By Holly Van Woerkom
The Obamas aren’t the only ones trying their hand at vegetable gardening these days.
In fact, people from all walks of life are getting into growing. Whether it’s to save money, eat better, or have quality time with family and friends, gardening is a growing trend.
A 21st century victory garden
In March, First Lady Michelle Obama announced she would be planting a vegetable garden on the South Lawn of the White House, in collaboration with the rest of the Obama family, the White House kitchen staff and a local fifth-grade class. Mrs. Obama’s latest undertaking is reminiscent of Eleanor Roosevelt’s World War II-era victory garden, but instead of promoting wartime thriftiness, Mrs. Obama is seeking to promote good health. According to a New York Times article, her main objective is “to educate children about healthful, locally grown fruit and vegetables at a time when obesity and diabetes have become a national concern.”
Similar concerns have been spreading over the past few years, perhaps rooted in bestselling books like Barbara Kingsolver’s “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” and “The 100-Mile Diet” by Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon. Like these authors, many consumers are beginning to question the modern American diet, and have found growing their own food to be a healthful solution. And in hard economic times, the financial benefits of gardening have widespread appeal.
Starving students no more
Among this new growth of gardeners is a group of BYU students, who see their efforts as the perfect remedy for the “starving student” lifestyle. Despite busy school schedules, they have been gardening together almost every Saturday since mid-February. They garden on a piece of land at Provo’s Sunspring Ranch, working together with ranch owner Shery Ross-Goodman. Last year, Ross-Goodman had some spare land that she didn’t want to go to waste, and after posting an ad on Freecycle, she decided working with BYU students would be perfect. The “Sunspring Garden Club” was born; now in its second year, about 20 students will be working on 46 beds of veggies.
Ross-Goodman says she’s enjoyed working with the students, and the students — most of whom live in apartments where gardening is not an option — are just happy to have some dirt to work with.
“I’ve been wanting to have a garden ever since I came to school,” said Greg Astill, a junior from Centerville who just joined the Sunspring Garden Club this year. “We tried building planter boxes at my apartment [last summer], and it just didn’t pan out, and so when I heard about this I just jumped on it.”
The students each have their own reasons for joining the garden group, but most agree that saving money and learning valuable life skills are at the top of the list. Ashley Mackay, a senior from Mississippi who worked on last year’s garden, said she is definitely a poor college student, but there were months last year when she didn’t have to buy any produce from the store, and her grocery bill went down.
“It was so nice,” she said.
Other students expressed that developing friendships is a valuable aspect of the garden.
“It’s shared responsibility,” Mackay said, “so you learn a lot more about trusting each other, and what people are good at. … It’s fun, it builds friendships, and it also makes your gardening experience more enjoyable.”
A family tradition
Just as gardening strengthens friendships, several generations of the Parish family have seen the benefits gardening provides for families. Wes Parish has gardened for almost 60 years — gardening was his household chore as a child — and he and his wife, Anna, have been gardening since they were married more than 40 years ago.
As parents of nine children, one of the greatest benefits of gardening for the Parishes has been the reduced grocery costs. In fact, sometimes their garden has been their grocery store. The summer they moved into their current house, Anna Parish said, the family — which included seven children and one on the way — was living on a very low income.
“We were really strapped,” she said, “so we ate out of that garden the whole summer.”
In addition to providing a less expensive way to eat, the Parishes have found that working in the garden together provides quality family time. One well-loved family tradition is canning the family’s garden produce.
“They [the children] have fond memories of being able to talk to each other, and it’s very conducive to sharing feelings and teaching lessons, and it’s really one of their favorite memories,” she said. “Even though canning isn’t very fun on its own, when they did it together, as a family thing — they have really good memories of that.”
All of Wes and Anna Parish’s children are now grown, and all but one have their own family garden. One of their sons, David Parish, is also an Orem resident and has continued to garden with his wife and five children, ages 14 to four. He has seen how gardening together builds character and teaches valuable life skills.
But the most miraculous result of family gardening? Kids who love vegetables.
They all profess a love of tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers and basically everything except squash, which seemed to be at the bottom of their list.
“In gardening season, the garden is my candy,” said 12-year old Riley Parish.
Organic schmorganic?
When it comes to organic gardening practices, opinions vary. Michelle Obama’s garden will be organic, and many local gardeners generally try to be as natural as possible.
Wes Parish said he doesn’t like pesticides, and he can even taste them on market produce. He said he would probably spray if he had a bad infestation, but he tries to avoid pesticides, and almost never puts them on his garden.
Sunspring gardener Brooke Parker has read books like “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” and “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” and said she’s learning more about the U.S. agriculture industry. “I feel like it’s a good thing to try to do it organically,” she said.
Sales, enthusiasm on the rise
As several news articles have mentioned, a recent rise in seed sales reflects the current gardening boom — an intriguing contrast to the current economy.
Ross-Goodman said one of the seed companies she uses got six times the number of orders this year, and Wes Parish said he’s found there are shortages in some seeds because people are buying them up.
Gardeners in Utah County and throughout the U.S. have found their own reasons to garden, but the numbers are on the rise, and the enthusiasm is spreading.
And what is Wes Parish’s best advice for beginning gardeners?
“Start.”
Copyright Brigham Young University 26 May 2009
