{"id":3134,"date":"2008-06-23T11:38:38","date_gmt":"2008-06-23T17:38:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress-367309-1145705.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=3134"},"modified":"2017-06-28T21:15:16","modified_gmt":"2017-06-29T01:15:16","slug":"reclaim-your-plate-the-sustainable-food-diet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/reclaim-your-plate-the-sustainable-food-diet\/","title":{"rendered":"Reclaim Your Plate! The Sustainable Food Diet"},"content":{"rendered":"

The jury is in<\/strong>: the most sustainable way to feed yourself is to grow your own food.<\/p>\n

There are many factors considered when evaluating food sustainability. \u00a0The primary concern is: what is the ratio between how much land is used, and how many calories are produced<\/em>?<\/p>\n

In asking this question, we can immediately eliminate meat from our sustainable diets. \u00a0Pigs and cows are extraordinarily “inefficient converters of grain energy to calories,” as put by the executive director of Steel City Biofuels<\/a>, speaking generally about fuel efficiency. \u00a0In her presentation about Organic Farming<\/em> during Pittsburgh’s Farm to Table Conference 2008<\/a>, Dr. Patricia DeMarco, executive director of the Rachel Carson Homestead<\/a>, noted that raising meat in the U.S. comprises 79% of all agricultural resource usage<\/a>. \u00a0While the health benefits of going vegan<\/a> will be endlessly debated, at least doing so will be much more healthful for our environment.<\/p>\n

The next question naturally becomes: how can we grow food in a way that nourishes the soil, produces a vast yield in a little space, and is maintained by nature?<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"Surprisingly, all of the above is easy to do, if you’re using the right methods. \u00a0John Jeavon’s book “How to Grow More Vegetables Than You Ever Thought Possible”<\/a> describes the biointensive method: growing food tightly together in ways that foster symbiotic relationships between plants<\/em>, like those that would organically occur in nature. \u00a0For instance, marigolds ward off common insect pests for their companion plants, tomatoes. \u00a0But biointensive gardening is more than just knowing companion plant lists and spacing maps.\u00a0\u00a0It is understanding that each time you take a piece of food that you grew out of the ground, you are removing nutrients and minerals from the earth. \u00a0It is essential that you find a way to return those resources. \u00a0Maintaining soil health is the cornerstone of sustainable agriculture.<\/p>\n

So you’re a greenie, just like me. \u00a0You believe in doing everything you can to live a more sustainable\"\"\u00a0lifestyle. \u00a0Now that you’ve got the facts about sustainable eating, \u00a0you recognize the importance of starting your own garden. \u00a0However, you were raised watching TV and eating potato chips on a couch. \u00a0If you’re like me, you know nothing whatsoever about gardening.<\/p>\n

In this case, where do you start?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Follow the instructions on the back of the seed packet, and put some seeds in the ground. \u00a0That’s what I did! \u00a0Even better, follow the biointensive guidebook to learn which plants thrive beside each other and which tend to compete for the same nutrients, and arrange your bounty properly. \u00a0Keep the seeds continually damp until they germinate. \u00a0Then provide lots of sun.\"\"<\/p>\n

I always believed there was something deceptively simple about that formula… but in my own practice, I found that ancient wisdom to be profoundly perfect.<\/p>\n

I am “camping” in an urban forest, where natural forces have reclaimed previously “residential” property. \u00a0Thus, my area’s soil is probably extremely unhealthy and heavily contaminated. \u00a0Knowing this, I planted beet, carrot, swiss chard, nasturtium, cucumber, bean, and radish seeds (all fairly shade-tolerant species), with some leaf compost, expecting nothing to grow. \u00a0And then, everything did<\/em>. \u00a0In concert with fermentation<\/a>, a person can grow many meals worth of vegetables and fruits–for all seasons–in one smart garden.<\/p>\n

Here are some helpful tips I picked up while being tutored in basic biointensive gardening for a segment for Sust Enable. \u00a0\"\"<\/p>\n