For some reason this subject has come up several times recently. What I mean by amateur foods are those grown in someone’s home garden.
Many of us know what it’s like to have a glut of zucchini’s (courgettes) or when all 100 apples come ripe on your tree at the same time. You give them away or you have methods of processing and storing them. You may have neighbors or friends to give them to. Since I grow about 1000 bulbs of garlic every year, it’s always a bit of an issue to find people to eat them.
What about selling them or giving them away to other people in your community?
President Obama has the stated purpose of producing fresh vegetables for a local homeless soup kitchen. James recently posted about an initiative in his community to encourage hobby gardeners to offer their excess to others. I got an email from Maureen telling me about her new site, The Farmers Garden, set up to match people offering their home grown fruits and veggies with those looking for offerings.
I must admit, while I usually try to be positive and encouraging, I’m also not shy about dismissing impossible sounding ideas. I wasn’t very encouraging in my reaction to either of these initiatives.
The basic problem is this. Being a market farmer is a very special skill, and takes considerable effort and dedication. In most places in the world it’s difficult or impossible to run such an operation financially without government assistance. Certainly it’s all but impossible in the face of government subsidized factory farms, or cheap imported alternatives.
While market shoppers may not be as picky as some, everyone expects their food to be reasonably free of blemishes, insect damage and generally look good. Harvest gluts need to be managed with succession plantings and other season extension methods. Varieties of plants need to be selected that fit in with the general business model of a market farm, and these are usually different from what we choose to grow at home. A selection of produce needs to be offered that’s consistent with buying most of your food in a single place, and since people eat 365 days a year this sort of variety needs to be offered year round. Most of us also depend on a relationship with the person we buy our food from, in order to have some assurance of it’s quality and safety. It’s a tall order.
As much as I like the idea of communities coming together and sharing their food, and it’s certainly a great way to meet your neighbors, in my opinion what can come from a home garden is no substitute for market farmers. It doesn’t matter if a whole community offers their excess produce. It doesn’t seem like this kind of system will ever be able to provide a significant contribution to local food needs. Or can it?
Hopeless idea or food system of the future?
Does anyone have first hand knowledge of a working system like this?
