First published May 22, 2008
In my mother’s autobiography, I’ll Never Marry A Farmer, she wrote, “I hate to see people go hungry. It hurts, especially when there’s no need for it. We are rich enough to feed everyone, and yet, somehow, we’re not quite smart enough or fair enough to do it.”
No truer words have been spoken. But perhaps there is a solution in our communities. There’s a brilliantly simple program called Plant A Row, Grow A Row that’s designed to reduce the number of incidences of people going hungry in our society.
The premise behind Plant A Row, Grow A Row is to encourage gardeners with a bit of extra garden to dedicate a little space to growing some fruits and vegetables for the food banks. And therein lies the beauty of the program: one doesn’t need to convert an entire yard to vegetable production to make an impact on hunger. All it takes is some collective spirit. If a lot of people dedicate a small corner of their gardens to a few hills of potatoes or to a small row of carrots, it translates into a lot of vegetables that can feed a lot of people.
If you want to give Plant A Row, Grow A Row a try but are wondering what to plant, my suggestion is root vegetables. The reason is simple: they store well.
There is no doubt that many recipients of food hampers would love nothing better than to sink their teeth into a ripe, fresh tomato, but the odds of that tomato becoming tomato paste while it’s stored at the food bank are high. Root vegetables such as carrots, parsnips, rutabaga, onions, potatoes and cabbage (a wannabe root vegetable in my books) will last for several months in reasonable storage facilities. In fact, stored at a low, single-digit temperature, onions and cabbage can easily last nine months.
Two important factors to keep in mind when growing vegetables for the food bank are category and variety. For example, if you are growing an extra row of carrots, choose a variety such as ‘Red Cored Chantenay’ rather than one of the Nantes types. Nantes are sweet and juicy and definitely the best choice for fresh eating, but the Chantenay and Danvers types are more resistant to breakage and store better. The same principle applies to cabbage. Early maturing cabbage varieties tend to be rather loose, split easily and don’t store well. Main season cabbage varieties, such as ‘Blue Thunder,’ are much more dense and rarely split, thus making far better choices for food banks. Similarly, rutabaga (the orange-fleshed winter keeper “turnip”) stores better than true turnip, which is white fleshed.
Regardless of what vegetables you choose to grow, keep in mind that they all do best in a sunny location. It really is that simple. In fact, growing a few extra vegetables doesn’t even require garden space. Pots are excellent for growing carrots, beets and even potatoes. Using soilless potting mix eliminates weeds and yields nice clean vegetables. Soil-free vegetables are not a necessity, but I’m sure they’d be a welcome bonus for the food banks.
Plant a row; grow a row. It just makes good sense. Years ago, I remember Mom saying, “I wish I had all the answers, but I don’t. I try, in my own way, to accept people for what they are and help wherever I can. I just know that we can’t afford to simply throw our hands up in the air and lament that there’s nothing we can do.”
I can’t say with certainty that Mom was referring to feeding those who were hungry, but I’m sure she would have agreed that instead of throwing our hands up in the air, a more intelligent strategy might be to put our hands in the ground and plant a few vegetables. Many hands, they say, make light work, and I couldn’t agree more.
Collectively we have tremendous power. Let’s make this the summer we prove it.
