Food, Not Lawns

by Holly Case

Food prices are only continuing to go up. While most of us are used to going to a grocery store to stock up on food, a small but growing number of people is turning to growing their own food. While gardening as a hobby is nothing new, what is different about this is that some are recognizing the significant gardening space available under their lawns.

The Food Not Lawns movement not only promotes converting yards into usable garden space. The movement also aims to promote peace through community efforts and shared resources. While "peace" is sometimes an abstract concept and one that feels difficult to enact when our country is engaged in a very long war, there's no question that coming together as a community brings about positive changes on a local level. 

In her fabulous book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, author Barbara Kingsolver wrote, "The cost-benefit ratios of neighborliness are as old as our species, and probably inescapable in the end." Considering the fact that oil is a finite resource and industrial food is likely to become more expensive to produce and transport, being able to produce at least some of our own food on a local and community level is a valuable pursuit indeed.