WEBVTT - Victory Gardens and Better Days Ahead 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:03.960 So in the middle of March, with COVID pandemic and 0:00:04.040 --> 0:00:06.920 full swing in New York City, I started to get 0:00:07.000 --> 0:00:08.960 nervous about I was nervou spent a lot of things. 0:00:09.000 --> 0:00:11.280 I was nervous about my restaurant's closing. I was nervous 0:00:11.320 --> 0:00:14.440 about the health of myself and my family, and and 0:00:14.480 --> 0:00:16.800 what my kids were going to do in terms of school, 0:00:16.840 --> 0:00:21.280 and and But I also, and maybe because I spend 0:00:21.320 --> 0:00:23.200 a lot of time of thinking about the food system, 0:00:23.400 --> 0:00:26.560 I kind of started, you know, wondering whether or not 0:00:27.440 --> 0:00:29.760 our entire food system was going to come to a halt, 0:00:29.800 --> 0:00:33.120 whether farmers would continue to grow crops, whether people farm 0:00:33.159 --> 0:00:35.680 hands were gonna get out there and pick and process food, 0:00:35.720 --> 0:00:38.440 whether or not the distribution channels to get that food 0:00:38.440 --> 0:00:41.600 into the supermarket was going to break down. What was 0:00:41.640 --> 0:00:44.160 going to happen if the entire system came to a halt. 0:00:44.840 --> 0:00:48.320 My thoughts turned towards my garden in my home. I 0:00:48.400 --> 0:00:51.640 have a small little house in North farkh Long Island, 0:00:51.680 --> 0:00:55.840 and I started gardening about six seven years ago, and 0:00:56.480 --> 0:00:59.440 I started thinking, I gotta get out there, I gotta 0:00:59.480 --> 0:01:02.440 start planting team because I may have to use this 0:01:02.560 --> 0:01:04.920 garden to survive and feed my family. In fact, I 0:01:04.959 --> 0:01:08.280 remember having this conversation with with my wife and because 0:01:08.319 --> 0:01:10.959 we were talking about, right, let's figure out what's essential 0:01:11.200 --> 0:01:13.560 in terms of going forward for the next couple of months. 0:01:13.600 --> 0:01:15.160 And I said, I gotta go out in the garden, 0:01:15.440 --> 0:01:19.399 and yes, I cook from my garden, so that's also enjoyable. 0:01:19.880 --> 0:01:22.440 And I turned and said, no, this isn't about enjoying something. 0:01:22.440 --> 0:01:24.440 This is about survival. I think we may need this 0:01:24.480 --> 0:01:27.200 food to few of our family. My privilege here is 0:01:27.240 --> 0:01:29.559 showing because I had the property and I had a garden. 0:01:29.720 --> 0:01:32.959 What if you don't. What if you are going through 0:01:32.959 --> 0:01:35.559 the same struggles, and maybe you have a small little 0:01:35.560 --> 0:01:37.840 bit of land in your backyard. You've never garden before, 0:01:37.880 --> 0:01:41.319 you've never thought about gardening before, where do you start? 0:01:42.000 --> 0:01:44.440 A lot of people started with those seed companies. People 0:01:44.520 --> 0:01:47.760 started gardening, and they started turning to the soil to 0:01:47.800 --> 0:01:50.640 take back that sovereignty. And so so for this episode, 0:01:51.320 --> 0:01:53.640 we're going to explore this people who are new to 0:01:53.640 --> 0:01:58.920 gardening and a whole system of and years of not 0:01:59.040 --> 0:02:02.160 being able to farm for their communities and what they're 0:02:02.160 --> 0:02:07.560 doing to take back that food sovereignty. Let's jump in 0:02:08.840 --> 0:02:11.840 so during this time, when people started to grow their 0:02:11.919 --> 0:02:14.280 COVID gardens, they turned to seed companies. That's where it 0:02:14.280 --> 0:02:17.880 all begins. You had these websites crashed. In fact, Burpies 0:02:17.919 --> 0:02:20.960 I think sold more seeds in March than any month 0:02:21.000 --> 0:02:23.959 in their hundred forty four year history. Food gardening is 0:02:24.040 --> 0:02:29.320 up quite a bit. People want to One local plant 0:02:29.360 --> 0:02:35.960 shop is seeing demand rise. Johnny's Seeds saw sales jump 0:02:36.040 --> 0:02:39.240 