As the bankers, politicians, and technocrats continue to try their best to usher in their vision of a lifeless, automatized global economy, there seems to be a growing movement of people who want help extenuate the variety of life through “green” localization.
Apples, kale, carrots, beets, and onions growing throughout a city, free of charge, seems like a utopian fantasy. But in the market town of Todmorden in the United Kingdom, a group of women, led by Mary Clear, 56, have taken their interest and love for gardening to the next level, planting and maintaining lush horticultures that the locals can come pick, eat, and enjoy whenever they want.
Clear, along with her business partner Pam Warhurst, felt it was time to take matters in their own hands, literally. According to the UK’s Daily Mail, the two home gardeners decided they weren’t going to complain about the deteriorating civilization without at least trying to help their fellow citizens who were feeling the economic crunch with fresh vegetables, fruit, and herbs.
The vegetable plots are the most visible sign of their ambitious plan: to make Todmorden the first town in the country that is self-sufficient in food.
“And we want to do it by 2018,” says Clear, who wants to stimulate kids imagination through gardening.
Educating the current and more importantly the next generation of humans about the value of small gardening is imperative to taking back their freedom from the mechanized systems of today. As children learn the value of sustainability and community, they will undoubtedly feel more human, breaking the addictive chains of refined sugar, fat, and salt.
“The children walk past here on the way to school. We’ve filled the flower beds with fennel and they’ve all been taught that if you bite fennel, it tastes like a liquorice gobstopper. When I see the children popping little bits of herb into their mouths, I just think it’s brilliant.”
Considering that this small town has similar accepts to the much larger cities in America like New Orleans and St. Louis — a third of households do not own a car; a fifth do not have central heating, according to the Daily Mail — we should encourage and continue to support America’s local, urban farm movement until every city, town, and community in our country is self sustainable.