Talking the Talk

At 11:30 tomorrow, at Washington Park in Alameda, I get to be part of (half of?) a panel discussion on Growing Food Locally. Eric made a crack that it's hard to grow food remotely, at least for the grower, but still.

So I'm hoping to be poised, and articulate, and convincing. Maybe I'll take a bowl of artichokes and a head of lettuce and some snow peas for visual interest.


Sometimes it's actually difficult for me to talk about gardening. It's something akin to going out and telling other people that breathing, for instance, is important, and good to do, and lots of fun. I simply do not feel right in my own skin if I'm not growing something. So to articulate why growing food is not a fringe activity, not a vague hobby, but a central right and privilege, well, I get sort of tongue-tied.

After all, in a culture that outsources nearly every activity, where making even a birthday cake from scratch verges on a dark art, knowing your food intimately from seed to table does seem outrageously fringy.

Or at least it did. If my zeitgeist-sensor is as reliable as it ever has been, there's going to be a bit of preaching to the choir. Hopefully someone will be moved to scrape up some dirt and put something edible into it.