This weekend, a friend and I went to a garden planning and seed saving class hosted jointly by the Olympia Food Co-op and GRuB. I didn’t know about GRuB before this weekend, but I think I’m in love.  If you live in the Olympia area, I highly encourage you to check out their website and the great things they’re doing in the community.  These are great people doing amazing work in urban gardening, community resilience, and youth education.  If you’re somewhere else, you might see if there’s a group doing similar work in your area.

The class was held at the GRuB “farmhouse” in their beautiful main room. (Next to one of the coolest kitchens I have ever seen – I kicked myself for not bringing my camera!)  Caitlyn Moore walked us through the basics of seed saving – fairly complicated, but absolutely crucial work – and basic garden planning.

Seed Savers Are Our Unsung Heroes

I came away from the class even more convinced that we owe what is left of our food security to a small band of intrepid individuals who have dedicated themselves to preserving varieties of food crops that would be driven to extinction in the face of corporate-driven market forces.  Seed saving is an essential part of this, and I am grateful for all those skilled gardeners who have joined the effort to preserve heirloom crops and livestock.  (Also, savings seeds helps you weather situations like this.)

Aside from all the wonderful information about seed saving, plant genetics, and calendar and grid garden planning, I learned two other interesting things.

1.  I don’t know anything about gardening.

Houseplants love me, but I have never, ever gardened.  I have definitely never grown food.  This is all new to me.  That means I ask stupid questions, such as “If my garden is mulched with wood chips, do I have to remove all the wood chips before I plant anything?”  I still don’t know the answer to that question, but I know enough to know that it’s a stupid question.  How do I store soil and compost and all the things they say you need?  Where do I even get it?  How long can it sit around before it gets weird?  What’s the deal with thinning, and why wouldn’t I just plant them that far apart to begin with?  More really basic, kind of stupid questions.

2.  I know quite a bit about gardening.

I really do.  I know about the leaf, root, flower, fruit rotation.  I know about alleles and pollination and gene expression.  I understand companion planting and feel fairly confident that I could create a garden plan that incorporates it.  I know how to plant potatoes in a way that doesn’t require a ton of space and intensive labor.  I know about nitrogen fixers and cover crops and till and no-till.  I know that there’s a good chance that my greyhounds will eat my tomatoes.

Basically, I know weird things about gardening.  I understand some of the more advanced concepts, but have massive holes in my basic, practical knowledge.  And unfortunately, I don’t think knowing about gene expression is actually going to help me grow food.  I suppose all of it will be useful in the long run, but right now, I just want someone who will answer my stupid questions without making fun of me too, too much.

Poor Google.  It must have to put up with an awful lot of stupid questions.

Related posts:

1. How To Build A Lasagna Garden For Free – Part 1
2. How To Build A Lasagna Garden For Free – Part 2