The Revolution Begins in the Garden [#13]

The other day at the market in Ortigueira, I got my vegetables as usual from Quique, who grows organically. I love his produce. It tastes amazing, and I know it is the healthiest I can get around here until we are growing more self-sufficient on the land.

He wore a T-shirt saying: “La revolución empieza en la huerta,” which translates to “The revolution begins in the garden”.

That got me thinking.

Food is often one of the major expenses in a household budget, along with rent/mortgage and other expenses.

That puts us in a dependent spot.

The odds for starting a revolution against an exploitative system organised around profit maximisation are not good - at least for people in cities without access to land. Because if you stopped working to protest the system, you would not earn money to buy food from the supermarket and would starve.

Most people don’t question the system. They take it for granted that there are always things to buy in the supermarket. They assume that what they buy in the supermarket is healthy for them. And that it will always be like that.

But that’s the old way of thinking.

Working in the agro-food sector for the last few years, I learned a lot about how this system works. Therefore, I don’t think this will go on forever.

“Despite all of our accomplishments, we owe our existence to a six-inch layer of topsoil and the fact that it rains”
- Paul Harvey

Both of these two essentials of our existence are shifting. Soils are degrading and eroding through degenerative practices, and rainfall is becoming extreme (more floods and droughts).

70% of soils in the European Union are now degraded, meaning that the food grown there has few nutrients and most come from artificial fertiliser. Add the pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides needed to grow monocultures on that kind of soil, and you get a poisonous mix that is then sold in the supermarket. If you relate that to the rise of cancer and other sicknesses, you get a nice correlation.

Due to the decline in soil health, the nutrient density of food has plummeted. Nowadays, you have to eat 8 Oranges to get the vitamins that you got by eating 1 in the 1960s.

The motive for food companies is to make the most profit, not to provide nutritious food at reasonable costs for everyone.

How have your food prices changed in the last 5 years?

To eat healthy, nutrient-dense food is a luxury nowadays.

The vegetables you buy in the average supermarket have around 20% of the nutrients that they could have. If you have ever tasted a tomato from a garden and then one from the supermarket, you can tell the difference in taste.

Then, Corona has shown that the supply chains of food are not as resilient as they should be.

It is for these reasons, combined with increasing weather extremes & geopolitical tensions, that the future of food is local.

It makes sense for many reasons:

• Less transport costs (and less emissions)
• Fresher produce, because of the short ways
• You can go where the veggies are grown and see how it’s being done –> better relationship between grower and consumer
• More resilience to supply chain shocks
• You will eat more seasonal vegetables, which is healthier for your body
• Ideally, higher nutrient density, if growers adopt regenerative practices
• Empowerment of smallholder farms vs. big corporations

So, how do we get there? More importantly, how can you support that transition?

Here are 3 ways to do this:

Support local growers

This depends largely on where you are located. But since we largely vote for the world we want to live in by spending money, a reasonable way to develop a local, resilient food ecosystem is to spend money on it.

If you are lucky enough to have a local market in your town, start going there and see what’s on offer. Go for the small local stands. Ask how they produce. Build relationships. And buy from them.

As these direct sales don’t go through the monopoly supermarket chains that take a 30% margin on the products sold, it might even be cheaper.

Where I live, I have learned to love that market environment also for meeting the local community, having a coffee, and nourishing place-based relationships.

If your town doesn’t have that, there are platforms that connect you directly to farmers, such for example ​crowdfarming​ or more local veggie box delivery services.

I guess it is fitting to say: Put your money where your mouth is ;-)

Join a Community Supported Agriculture Association

Another model to make food systems more local, resilient and nourishing is to join a Community Supported Agriculture Association, if that is available in your region.

The idea here is that a farm (or group of farms) produces for its community members (e.g. 150- 200 people). The community pays a subscription, and depending on availability, some members come to help out to help with harvesting or packing the food boxes for the members.

There are many advantages to that system:

• Increased planning security for the farmer and preservation of the business
• Risk distribution between farmers and prosumers
• Direct contact and exchange between farmers and prosumers
• Prosumers gain access to spaces of experience and education (knowledge about cultivation, maintenance and production of food)
• Transparency along the value chain (cultivation, harvesting and processing)
• Support of regional businesses and reinforcement of local eco-cycles

Search for a directory in your country for community-supported agriculture (or German: Solidarische Landwirtschaft).

I believe this is a model for the future, as it provides what conscious growers need: community support, security, and predictable finances.

Start growing yourself

Again, this depends on your level of privilege and access to land. But I do believe self-sufficiency is a mindset. It starts by just growing some nice herbs at home to season your food. It is teaching care and attention and adding so much more taste.

We are so disconnected from our food. I believe it would have a positive impact on our children and us if we nurtured that connection more. There are plenty of studies showing how green spaces, like gardens, are lowering stress, and by learning how hard it can be to grow specific vegetables, we develop more appreciation for it (and the people who do that for a living).

“Once in your life you may need a doctor, a lawyer, a policeman, and a preacher, but every day, three times a day, you need a farmer.”
- Brenda Schoepp

In addition to that, I think it’s a great skill to be able to grow your own vegetables. From the simple start of having fresh herbs in your kitchen or on your balcony, to growing some plants like Zucchini or tomatoes in pots, to renting a plot and growing a whole variety of different vegetables - this is a key ingredient for more resilience and independence.

On a broader, wide-boundary lens, I deeply believe that we need more villages and communities that decide to grow their vegetables together, to build community, to care for animals, and to harvest and process the produce together. And then throw a nice party after harvest season. ;-)

If you had told me a few years ago that I would be so keen on growing my own vegetables, I would have laughed.

But learning how few nutrients are in the food from the supermarket, how food prices are expected to rise exponentially 3%+ every year from now on, and realizing that growing a garden is making me and my community more independent, I can’t see a better way forward to take care of my own health & the planet.

“There are no passengers on spaceship Earth. We are all crew.”
- Marshall McLuhan

Maybe starting a garden is a revolution in itself.

Happy growing!
Jonas