3 minute read
Notes from Razberry Lane: Growing food in a changing climate
Growing food in a changing climate
BY ANITA & HENRY RASMUSSEN
Advertisement
To paraphrase Bob Dylan, the climate it’s a changin’.
This summer’s heat waves in the northern hemisphere alone reached a full five degrees higher than any on previous record. In Europe, downpours washed away whole villages in Germany and Belgium. Devastating fires and massive flooding are daily news items, no longer relegated to poorer countries like Bangladesh and Africa where disaster and starvation are endemic. Here in one of the richest countries of the world, drought stalks the prairies, forcing cattle farmers to contemplate getting rid of their stock because they won’t be able to feed them over winter. Wildfires are becoming more frequent, more frightening and harder to control here and elsewhere. Scientists predict that the next twenty years or so will bring much of the same.
Faced with such challenges, we as individuals tend to feel powerless. We ask ourselves how we can possibly halt the juggernaut that is ahead. We could always just ignore it, go on with business as usual or leave it to the government to fix somehow. The trouble with that approach is that governments, however well-meaning, tend to be short-lived, lasting about four years at a stretch, and their innovations are often not part of the vision or priorities of their successors.
So that brings us back to individuals. What can we do?
We can begin by taking stock of our own situation and our backyards in particular. For example, just how useful is that vast expanse of grass that has to be cut and trimmed every week or so?
Perhaps we can take a page from the Brits who, faced with wartime food shortages, turned their flower beds and lawns into Victory Gardens, augmenting their rationed diets with healthy homegrown food. Let’s look at that backyard with new eyes and picture a few raised beds of lovely vegetables next spring and summer. Even the least experienced gardener can grow a bed of potatoes as well as many root vegetables like beets, onions, and carrots. These keep for months in that extra fridge many of us have in our basements. The more adventurous will freeze and keep corn, beans, and perhaps even can a few jars of tomatoes for winter, a surprisingly simple process. Fruit and berries can be stored in the freezer or made into jams and jellies as well. We’ve covered these processes in past issues of the Area News and there’s tons of information online. You can also check out Bob Stewart’s jam recipe on page 60.
Though seemingly insignificant in the grand scheme of things, every backyard gardening effort is a step towards self-sufficiency by allowing us to take some control of our own food supply. More tips on this are available in “Pandemic lessons learned: Sustainable eating and living” on page 35.
What may seem like a hopeless and trivial task in the face of a global crisis can make a real difference when multiplied by many households. By taking a measure of responsibility for our own food sources, we help in a small way to slow down the dire consequences of a changing climate. You may recall the old story of the thousands of beached starfish that someone was throwing back into the sea one by one. When asked why he bothered when he could not possibly save them all, he replied that it mattered to each particular starfish.
It takes concerted effort to make an effect. Affecting climate change can be likened to stopping a large ship on a certain collision course. It can’t be stopped on a dime. But if enough people take on some personal responsibility it may not be too late to make a difference.
Remember the starfish.
