We have been able to harvest a lot of strawberries and raspberries this year as you can see in the photos! It rained a lot earlier in the month and the garden exploded - especially the strawberries! I have also harvested quite a bit of rhubarb and I think that will go on all summer.
One of the things I think about often is how we would actually feed ourselves with our garden. We have a lot of food in it now and we are developing some perennial beds, but most of what we eat still comes from the store. I think the reality is that if we want to feed ourselves with the fruits of our own labor it will truly become labor!
Mollie is in China right now so we have been watching a lot of movies about China while she is gone. Today I watched a movie about planting and harvesting rice, and I realized all over again how an agrarian lifestyle is really a lifestyle, not just a hobby. People have been harvesting rice in some of the established riced fields for hundreds of years and their whole lives revolve around the planting and harvesting of rice. The neighbors work together and the community is centered around the rice fields.
Saul and I work full time and Mollie is in school, so it is not possible for our lives to center around our garden. What we do is more than a hobby, and luckily I have the summers off, but we are far from true farmers.
However, right now I am sitting on the front porch looking at our garden while across the street several of our neighbors are working in the community garden. More and more people in Yellow Springs are starting to garden and we are building a community around sharing food and plants. It's not the same as the old established farming communities, but it's a good thing happening!
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