MARCH / APRIL 2005

Why do we grow our own food? Let me count the ways.

In the past, the main reason was economic—poor people did it to save money. More recently it has become a matter of aesthetics—people who like fine food do it for the superior taste (and the opportunity it affords to show off in front of trendy friends, it now being chic to grow heirlooms). There’s also a health benefit that doesn’t get talked about as much, but it’s the most important one of all—enough to make us run, not walk, to the seed rack or transplant bench of the closest garden center.

In the New York Times right before last Thanksgiving, there appeared some startling statistics in an op-ed piece by Dan Barber, the chef and founder of a community-based agriculture operation just north of New York City. What has your food been eating? he asked, referring not just to turkeys force fed on hormones in teeny mechanized stalls, but to vegetables. A serving of broccoli has more vitamin C than citrus fruit and is rich in other key minerals, he noted, but after being grown in an industrial farming operation with chemical fertilizers, shipped a long distance and stored, it loses 80 percent of its vitamin C and 95 percent of its iron, calcium and potassium. The eggs from free-range chickens contain 3 times the cancer-fighting omega-3 fatty acids of factory-raised chickens, he also pointed out.

Last year, Chicagoland Gardening featured garden designers Ron and Vicki Nowicki who believe in eating according to the seasons and living off their own land ("Organic Optimism" March-April 2004). Last month, we published a story about Growing Home, an employment training program for homeless and low-income individuals that operates an organic farm in LaSalle County and a garden in the city. In this issue, we hold up home gardener Ron Gryzwinski as a model worth emulating. ("Banking on Good Food," page 36). Each article offers an example of what we can do to live more satisfying, healthier lives. The more locally grown food we consume, either by growing our own or patronizing farmers’ markets, the better off we are.

There are other exciting options for gardeners to consider as spring gets rolling, and in this issue we examine a host of them—rain gardens, perennials that bloom with the bulbs, a garden makeover by designer Craig Bergmann, and the exploits of John Young, the 2003 Chicago Gardener of the Year, who fills the courtyard and back porches between two neighboring condominiums with thousands of container plants each year. Proof, if one were needed, that you can garden anywhere.

Finally, as we move full-steam into Inspiration Season, be sure to attend this year’s Chicago Flower & Garden Show, held at Navy Pier from March 12 to 20. With its array of gardens, demonstrations, flower arranging and horticultural competitions, plus seminars by locally and nationally known experts, it’s guaranteed to serve up a diet rich enough to keep us nourished until gardening season arrives in earnest. Be sure to look for us at Booth 110.