01 Mar / Watch Me Grow! A Down-to-Earth Look at Growing Food in the City by Deborah Hodge, photographed by Brian Harris
First reaction after reading this inviting title: I wanna move to Vancouver … at least for a summer or two! Who wouldn’t want to be part of this “bustling city” depicted in these colorful, diverse, delicious pages?
Amidst the concrete and tightly packed buildings are gardens in “backyards, front yards, rooftops, boulevards, vacant lots, fire escapes, balconies, patios, windowsills and kitchen counters.” Wherever a seed has good soil, sunlight, and water, it will grow … with proper care, it will give back many-fold.
In addition to gardens that flourish in surprising places, city dwellers with enough space might keep happy chickens and enjoy their fresh eggs with bright orange yolks, or even nourish honeybees in a rooftop hive. Plant the garden, and they will come: birds, butterflies, helpful bugs and insects in search of food and shelter …
Sharing your healthy bounty with others (both human and otherwise), cooking and eating and nurturing each other are some of the many benefits to growing the food together. “Everywhere in the city, people are caring for their gardens and caring for each other. They’re sharing gardens, kitchens and food. They’re learning about their neighbors and themselves. They’re making the city a more beautiful place to live.”
Admit it … even if you don’t have a green thumb (that would be me!), this city sounds downright Edenic. Vancouver’s citizens are as diverse as their gardens … just about every ethnicity, every age, shape, and size seems caught in the act of enjoying their daily lives … the blueberry pie alone had me salivating. Surely amidst such friendly faces, someone might invite me over for a homegrown meal?
Readers: Children
Published: 2011
Crazy connected world is right! 🙂 Thanks for the lovely review, as well as the comment on my blog. I appreciate them both. Cheers!
Now that you have me convinced Vancouver is THE place to live, please do invite me over for some blueberry pie when I finally get there! Hee hee ho ho!
And thanks for coming back to cross-post here, too! No degrees of separation here!
If you come to Vancouver, I will gladly invite you over for blueberry pie. (I made the one in the photo.) Baking is my back-up career. 🙂
Your blog is very interesting!
Cheers, Deborah
Even through the internet, I recognized it must be YOUR pie!
I haven’t been to Vancouver since the summer of 1986 (!!), so clearly I am long overdue! Which means I will need a hefty slice or two of your magical, sweet, locally grown pie indeed — must have been saving my appetite just for that for a long time!
Glad you found the blog interesting. Come visit often! Do share more Vancouver stories, oh please!
Happy weekend!
I will definitely visit your blog often. It’s a great one! I’m glad to have discovered it. You have a great weekend, too!
What a lovely article. It sounds a little like parts of London and Birmingham in the UK. Someone is always growing something and sharing it around. I have to say I share the same habit. As we all try to move into a more sustainable lifestyle this has to be a good idea?
Anyone need some tomatoes?
Oh, if only you could please send some over the Pond!
Thanks for visiting BookDragon. Do come back soon!