two hundred and sevent the week after COVID was declared 0:02:39.280 --> 0:02:42.240 a national emergency in mid Mark. Victory gardens played a 0:02:42.280 --> 0:02:44.960 big role on the home front during the dark days 0:02:45.040 --> 0:02:49.680 of World War Two. They're back. So we're just gonna 0:02:49.760 --> 0:02:53.800 check in and uh see if people are actually um 0:02:54.040 --> 0:02:58.720 planting more gardens and um buying way more seeds than 0:02:58.760 --> 0:03:01.880 they need, kind of freaking out about the food supply 0:03:01.919 --> 0:03:04.800 in general. Let's hear from journalists Morgan Levy who talked 0:03:04.840 --> 0:03:08.000 to farmers and business owners in Montana about the pandemics 0:03:08.000 --> 0:03:11.280 effect on their business. Um so so, Morgan, who did 0:03:11.280 --> 0:03:14.240 you an interview from Triple Divide Seed co Op. I 0:03:14.360 --> 0:03:17.600 talked to Leslie Klein, who was the manager or who 0:03:17.680 --> 0:03:20.639 is the manager of Triple Divide Organic Seed co Op 0:03:21.040 --> 0:03:24.760 and I interviewed her at their seeds storage room, so 0:03:24.840 --> 0:03:28.640 it was pretty quiet room. That wasn't great background audio 0:03:28.720 --> 0:03:30.520 to hear see. Those seeds don't make a whole of them. 0:03:30.800 --> 0:03:33.600 They don't. But I did ask her to read the 0:03:33.720 --> 0:03:36.840 names of some of these seed packets because they are 0:03:37.520 --> 0:03:40.520 sort of beautifully named and it it sounded like poetry 0:03:40.600 --> 0:03:44.280 as she was reading them. Um. But yeah, Leslie and 0:03:44.320 --> 0:03:49.760 I had a great conversation about the uh crazy popularity 0:03:50.080 --> 0:03:54.600 of organic seeds this year. Yeah you know, I didn't. 0:03:54.600 --> 0:03:56.560 I didn't recognize the name. But when you told me 0:03:56.600 --> 0:04:00.120 about the crazy names and I now I know you're 0:04:00.160 --> 0:04:03.200 talking about. Um I I kind of, you know, started 0:04:03.200 --> 0:04:06.000 gardening a few years back, and I kind of joke 0:04:06.080 --> 0:04:09.040 around that, uh I started reading seed catalogs like I 0:04:09.080 --> 0:04:10.800 used to look at Playboy. I guess when I was 0:04:10.840 --> 0:04:16.160 sixteen or so. Names, well the names in the ritals, 0:04:16.320 --> 0:04:19.920 and um, you know, you realize that there's so many 0:04:19.920 --> 0:04:24.200 possibilities and so what what what what did you learn? What? What? What? 0:04:24.200 --> 0:04:25.720 What is going on? Is I know that you know 0:04:26.040 --> 0:04:29.200 a couple of seed companies like Johnny's and Baker Creek, 0:04:29.360 --> 0:04:32.039 they actually had a shut down for a period of time. Yeah, 0:04:32.120 --> 0:04:34.479 so what did you learn? So Triple Divide is a 0:04:34.560 --> 0:04:36.960 smaller seed co op. They're not one of the really 0:04:37.000 --> 0:04:39.840 big ones, and they are a small company, but they 0:04:39.880 --> 0:04:43.800 are growing consistently every year. However, usually most of their 0:04:43.839 --> 0:04:48.799 sales come from racks that are in retail stores. Um. 0:04:48.839 --> 0:04:52.400 But when COVID hit and in Montana we really shut 0:04:52.440 --> 0:04:56.080 down at the end of March, there online sales skyrocketed. 0:04:56.440 --> 0:05:00.800 I think in March last year they had eleven online orders. 0:05:00.920 --> 0:05:03.000 This year they had eighty, and most of them came 0:05:03.040 --> 0:05:06.719 in the last two weeks of March. And uh, it 0:05:06.800 --> 0:05:09.520 was an overwhelming amount of growth, so much so that 0:05:09.600 --> 0:05:12.440 Leslie said she had to shut down the website a 0:05:12.480 --> 0:05:15.839 couple of times, and then in mid May they actually 0:05:16.080 --> 0:05:19.240 shut down the website for the summer um. And that 0:05:19.360 --> 0:05:24.040 was because Leslie is a farmer herself, she is, you know, busy, 0:05:24.240 --> 0:05:27.200 and it was it was overwhelming, and because of COVID, 0:05:27.400 --> 0:05:29.520 she had to be