{"id":2897,"date":"2013-01-01T08:00:20","date_gmt":"2013-01-01T13:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/?p=2897"},"modified":"2012-12-31T22:30:56","modified_gmt":"2013-01-01T03:30:56","slug":"garden-porn-and-teotwawki","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/2013\/01\/01\/garden-porn-and-teotwawki\/","title":{"rendered":"Welcome 2013: planting remedies to TEOTWAWKI"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

My kind of \u00a0centerfold: part of \u00a02011’s seed order<\/p><\/div>\n

Two good dumps of deep snow in Ottawa should make skiing a top priority. But I’ve been laid up with a persistant cold and need to lull the pesky germs into remission.\u00a0Looking for a low-energy pick-me-up, out came the seed\u00a0catalogs. An earthy version of soft-core\u00a0pornography\u00a0– all that looking and imagining the possibilities!<\/p>\n

Running an Internet search (on ways to use worm compost no less) I ran into to an unfamiliar acronym:\u00a0TEOTWAWKI. For those who do not already know the term,\u00a0any guesses?<\/p>\n

REM<\/a> or Great Big Sea<\/a> fans can hum a few bars. It’s The End Of The World, As We Know It.<\/p>\n

So<\/em> many ways to worry.<\/p>\n

Is the U.S. political system still functional? Unresolved European debt crisis = another global\u00a0recession? Multiple, massive weather events that hit whole regions. World population never bigger and still growing. Oh, and who can forget the elephant in the room: is global warming happening? If so, are we already living TEOTWAWKI?<\/p>\n

I’ve just always liked the goal of greater self-sufficiency. Not because I’m sure the grid is going down soon with mayhem to follow. I just think the lifestyle brings its own rewards.<\/p>\n

Others have got this disaster stuff down to a science. It might look like a science of galloping paranoia. Or a reasonable response to increasing signs of instability. Go ahead, chart yourself on one of many survivalist websites<\/a>. (This mind-set is pretty well linked into gun culture too, but let’s just set that aside for the moment.)<\/p>\n

The thing is, the subject does bear some thought.<\/p>\n

After all, perfectly conventional experts highly recommend that every household be prepared for at least a few days of \u00a0relative self-sufficiency. Why? Because stuff happens: big weather, power outages or just your run-of-the-mill\u00a0zombie\u00a0apocalypse<\/a>.<\/p>\n

My thoughts are also more focused on these issues because of some recent sick-bed reading. Joe Salatin’s “Folks, this ain’t normal<\/a>” and “The Man Who Planted Trees:\u00a0Lost Groves<\/em>,\u00a0<\/a>Champion Trees, and an Urgent Plan to Save the Planet<\/a>“, <\/em>by\u00a0Jim Robbins. (Read more about the effort to clone “champion trees<\/a>” here.)<\/p>\n

Of course reading about the current state of the environment or our food production woes can be pretty gloomy. (Really, home gardening starts to seem like one of the smallest reasonable responses!)<\/p>\n

Assuming life on this planet muddles along, this garden year, I’ll be trying to hedge some bets, weather wise. I’ll order the usual items, and add some extra packets of “insurance”: drought tolerant varieties and more open-pollenated standards. (I already save my own seed for a number of crops, but one can always do better and further the ever-practical seed saving<\/a> movement.)<\/p>\n

BTW,\u00a0according\u00a0to a December news release from my local watershed authority<\/a>\u00a0my region has slipped back into what’s called a level 1 low water advisory. After a bad summer, it was also a bad fall, rain-wise. According to the RVCA, “The November rainfall was close to half the previous low for the month in the last 40 years and about 20 percent of normal.”\u00a0Let’s hope all the recent snow will help\u00a0alleviate\u00a0that.<\/p>\n

Gardeners, how do you plan to be ready for what 2013 brings, weather wise?<\/p>\n

Non-gardeners, are you still content to let the market supply your needs?<\/p>\n

Everyone, are you thinking about self-sufficiency and preparedness issues any more than you once did?<\/p>\n

NCPR has always made a point of reporting on farming and food – because eating is fun and how food is produced really matters. But – to paraphrase Ellen Rocco’s end-of-year message – there’s no resting on the laurels.<\/p>\n

David Sommerstein and Julie Grant are kicking off a central site with lots more of that good stuff, called\u00a0“The Dirt”<\/a>. \u00a0The two bring some\u00a0impressive\u00a0expertise<\/a> to the topic. I hope you’ll check it out and help keep that conversation vibrant.<\/p>\n

Long term – no\u00a0matter what does (or doesn’t) fall over some proverbial cliff – gardening is a marvelous source of pleasure, health and security.<\/p>\n

Best wishes for a Happy New Year, with more great growing and food reporting ahead.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two good dumps of deep snow in Ottawa should make skiing a top priority. But […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[884,87,8644,8645,8641,8642,8643],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2897"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2897"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2897\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2921,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2897\/revisions\/2921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}