In less than a month, gardening is also connecting me to Nature in a more intense way compared to enjoying walks in the woods in L.L. Bean wear. My thinking is being transformed at the visceral level about where food comes from, how it's produced and what it means to me.
Meanwhile, my relationship with neighbors and fellow locavores is taking a turn back into the "old normal" of domesticity that focuses on care of the home front-the original Greek meaning of the word, economics. Domesticity was something I had always avoided because of my ambition to pursue a professional career and urban lifestyle. However, as the era of cheap energy gradually becomes a thing of the past-regardless of the promises of the alternative energy proponents-it is obvious to me that growing food will become an imperative to survival and not just an experiment in sustainability or the opportunity to eat fresh, good-tasting, local produce.
As new endeavors go, gardening has filled me with excitement, curiosity and a new sense of optimism that I can impact my own future, assert my independence from food megacorporations and get closer to Nature.
This article appeared in Common Dreams on Monday, May 18, 2009.
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