"Food" Reflective Response

“Small and mid-size farms are owned by individual farmers or families, as opposed to corporations, and exemplify the traditional view of farmers (Robertson, 2017, p. 225.).”

I started a garden!

This class has actually given me such hopes for it too because I’ve taken what I’ve learned from various trips and applied it in a way that’s going to benefit me and my family in the long run. Gardening and growing our own fruits and vegetables has become a bonding experience for me and my four-year-old nephew, Cayden. He gets so excited to come over and see how much bigger they have grown since the last time he was there. He also makes a big deal to “feed the plants”. It’s been almost a competition between us to see who’s vegetables are going to grow the fastest and the biggest—he’s winning by leaps and bounds. Man, those green bean plants grow fast. We did have a little mishap with my mom's cat treating himself to an evening snack one night and eating all the leaves off the top of them–but they’re growing back, so no harm done.

Critters getting into our plants wasn’t something I’d prepared for. And it’s definitely given me a lot to think about, as we have a lot of bunnies that run through our yards.

We’re growing 2 types of green beans, tomatoes, elephant garlic, 2 different types of radishes, heirloom carrots, spicy chili peppers, sweet bell peppers (green and rainbow), golden onions, leaf lettuce, merclum garden mix lettuce, corn, green onions/chives, cucumbers, spinach, and watermelon. So there’s definitely a lot there and I’m still learning about each type as we go.

Photos by Jenna & Cayden (Hodge, 2022)

I didn’t know that a lot of different types require transplanting. I also had no idea that most can’t grow close together so now I have to replant certain ones. I also planted a bunch of different types together and didn’t consider that some will grow a lot faster and need to be replanted into new pots, so I’ll have to be extra careful not to disturb or mess up the surrounding vegetables. But overall, we’re having SO much fun!

Reference:

Robertson, M. (2017). Sustainability Principles and practice. Routledge.

Photos:

(Hodge, 2022)