Join the Movement to create a better life style for yourself, family and friends.
Victory Gardens Mean: -Better Food - Fresher, better tasting, straight off the plant food, money literally cannot buy!
- Better Health - More nutrition in just picked vegetables, grown without chemicals, while getting the kind of exercise many of us pay the gym for! Safety from industrial food contamination and toxic imports.
-Food Security - Food in your pots as prices get higher, supplies that can't be disrupted by energy shortages, greater regional self-sufficiency.
Thousands of new gardeners can make sure that we don't have to wait for distant food supplies to be trucked in - weeks after they are needed.
Every gardener makes your region more secure.
-Higher Quality of Life - A more beautiful environment, stronger community, a better environment.
-More Money in your Pocket, More Time for What Matters - If you don't need as much money for food, or to work as many hours to pay the grocery bills, you can use that money or take that time for what you really care about.
- The Chance to Serve Others and Create a More Just Society - Your Victory Garden can be a strike against hunger and poverty - you can have food to donate, and the ability to teach others to grow, and thus, eat for a lifetime.
- Reduce Corporate Power and Improve Democracy - We cannot simultaneously deplore the power corporations have in our society and depend on them to supply our most basic necessities.
If we stop giving our hard earned money to the corporations who undermine our democracy, they will be less powerful!
-Protect Against Climate Change - Humus rich soils, full of organic matter can sequester tons of carbon, quite literally - and grow the best vegetables.
We reduce our carbon emissions when we don't have to drive to the store or buy fossil fuel grown food.
-Reduce our Energy Dependence - Fossil fuels are used in agriculture, both industrial and industrial organic at every step, from the fertilizer in the ground to the refrigerated truck to plastic bag they come in.
We can eliminated fossil fuels from almost every step when we grow our own.
-Create Peace - We are at war for oil - reducing our fossil fuel dependency through Victory Gardens gives us hope for Peace in our time.
-Hope for the Future - In a changing world, the ability to grow food, to share and enjoy it, and to live in a healthy world full of beautiful gardens may be the best legacy we can our children and grandchildren.
Ok, so we agree that we need Victory Gardens.
How do we bring all the participants in this movement together, and create a real and national Victory Garden movement?
How do we bring together professional farmers, with Victory Farms and city Gardeners, schools and community resources, and backyard advocates?
How do we get Victory Gardening onto the national agenda?
How do we teach thousands of people how to grow, cook and eat their own, and why?
One part, of course, is the person to person work we're doing now.
The next step is to create a large-scale Victory Garden umbrella organization guided by people in every part of the Victory Garden movement - chefs and cooks helping people learn to eat, teachers helping children get involved, churches, corporations and community groups all putting gardens on public and private green spaces, local "garden farmer markets" where very small scale producers can exchange or sell their extra in their neighborhoods, climate change and energy activists working on this simple way to cut our energy usage and reduce atmospheric carbon.
That is, we need a movement - a real, serious movement.
And we can do this.
You can reach out to one neighbor, at least, and help them get started gardening.
Share seeds.
Talk to your community, your synagogue, mosque, church, neighbors, school about gardening.
Take a risk - for greater security later.
Plant a front-yard garden, centered around a "V" for Victory (cabbages look great like this, particularly mixed with nasturtiums or calendula, but use your imagination).
You can place your name here and your location in New Zealand and join the movement.
Email me at Wally Richards
Supply whatever details that you feel comfortable with being published on the web.
You may wish to just give as an example; Jack & Joan Smith, at whykickamoocow.
You may like to give contact details such as email or phone number, its up to you.
Wally & Marie Richards at Palmerston North, 3570606 or 0800 466464 email at Wally Richards
Donna Mummery at Wanganui,email Donna
Donna is part of a food group in Wanganui trying to get more people to garden.
Tamara Henry,
Naturescape NZ
Auckland email Tamara