doing the fulfilling most of these 0:05:29.600 --> 0:05:32.279 orders on her own. She couldn't have a lot of 0:05:32.279 --> 0:05:36.320 people in there together. Um. But it was such an 0:05:36.360 --> 0:05:40.920 overwhelming um number of sales that even they ran out 0:05:40.920 --> 0:05:46.400 of seed packets even because across the country, organic seed 0:05:46.440 --> 0:05:51.240 companies were you know, having these explosive sales, and the 0:05:51.400 --> 0:05:55.279 seed packet company was you know, slammed, so they had 0:05:55.320 --> 0:05:58.279 to be hand labeling packets and it was I think 0:05:59.200 --> 0:06:02.520 I think she was grateful for the sales, but also 0:06:02.560 --> 0:06:06.080 overwhelmed by them, and so she is, Um, these are 0:06:06.120 --> 0:06:09.080 seeds for for gardeners, not farmers. She's not doing bulk 0:06:09.120 --> 0:06:11.799 seeds for corn and soy. They do have different amounts 0:06:11.800 --> 0:06:13.520 they sell to. I think they sell to both, but 0:06:13.560 --> 0:06:16.920 they have no way of really differentia differentiating on their 0:06:16.960 --> 0:06:19.599 in their online sales, so she just wasn't tracking who 0:06:19.680 --> 0:06:22.680 specifically she was selling to. UM. She did tell me 0:06:22.720 --> 0:06:25.000 that I think some of the bigger companies sort of 0:06:25.040 --> 0:06:28.920 stopped selling to home gardeners and just sold to bigger 0:06:28.960 --> 0:06:31.920 farmers just so they get fulfill those orders. All right. 0:06:32.160 --> 0:06:36.120 Did she know whether the increased traffic was from recent 0:06:36.200 --> 0:06:40.360 our new gardeners and UM, I'm wondering if she had 0:06:40.400 --> 0:06:45.440 a helpline for those gardeners like me that I planted 0:06:45.640 --> 0:06:49.000 I planned my you know, my peppers and they're not 0:06:49.080 --> 0:06:51.360 growing and what do I do right? Help me? Right? 0:06:51.400 --> 0:06:53.400 And she she doesn't really have a way to check, 0:06:53.440 --> 0:06:56.640 but she does know where who, where geographically people are 0:06:56.720 --> 0:06:59.279 ordering from. And these are seeds that are produced in 0:06:59.320 --> 0:07:02.360 Montana and do really well in Montana. They might do 0:07:02.480 --> 0:07:04.440 well and somewhere else in the country that has similar 0:07:04.560 --> 0:07:06.880 weather to us, but we have a really short growing season, 0:07:07.000 --> 0:07:11.480 so she would seeing people ordering different seed varietals at 0:07:11.480 --> 0:07:13.640 a different part of the country way late in the 0:07:13.720 --> 0:07:16.880 season and saying, oh, gosh, I hope they're not planting 0:07:16.920 --> 0:07:19.240 these now, and hoping they'll grow. I did talk to 0:07:19.280 --> 0:07:23.600 a woman named Genevieve Jessup Marsh who as a community 0:07:23.600 --> 0:07:27.360 outreach director of farm and educational center here in Missoula 0:07:27.440 --> 0:07:30.280 called Garden City Harvest, and they have four urban farms 0:07:30.360 --> 0:07:32.880 and they provide food for the soup kitchen and the 0:07:32.920 --> 0:07:37.640 food bank, but they also have land for community gardeners 0:07:38.480 --> 0:07:41.679 and uh, you know, they normally sell out of their 0:07:41.760 --> 0:07:45.160 community garden plots and normally they have about forty people 0:07:45.200 --> 0:07:46.840 on the wait list. This year they had a hundred 0:07:46.880 --> 0:07:50.120 people on the wait list, so they were totally overwhelmed. 0:07:50.160 --> 0:07:53.640 And the big difference though, besides that, was that, you know, 0:07:53.720 --> 0:07:57.480 every year there's some abandonment rate, right people farms are. 0:07:57.520 --> 0:08:00.720 I mean, garden plots, any kind of growing is intensive 0:08:00.800 --> 0:08:04.960 and it's hard. It takes time. People start traveling and 0:08:05.000 --> 0:08:06.920 they're saying, I don't have time for this, or they 0:08:06.920 --> 0:08:09.400 start growing things and they're just failing left and right 0:08:09.560 --> 0:08:12.840 and get frustrated and abandoned it. And she said this 0:08:12.960 --> 0:08:15.560 year they had hardly any of their plots were abandoned. 