luckiest vegetable growers are the ones who come from the longest food-raising traditions and the closest relationships between plants and people. Local gardener and florist Rick Fagerudd says, “When I pull a carrot I planted in the ground, I feel a thousand years old.” He turns to poetry:

I can feel the relationship between people and earth, and when I pull that carrot I am reconnected with my ancestors.

I am reminded that I am grounded in this earth and a part of it, forever. It is in every gene of this body. And this body will become part of this earth.

Not everyone has that deep connection. Practical, unsentimental people also like to grow vegetables, and they also make good mentors and volunteers.

Most vegetable-growers are, like all gardeners, adapting to changing ideas about how to encourage pollinators, conserve water, and promote sustainability. There’s a stubborn subset, though, that do things the way they do them because they’ve always done them that way.

That’s a fact that doesn’t come from a survey. It comes from people I’ve known over a long gardening life – young and old, city and country, orderly and chaotic.

Orderly vegetable gardens are generally more productive. But one big reason why vegetable gardening draws people in for life is this: good things happen in vegetable gardens even when they’re neglected and overgrown. If they get enough light and water, it’s highly likely that vegetables will grow, food will be eaten, and gardeners will feel proud and grateful.

Once they’ve experienced success with vegetables, gardeners are likely to start thinking about berries, fruit trees, and flowers. For the practical-minded, flowers will come last. But when people do fall for flowers, well . . . that’s another phase of life.

Jill Severn writes from her home in Olympia, where she grows vegetables, flowers, and a small flock of chickens. She loves conversation among gardeners. Start one by emailing her at  jill@theJOLTnews.com