I've struggled with patience. Not being very patient has been a career enhancer for me, as a can-do, go-get-'em personality has been an asset at "start-ups" where I've worked such as CNN and USA TODAY, plus in running my own business these last 16 years. It has helped me start up the Sustainability Commission at the newest city in the United States, the first community garden in that city, and the Team Food Pantry growing effort to help those in need. But it doesn't help, really, when the daily find turns into the daily grind. And I am always looking for a new way to put the swashbuckling side of my nature to use, unimpeded by bureaucracy, negative energy, or artificial limits in any form. At the end of the day, I am looking to help in the way I can most help, and that is by using this trait. The way I've chosen next, as a culmination of many things that have happened over the last two months, gets me out there swinging bats again and does, at its root, require both patience and a complete lack of it. I have shown myself, finally, that I can actually be patient enough for it to matter. See yesterday's 30-second cuttings of two watermelons (a red one and a yellow one) for metaphoric evidence, as well as the photo above of yesterday's harvest from just my front lawn.
And so, the big idea. I asked Fred how I can help the Atlanta Community Food Bank the most. He said that he is concerned about Plant a Row for the Hungry, the program started in 1995 by the Garden Writers of America to encourage gardeners to donate food they grow to those in need. Fred says the food bank got 600 pounds the year the program started, and is up to 80,000 pounds already this year, but he says the media isn't covering it the way it used to and he is concerned participation will drop off next year.
Enough said. When Fred asks, I say yes. The lack-of-patience part of me needed to get going, now, immediately. So, yesterday, I designated a 4' x 25' row at my home garden as my Plant a Row for the Hungry (from which I aim to get 200 pounds of food for a donated value of $1000 in 2012), and I have proposed doing a similar one (you can see it marked off with string in the photo above--that one would be 40"--Fred likes 48", Rashid likes 40"--let's try both) at the 5-raised-bed garden we helped start at our local food pantry. That one would be starting from scratch, however, building soil with cover crops the way Fred does (that's the patience part), and costing practically nothing so that food pantry clients themselves could replicate it if they have a patch at home. (My home garden has been built up over the last two years with cover crops as well as other amendments I've grown/made and bought, so it's a little bit of a different model.) I am hoping to work directly with the food pantry clients to steward that row because Fred told me that as long as I stay close to the people in need, I will never be one who questions their need because it will be clear.My "big idea" with Farmer D involves this as well--helping folks grow for those in need by providing them with the info and insight they require to do so easily. That idea is in development and, if it happens, won't kick off until the new year (more patience). My goal is to document what happens with these simple rows, to give tools, tips, links, and resources to others around metro Atlanta, my country, and the world who want to do the same, and to make a measurable difference through a little bit of patience--and my general lack of it.
Here's the kick-off video for Operation Plant a Row 2012:
Here's the kick-off video for Operation Plant a Row 2012:
So look for Operation Plant a Row 2012 posts once a week (or so--am not getting hung up with rules here), here on our FoodShed Planet. And join me! It'll be fun, we'll learn a lot, and we'll do some good at a time when the world sure could use it.
See From Digging Hands to Desperate Hands on pages 120-121 of my book for more about Plant a Row for the Hungry.
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