0:08:15.880 --> 0:08:18.920 That people were there all the time. It was really 0:08:18.960 --> 0:08:21.800 safe activity. People could be outside, they could tend their garden. 0:08:21.840 --> 0:08:25.560 It probably felt really good. Um, and people new gardeners 0:08:25.560 --> 0:08:28.080 were really really relying on people who had had plots 0:08:28.080 --> 0:08:30.360 for a long time. There was a big community knowledge 0:08:30.400 --> 0:08:33.360 share that was happening. People were talking about pests, talking 0:08:33.400 --> 0:08:36.840 about varietals, and helping each other out. So I think 0:08:36.880 --> 0:08:41.280 people were, you know, community gardeners were getting help from 0:08:41.880 --> 0:08:45.120 other community garden members. I think that's really where people 0:08:45.160 --> 0:08:49.800 were sharing knowledge and chatting. Yeah, yeah, that that makes sense. 0:08:49.800 --> 0:08:52.600 You know, I I know, just from my own personal experiences. 0:08:52.640 --> 0:08:57.240 You know, when pests attack, um, you know, it's it's 0:08:57.280 --> 0:08:59.839 pretty sad. I'm getting used to it now. I mean, 0:09:00.040 --> 0:09:02.920 I have, uh, this borer warm problem on my zucchini, 0:09:02.960 --> 0:09:05.000 and so when the zucchini's first come up, they look 0:09:05.080 --> 0:09:07.480 great and there's plenty of fruit, and then one day 0:09:07.520 --> 0:09:10.120 they just looked sick and they wither and I can 0:09:10.160 --> 0:09:11.800 go right to the stock and pick it up, crack 0:09:11.840 --> 0:09:13.319 in half, and there's that worm sitting right in the 0:09:13.320 --> 0:09:15.920 middle of the stock. And I can't seem to get 0:09:16.000 --> 0:09:17.280 rid of them. I don't know how to get rid 0:09:17.320 --> 0:09:20.200 of them. Um. I had a white fly problem. I 0:09:20.280 --> 0:09:23.280 had all kinds of problems this year. Um. The other 0:09:23.320 --> 0:09:25.000 thing that a lot of I think first garden, like, 0:09:25.040 --> 0:09:29.400 my first season was amazing and I planted about eighteen 0:09:29.440 --> 0:09:31.720 years so five by seven boxes and it was all 0:09:31.800 --> 0:09:34.000 irrigated and it was all ready to go and it 0:09:34.080 --> 0:09:37.080 was amazing. And someone, you know, it's second third year 0:09:37.160 --> 0:09:38.880 wasn't as good. And someone said, well, in the first year, 0:09:38.920 --> 0:09:43.439 the bugs really haven't found you yet, and they will. Um, 0:09:43.960 --> 0:09:47.600 and uh they will, Yeah, they'll find you. Um. But UM, 0:09:48.320 --> 0:09:50.760 it's you're right, it is. It is tough, you know. 0:09:50.880 --> 0:09:54.559 It's I have to spend at least two hours a day. Um, 0:09:54.960 --> 0:09:58.120 are the weeds just right now and I haven't been um, 0:09:58.200 --> 0:10:01.280 And so the weeds just U just overcome everything and 0:10:01.360 --> 0:10:03.280 you end up you know, and I think also people 0:10:03.280 --> 0:10:05.559 don't realize that when things serve, you know, So if 0:10:05.559 --> 0:10:08.720 you plant I don't know, peas, and you have a 0:10:08.720 --> 0:10:10.880 great spring of peas, you gotta cut them down and 0:10:10.920 --> 0:10:13.199 get rid of them. I don't kind of don't triple 0:10:13.280 --> 0:10:16.080 to go away work. It's it's it's a lot of 0:10:16.120 --> 0:10:18.200 hard work and labor and then you get you know, 0:10:18.280 --> 0:10:19.920 of course you go down the rabbit hole hall of 0:10:20.280 --> 0:10:25.760 buying tools. Right. It's labor intensive and expensive and you 0:10:25.800 --> 0:10:29.040 can spend a lot of time. And in Montana we 0:10:29.080 --> 0:10:31.440 have a really short growing season. I think our average 0:10:31.520 --> 0:10:34.520 last frost state is mid May, so you really have 0:10:34.600 --> 0:10:36.960 to get the timing right in order to you have 0:10:37.000 --> 0:10:39.000 a small window of planting and you have a