You bet, Megabite! "Grow Your Own" is the way to go.

From sprouting seeds in a jar on your kitchen counter; to gathering (wisely) in the wild, including 'weeds' in your own yard; seed-saving; to community gardens; and supporting your local organic growing operations.

Food, especially living food, was always meant to be found and gathered with care, and shared, I believe.

And conservation begins with water, continues into arable land, and reasonable management of the food available for the benefit of all...including conservation of the environment.

You know, a physics teacher mentioned that, if the Earth were reduced to a ball 80 inches through, the atmosphere would be 1/4 inch thick all over the globe.

And the available growing soil (arable land) wouldn't be visible, where it does exist at all. That's how little we've got.

This is NOT the material for competitive 'business', folks. Nor is it anything we can play with chemically...it is too important to all life on this planet.

We can't afford to ship our produce from where it is grown to cities and countries far away. Why? Two reasons...

...Shipping food takes time, therefore we need so-called 'preservation', which diminishes its nutritional value; and,

...Food is a part of the chain of life. Critters that eat food (including the human critter), MUST poop back onto the growing soil. And our bodies MUST be buried there.

The energy we get from food is only borrowed. Then it must be returned to the amazing chain of events and living critters that restore the supply.

We break that chain at the peril of all life on this planet.

Mankind is arrogant to assume that we can alter the system at will. Alter it too widely, and we die. That's the bottom line.

The worst of it is that we are losing the knowledge we need to return to growing, harvesting, and consuming wisely.

I have a 'gardening encyclopedia' that was reprinted from several older books in the 1950's. Sure, it is full of the use of remarkable chemicals like DDT.

Still, it tells the names of the old tried and true varieties of food plants. Did you know that genetically mutilated varieties cannot legally bear the same name as the original varieties? So, if we want to buy a particular variety of tomato plant, we can rush home and look up the name in such a book...or carry the book with us...or type up a list.

My encyclopedia also describes growing plans used in days gone by. In one place it refers to 'the Great War', referring to WWI (1914-18), before they knew there was to be another.

There they talk about 'Victory Gardens'...home gardens in ones own back yard, that would support four adults for one year. The Victory was that folks at home wouldn't need the farmed and imported food that was needed by 'the boys over there'.

(Ask me sometime about the hardships suffered on the homefront and in the warzones.)

The point is that a backyard CAN support four adults, if it is used carefully...and if it is not polluted.

And there are dozens of useful discoveries by 'natural' gardeners that reduce the labor and increase the yield.

Gardening, growing and conservation are our saving graces.

Fledgling