Kathy Hedberg: COMMENTARY: Pondering possibilities amid a global food fight
Apr. 12—Old-timers around these parts say that you don't plant your garden here on the Camas Prairie until after the snow has melted off the mountain south of town.
Over the years I have found this to be good advice. As long as I wait for the snow to melt I'm pretty likely to get a nice crop, even though I might not get the seeds in the ground until June. If I try to sneak one by and plant a few radish seeds early while the hills are still white with snow, sure as heck I'll have crop failure. Radish seeds of all things. Who can't grow a radish? Well, someone who does not abide by the old-timers' rules, that's who.
I'm prepared to wait, even though I am not by nature a patient person. The snow this year is covering the hill almost to the prairie and it doesn't look like it's going to melt soon so this could be a long wait. This becomes difficult to bear when one has friends in lower elevations who have already got their gardens into the ground and like to brag about it. Early-season gardeners tend to be boastful like that and my opinion is that people living up here in the tundra should probably avoid contact with them, although we weren't thinking about that when we made friends with them years ago.
What worries me is that, because of this crazy tariff stuff, we might be feeling the pinch in ways we didn't expect. As global trade has expanded over the decades, much of our fruits and vegetables that are available almost year-round in the grocery stores have been imported from countries in warmer climates all around the world and I think that's one of the best things about modern living.
I was surprised to read not long ago that most of the asparagus we eat comes from Argentina, Brazil or Chile. I thought they grew it over by Walla Walla, which they do if you want to wait until late spring or early summer. But that's not enough to feed an asparagus-hungry nation and so those countries that can produce early and often have the bigger share of the market.
Daily headlines, straight to your inboxRead it online first and stay up-to-date, delivered daily at 7 AM
Same goes with strawberries, pears, bananas, peaches, grapes, melons, lettuce and I could go on and on about the luscious produce that we import from other countries that may now be either no longer available or priced so high that nobody but the uber-rich can afford them.
And don't even get me started on how tariffs could affect coffee. Asparagus I could live without — coffee, not so much. Already I'm looking around at my mother's jewels to decide what I can sell to buy a pound of French Roast.
We haven't always been so lucky. I remember reading how many of the pioneers in this country subsisted for most of the winter on stored cabbage and potatoes. If all I had to eat was cabbage and potatoes I think I might lose my will to live.
As we face this possible global food fight, home gardeners like me ought to consider what we can grow ourselves and what we can store just in case things get ugly. If the snow melts off the mountain south of town soon enough I might be able to get a few tomato plants to ripen and Swiss chard is always a given. I have a nice rhubarb plant and my apple tree produces fruit that's wormy but it's reliable.
Come next winter we might want to rethink our priorities about being better neighbors to people around the planet whose gardens have provided us so much pleasure over the years.
Hedberg may be contacted at khedberg@lmtribune.com.
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Apr. 12—Old-timers around these parts say that you don't plant your garden here on the Camas Prairie until after the snow has melted off the mountain south of town. Over the years I have found this to be good advice. As long as I wait for the snow to melt I'm pretty likely to get a nice crop, even though I might not get the seeds in the ground until June. If I try to sneak one by and plant a few radish seeds early while the hills are still white with snow, sure as heck I'll have crop failure. Radish seeds of all things. Who can't grow a radish? Well, someone who does not abide by the old-timers' rules, that's who. I'm prepared to wait, even though I am not by nature a patient person. The snow this year is covering the hill almost to the prairie and it doesn't look like it's going to melt soon so this could be a long wait. This becomes difficult to bear when one has friends in lower elevations who have already got their gardens into the ground and like to brag about it. Early-season gardeners tend to be boastful like that and my opinion is that people living up here in the tundra should probably avoid contact with them, although we weren't thinking about that when we made friends with them years ago. What worries me is that, because of this crazy tariff stuff, we might be feeling the pinch in ways we didn't expect. As global trade has expanded over the decades, much of our fruits and vegetables that are available almost year-round in the grocery stores have been imported from countries in warmer climates all around the world and I think that's one of the best things about modern living. I was surprised to read not long ago that most of the asparagus we eat comes from Argentina, Brazil or Chile. I thought they grew it over by Walla Walla, which they do if you want to wait until late spring or early summer. But that's not enough to feed an asparagus-hungry nation and so those countries that can produce early and often have the bigger share of the market. Daily headlines, straight to your inboxRead it online first and stay up-to-date, delivered daily at 7 AM Same goes with strawberries, pears, bananas, peaches, grapes, melons, lettuce and I could go on and on about the luscious produce that we import from other countries that may now be either no longer available or priced so high that nobody but the uber-rich can afford them. And don't even get me started on how tariffs could affect coffee. Asparagus I could live without — coffee, not so much. Already I'm looking around at my mother's jewels to decide what I can sell to buy a pound of French Roast. We haven't always been so lucky. I remember reading how many of the pioneers in this country subsisted for most of the winter on stored cabbage and potatoes. If all I had to eat was cabbage and potatoes I think I might lose my will to live. As we face this possible global food fight, home gardeners like me ought to consider what we can grow ourselves and what we can store just in case things get ugly. If the snow melts off the mountain south of town soon enough I might be able to get a few tomato plants to ripen and Swiss chard is always a given. I have a nice rhubarb plant and my apple tree produces fruit that's wormy but it's reliable. Come next winter we might want to rethink our priorities about being better neighbors to people around the planet whose gardens have provided us so much pleasure over the years. Hedberg may be contacted at khedberg@
