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Self-Sufficency

© Bob Ewing

While I was surfing the Net and planning last week's article, I began to give serious consideration to issues such as food security and self-sufficency. As I mentioned last week, cities such as Thunder Bay are largely depenent upon outside resources to provide much of their food. There are ways to change this, in varying degrees, but these take time to implement.

One of the best places to examine what can be done to increase food self-sufficency is to take a look at what has been done in Cuba. Now, of course, many places don't have the growing climate that exists in Cuba but we can learn from the permaculture techniques that they used and adopt them to our location specific situations.

Permaculture provides us with ideas that can increase our ability to rely upon ourselves. One of the places we can begin to improve our food security is to grow some of our own food. If you already have a vegetable garden, consider converting some of your lawn space into a garden. If you are interested in turning even more space into food production, consider designing your yard to be a food source and get rid of the grass all together.

Now take these ideas and apply them to your block or neighbourhood.

While this article is speculation, it contains much to consider when planning how you will use the space you have and how we may need to look at the land around us.

Access to land is a key consideration in any food security system and whether you own the land and grow all your own food or share the land with others, that access needs to be given much thought.

Let's return to what we can do right now. It does not matter how much land you have. Actually all you need is a container a few seeds and a sunny window. Or if you don't have that then think about sprouting. Begin where you are and work outwards from there.

Gardening can be a family experience and a learning one. Saving your own seeds not only saves you money but connects you with nature in a direct way.

For those interested in improving their family's self-sufficency, seed saving and gardening are important skills. However, they are only a small part of what you will need to know. Increase your knowledge and you will increase yours and your family's security.

The copyright of the article Self-Sufficency in From Field To Table is owned by Bob Ewing. Permission to republish Self-Sufficency in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.