Up & Coming Weekly

What Is a Security Garden? by SHARON VALENTINE “Whatcha gonna do with an old turkey house like that? Just tear it down and it just comes back ... as a security garden.” Last summer the North Carolina Farm Center for Innovation and Sustainability began to tear down a million square feet of turkey houses, salvage and recycle the building material and clear away the debris. In the footprint of the houses a sprinkler system was developed from the old water lines and this spring a solar pump for the well will be purchased. The fi rst sites totaling nearly four acres will be rented to low income families and projects such as “Feed the Children.” So what is the reference to a “security garden?” We live in challenging times and although I hesitate to put the specter of possible catastrophes into public consciousness the recent earthquakes and blizzards have probably already done it for me. There are three doomsday scenarios, that while we pray are remote events, still must be taken into account when we say sustainability. Security is the small “s” in our planning, but we take it seriously. Sustainability worries: 1. Climate change (aka, the weather): weather cycles, solar activity or global warming — maybe all of the above. We are experiencing changes on the farm that are weather related. Worse, it has become very unpredictable and many of our weather forecasts have not helped. The assumption that the grocery store will be bursting with a wonderful array of fruits and vegetables is as innocent a presumption as the child that believes milk comes from the grocery store. And have you noticed the prices? Tell someone else there is no infl ation or the cost of living is down. The center is experimenting with making topsoil with biochar, but until we can turn sandy soil into productive cropland or heat green houses from the heat given off by the biochar unit we will have to keep as much land growing food as possible. This is especially important in a depressed economy with many people without jobs. And, as you gardeners can appreciate, what could be more fertile that the footprint of a turkey house with all that composted turkey “poo?” 2. Bio-Terrorism: By 2012, the U.S. will depend on other countries producing 40 percent of our food supply. In the middle of winter when I pick up those wonderful berries from Mexico or Chili or buy some shrimp from Thailand, I sometimes wonder about insecticides that may have been used or just how the seafood was processed. U.S. consumers have had some gut wrenching experiences from improperly grown or handled fruit, vegetables, meat and seafood. Consider, however, if a terrorist organization were to deliberately introduce a poisonous contaminant into our food supply that U.S. citizens consider safe for consumption. We must be able to supply our own food — that is a national defense prerequisite. 3. Nuclear attack or Electro Magnetic Pulse: I admit this is a “stretch” but if Iran were to “pop” a nuclear device in the stratosphere above the U.S. the resulting EMP would permanently shut down the country. No electric grid, no cars(they are dependent on computers as Toyota is fi nding out), shelves empty in the grocery store, fi nancial system collapsed, no cell phones — need I go on? Silence and chaos. And the food supply for the entire United States is three days. Communities must begin to develop the capability of feeding themselves. The ability for residents of a city or region to sustain without the help of a federal or even state government, needs to be put in the survival equation as part of our emergency preparedness and land use planning. I admit this is part of my “dark” side. After all, I grew up in the bomb- shelter era and my family had the fi rst one on our block in Montana. It is in my DNA, and concern for my community ranks high on my priority list. “So whatcha gonna do with a turkey house like that? Just tear it down and it just comes back — as a security garden.” WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM SHARON VALENTINE, Contrib- uting Writer. COMMENTS? Editor@upandcomingweekly.com. 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