small 0:10:39.040 --> 0:10:42.320 window of growing um and so it's easy to miss that. 0:10:42.559 --> 0:10:45.199 And you know, I think in June we were having 0:10:45.520 --> 0:10:47.880 four day degree nights, so you need to pull that 0:10:47.960 --> 0:10:50.800 tarp out and cover your tomato plants. And last week 0:10:50.840 --> 0:10:54.520 we had kale. So it's easy to go wrong really quickly, 0:10:54.559 --> 0:10:57.400 and I can see it being frustrating. Um. You know, 0:10:57.440 --> 0:11:00.880 this woman Gendervieve I spoke with. They garden City Harvest 0:11:00.920 --> 0:11:03.679 provides a lot of educational materials and usually that's all 0:11:03.720 --> 0:11:07.040 done in person, but this year they transition to online. 0:11:07.160 --> 0:11:10.640 But they were relying on their local community to sort 0:11:10.679 --> 0:11:12.560 of spread knowledge. And the other thing I think most 0:11:12.559 --> 0:11:16.720 people that that when they they're new to gardening um, 0:11:16.800 --> 0:11:22.080 when when harvest time comes for a particular crop, there's 0:11:22.120 --> 0:11:23.720 a lot of it. It's not like you get one 0:11:23.840 --> 0:11:26.640 or two you know, you know a couple of zucchini, 0:11:26.800 --> 0:11:28.600 A lot of zucchini, are you? A lot of green 0:11:28.600 --> 0:11:30.760 beans are and so you have to figure out what 0:11:30.800 --> 0:11:32.440 to do with it, and you can obviously eat, But 0:11:32.480 --> 0:11:36.199 then I find myself canning a lot um. And so 0:11:36.760 --> 0:11:39.560 in your experience, are they giving these cooks where they 0:11:39.520 --> 0:11:43.640 getting lessons on canning as well and preserving the harvest? Yeah, 0:11:43.679 --> 0:11:46.880 So Garden City Harvest provides a lot of materials, especially 0:11:46.960 --> 0:11:51.160 on um preserving your food because this is what they 0:11:51.160 --> 0:11:54.280 don't want, right So Garden City Harvest also they have 0:11:54.520 --> 0:11:57.800 a c S A program that they have thrown a 0:11:57.840 --> 0:11:59.880 lot of money into for the past few years to 0:12:00.080 --> 0:12:03.240 try to get people to to buy these c s 0:12:03.280 --> 0:12:05.160 a s. But c s a s are tricky and 0:12:05.160 --> 0:12:07.320 that it's kind of a lot of money upfront for 0:12:07.400 --> 0:12:11.360 some people, um, and then you're not necessarily getting to 0:12:11.360 --> 0:12:13.720 pick the produce you're getting, and it can be a 0:12:13.720 --> 0:12:16.400 lot of produce, so these can be sort of overwhelming 0:12:16.880 --> 0:12:20.040 things for people. And they've never sold out of them 0:12:20.080 --> 0:12:22.800 before except for this year. This year they sold out 0:12:22.800 --> 0:12:25.800 of it for the first time, and it's wildly popular. 0:12:25.880 --> 0:12:29.199 They have even a wait list, And it was really 0:12:29.240 --> 0:12:32.040 just because people wanted to take control over where they 0:12:32.040 --> 0:12:34.080 were getting their food from, and they I think in 0:12:34.120 --> 0:12:37.439 a crisis, people felt like they couldn't rely on the 0:12:37.480 --> 0:12:40.560 grocery store, so they went this way. But with that, 0:12:40.840 --> 0:12:43.480 you know, there's a lot of produce, and so you know, 0:12:43.520 --> 0:12:45.280 they're trying to provide a lot of lessons to people. 0:12:45.400 --> 0:12:47.200 How you can preserve your food so you don't just 0:12:47.559 --> 0:12:50.880 end up with a lot of wilted and rotten vegetables. 0:12:50.920 --> 0:12:54.680 How can you make this food last longer. I found 0:12:54.720 --> 0:12:57.040 the same. Not only was it difficult getting seas, I 0:12:57.040 --> 0:12:58.640 had a heart on getting plants because I don't do 0:12:58.720 --> 0:13:01.960 my own starts. And there's an organic farm, you know, 0:13:01.960 --> 0:13:05.040 a couple miles from my house where I purchased a 0:13:05.080 --> 0:13:07.840 lot of plants, you know, and so I couldn't get 0:13:08.360 --> 0:13:10.000 you know, certain peppers that I was looking for that 0:13:10.000 --> 0:13:11.800 I know I got the last couple of years, cucumbers. 0:13:11.800 --> 0:13:15.920 I could get cucumbers, UM, I couldn't find parsley. UM. 0:13:15.960 --> 0:13:19.200 There were like certain things. Why did why sir? Run on? 0:13:19.320 --> 0:13:23.160 You know? And partially I spoke with a man named 0:13:23.240 --> 0:13:25.800 Josh Slotnik, who is the owner of a farm called 0:13:25.920 --> 0:13:30.120 Clark Pork Organics, And he's also a county commissioner in Missoula. 0:13:30.600 --> 0:13:35.760 And uh, Clark Pork Organics typically sells to restaurants. UM 0:13:35.800 --> 0:13:40.920 and COVID hit really during our planting season in Missoula. UM, 0:13:40.960 --> 0:13:44.319 so farmers weren't having to plow under vegetables, but they 0:13:44.320 --> 0:13:46.680 were having to plan ahead and say, oh, should I 0:13:46.720 --> 0:13:49.640 should I plant as I typically would to sell to restaurants, 0:13:49.720 --> 0:13:52.839 or should I change my whole operation and plan to 0:13:52.880 --> 0:13:56.360 sell directly to consumers. And what Clark Fork Organics did 0:13:56.520 --> 0:13:58.480 was they had a farm stand that they never really 0:13:58.480 --> 0:14:00.439 paid a lot of attention to, and this year they 0:14:00.600 --> 0:14:02.640 sort of doubled down on it. And one of the 0:14:02.679 --> 0:14:05.520 big sellers for them early in the season was bedding plants. 0:14:06.240 --> 0:14:10.600 Because because people all had their their own gardens and 0:14:10.720 --> 0:14:14.079 community garden was way up and all these new gardeners 0:14:14.080 --> 0:14:17.200 and home gardeners, and they were they were actually, um, 0:14:17.240 --> 0:14:20.200 you know, making some money off of these bedding plants, 0:14:20.320 --> 0:14:24.720 which they typically wouldn't have been selling. Their herbs were 0:14:24.760 --> 0:14:28.320 really popular and people were just really excited to have 0:14:28.480 --> 0:14:32.200 access to bedding plants. I was a first time gardener 0:14:32.280 --> 0:14:35.560 myself this year, and I was really all about my 0:14:35.680 --> 0:14:39.320 tail and my egg plant. And the second I turned 0:14:39.400 --> 0:14:42.360 planted outside, they died. And I was like, well, no, 0:14:49.760 --> 0:14:51.840 this is citizen Chef and I'm Tomic Colichio and we 0:14:51.880 --> 0:14:56.320 are talking about homegrown. That's right, homegrown food. Victory gardens 0:14:56.320 --> 0:15:00.000 are COVID gardens or community gardens, whatever you call them. 0:15:00.000 --> 0:15:03.880 There's been a huge resurgence in people growing their own food. 0:15:05.120 --> 0:15:08.280 So this is your first year, Yeah, awesome, Um, why 0:15:08.280 --> 0:15:12.800 did you start planning? So I started planning really because 0:15:12.920 --> 0:15:15.920 I actually have the land. This year. I own a 0:15:15.960 --> 0:15:19.200 house for the first time and have a yard. We 0:15:19.320 --> 0:15:23.920 had one raised bed, but we built two more. Um. 0:15:23.960 --> 0:15:25.720 But then I think it's spent a lot of time 0:15:25.760 --> 0:15:27.720 there because I was just spending a lot of time 0:15:27.760 --> 0:15:29.680 in my house and at my house, and it was 0:15:29.720 --> 0:15:33.760 a great way to be outside. I wasn't super concerned 0:15:33.920 --> 0:15:37.600 about relying on the garden two feed myself, but I 0:15:37.640 --> 0:15:43.160 was really upset when things failed. It's really hard. Yeah, 0:15:43.200 --> 0:15:45.080 it's it's hard to do. I say the same thing 0:15:45.080 --> 0:15:47.160 every year too. And I had help. When I first started. 0:15:47.600 --> 0:15:50.200 There was a restaurant that I was involved in on 0:15:50.280 --> 0:15:53.400 the south Fork of Long Island Um and we had 0:15:53.400 --> 0:15:56.320 an acre um that we were planting in ground, and 0:15:56.360 --> 0:15:58.680 so I had that farmer helped me out. He had 0:15:58.720 --> 0:16:02.320 a much better handle on when to plant, how much 0:16:02.360 --> 0:16:06.720 to plant. But it's it's you know, I agree, when 0:16:06.720 --> 0:16:08.960 you lose something like I have melons growing right now, 0:16:09.480 --> 0:16:11.960 and you have to keep them on the vine is 0:16:12.120 --> 0:16:14.400 as long as possible to ripen up. And they get 0:16:14.400 --> 0:16:16.120 to the point where you're just ready pick and you 0:16:16.160 --> 0:16:18.160 see the stem starting to dry out, and you'll let 0:16:18.160 --> 0:16:19.880 them go another night and the bugs get to them, 0:16:20.040 --> 0:16:25.400 and it's like it curse these bugs. Yeah, it's tough. 0:16:25.440 --> 0:16:27.280 It's that happens. It is, And I know a lot 0:16:27.320 --> 0:16:31.520 of people who are first time gardeners in Missoula, and 0:16:31.640 --> 0:16:34.080 we're all sort of in it together a little bit. 0:16:34.080 --> 0:16:37.360 And I think it was like, oh gosh, I really 0:16:37.440 --> 0:16:40.200 overplanted my greens, and now I'm drowning in greens, and 0:16:40.200 --> 0:16:42.680 now I can't give them away to anyone. So the greens, 0:16:42.680 --> 0:16:46.640 if you harvest them right, just rough, rough, chop, blanche 0:16:46.680 --> 0:16:49.200 them in boiling water, shock mc cool water. Put him 0:16:49.240 --> 0:16:51.440 in his zip block bag and freeze them. You're fine. 0:16:51.600 --> 0:16:55.480 I'd heard this and I did do it, so we'll see. Okay, good, 0:16:55.480 --> 0:16:59.920 But you know, but now there's still overwhelming amounts of green. 0:17:00.120 --> 0:17:02.880 I need to do another I actually made. I made 0:17:02.920 --> 0:17:05.840 a lot of rugle a pesto at one point, which 0:17:06.080 --> 0:17:08.480 you know, it seems great, but now I'm going to 0:17:08.560 --> 0:17:12.440 be eating on everything for the next six months. Um. 0:17:12.640 --> 0:17:17.760 Do you compost, it's not a total waste. Yeah, and 0:17:17.800 --> 0:17:21.919 we get our compost picked up by an organization in Missoula. Um, 0:17:22.040 --> 0:17:25.199 we don't have our own compost pile because I live 0:17:25.240 --> 0:17:30.040 in a canyon and there are black bears. Uh. So 0:17:30.160 --> 0:17:33.439 you really want to limit uh the amount of rotting 0:17:33.480 --> 0:17:37.119 food on your problems? Yeah, I imagine you do. I 0:17:37.160 --> 0:17:40.879 don't have that problem. We have. We have raccoons. The 0:17:40.920 --> 0:17:43.280 people that I knew who were either expanding or garden 0:17:43.320 --> 0:17:47.000 regarding for the first time, and this happened in New York. 0:17:47.040 --> 0:17:50.439 It was you know, March April, UM, and so people 0:17:50.480 --> 0:17:52.680 just really thought that the food system was going to 0:17:52.800 --> 0:17:55.840 gonna completely fall apart, and that's what they're They were 0:17:55.920 --> 0:17:58.320 just concerned they weren't able to get fresh food, and 0:17:58.359 --> 0:18:01.160 so so many people started gardening. And I think other 0:18:01.200 --> 0:18:06.000 people also started realizing, well, yeah, it didn't fail and 0:18:06.000 --> 0:18:08.359 you can't get produced. But still they realized that this 0:18:08.440 --> 0:18:11.880 is a great opportunity to get outside, um, do something new. 0:18:12.160 --> 0:18:14.560 And you know, at the same time, I think just 0:18:14.680 --> 0:18:17.399 the act of digging around in the dirt, um it 0:18:17.600 --> 0:18:20.880 does something for your mental health. That's just being in 0:18:21.000 --> 0:18:23.600 the in the dirt, get in your hands in the soil, 0:18:23.680 --> 0:18:25.040 has a way of ground you I know did for 0:18:25.080 --> 0:18:27.399 me when I first started. UM My wife would always 0:18:27.400 --> 0:18:28.760 say she could tell the difference when I was out 0:18:28.760 --> 0:18:31.440 in the garden. You know, at the end of the day, Um, 0:18:31.520 --> 0:18:34.560 the little edge was taken off. I think it's about 0:18:34.640 --> 0:18:37.919 caring for something other than yourself too, especially during a 0:18:38.000 --> 0:18:40.879 time of a lot of anxiety. You know, Plants are 0:18:40.920 --> 0:18:43.240 a fun thing to at least for me, it was 0:18:43.280 --> 0:18:46.240 really it was really fun to you know, to take 0:18:46.280 --> 0:18:48.439 care of them and try to figure out what they 0:18:48.480 --> 0:18:52.639 needed and take some of the the focus off myself 0:18:52.680 --> 0:18:56.200 and my own exact anxiety. All right, listen, great talking 0:18:56.240 --> 0:18:59.920 to you, and uh, I'll get back to your garden. 0:19:04.480 --> 0:19:07.600 My grandfather he used to I guess he was an 0:19:07.680 --> 0:19:09.720 urban gardener where when we grew up, and he used 0:19:09.720 --> 0:19:12.600 to grow in five gallon buckets and just mostly tomatoes 0:19:12.600 --> 0:19:16.320 and zucchini, some peppers, and mostly summer crops. So I 0:19:16.400 --> 0:19:19.520 was interested, but I had no idea how much work 0:19:20.040 --> 0:19:24.320 it is going to take and how often crops fail. 0:19:24.760 --> 0:19:27.679 It's not a simple thing to start growing your own food. 0:19:27.960 --> 0:19:31.840 But one thing I gotta say it does is you 0:19:31.880 --> 0:19:35.000 get a real sense of accomplishment. It's somewhat therapeutic in 0:19:35.040 --> 0:19:37.160 a way. When I get out there in the morning, 0:19:37.240 --> 0:19:40.240 especially five time, where I'm not rushing, and I have 0:19:40.280 --> 0:19:41.720 a good you know, hour and a half even two 0:19:41.720 --> 0:19:44.080 hours earlier morning sist o'clock and I'm morning before it 0:19:44.080 --> 0:19:46.399 gets hot, and you're in there digg into the soil, 0:19:46.440 --> 0:19:49.119 and even if you're weeding, it's just a good start 0:19:49.119 --> 0:19:50.520 of the day. And you feel at the end of 0:19:50.560 --> 0:19:52.720 the day when you're harvesting and then you're cooking and 0:19:52.760 --> 0:19:55.359 putting food on the table for your family. There's a 0:19:55.440 --> 0:19:58.840 real sort of sense of accomplishment and and I think 0:19:58.880 --> 0:20:01.000 we all needed that's into the college because when you're 0:20:01.000 --> 0:20:02.760 dealing with a pandemic that you can't you have no 0:20:02.840 --> 0:20:05.679 control over other than staying inside wearing a mask, but 0:20:05.680 --> 0:20:08.879 you really have no control over it. Where family members 0:20:08.920 --> 0:20:11.760 I haven't seen. I haven't seen my mother since the pandemic. 0:20:12.359 --> 0:20:14.159 This is one area where you think you can. You 0:20:14.280 --> 0:20:16.879 have some control over your life. You're growing your own food. 0:20:18.119 --> 0:20:21.040 When you think about that, that's that is the ultimate 0:20:21.040 --> 0:20:24.399 sense of control. You have complete control over what you're growing, 0:20:24.480 --> 0:20:27.400 what you're eating, and how you're growing. Yet, and so 0:20:27.800 --> 0:20:31.280 when you think about the unknown, this sort of COVID unknown, 0:20:31.840 --> 0:20:34.440 can kids go back to school, will things get back 0:20:34.440 --> 0:20:37.359 to normal? How long are we going to have to 0:20:37.400 --> 0:20:42.080 go through social distancing? All these unknowns create anxiety. And 0:20:42.119 --> 0:20:44.200 I think that one time I don't feel that anxiety, 0:20:44.200 --> 0:20:49.000 it is when I'm in my garden. So this is 0:20:49.080 --> 0:20:52.719 our last episode of Citizens Chef in season one, and 0:20:53.000 --> 0:20:55.600 I thought this would be a really good way to 0:20:55.720 --> 0:20:58.640 end our our season, a good way to really illustrate 0:20:58.680 --> 0:21:02.000 that change when people are growing food and creating a 0:21:02.080 --> 0:21:04.960 change for themselves. COVID nineteen changed the course of our 0:21:04.960 --> 0:21:07.600 first season. The issues we originally wanted to talk about 0:21:07.880 --> 0:21:10.679 had a new public health lens we couldn't ignore. But 0:21:10.920 --> 0:21:13.040 we're going to continue to dig up these new stories 0:21:13.040 --> 0:21:15.679 and look at them through a food lens and UH 0:21:15.800 --> 0:21:17.800 when we return next season, we hope to hear from 0:21:17.960 --> 0:21:20.520