The Zucchini Island Self-sufficiency Challenge

 

Following on from the post for backyard edibles and also backyard garden blogs, I have discovered another backyard gardeners blog called Zucchini Island.

This is just what I wrote about some days ago. Others recording their journey in the backyard growing edibles for their consumption. And they are very real journeys. After reading some of Jason's posts on Zucchini Island it is clear that there is a lot of learning going on. It's not surprising either. We really have been fed from the supermarket rather than our backyards. As a collective, we've lost touch with basics.

I was fortunate, and am now very grateful, for having a grandfather that maintained a fairly large vegetable garden. As amazed by nature as I was early on in my childhood, Pop's garden was both captivating and secret. I describe it as secret because the majority of the garden was fenced off which I guess made it more of an event when we were permitted to enter and look around while Pop went about picking generous bunches of silverbeet or giant ears of corn for Mum to take home.

So, gardening was something I have always approached with a very experimental and inquisitive outlook. Something that Jason is also doing I would think. My goal for my garden was to fill it with as many different fruits, veges, herbs and companion plants as possible - and to inspire others while experiencing for myself what it takes to set up a productive backyard garden. Jason has very publicly declared on his blog that he wants to have at least 80% of his families fruit and vegetables coming from his own backyard. I share a similar goal also.

I learned very early on that something like this takes work. Initially, it can take quite a bit of effort. For myself however, and no doubt Jason, every bit of effort put in will be worth it.

To keep tabs on his goal, Jason has installed a graph widget onto his blog page. The Self-sufficiency Challenge.  I've been looking for something similar so it's fantastic that there is the ability to use a tool like this. For those wanting to do the same I would recommend it. I'd like to see one for monitoring the waste that leaves our house through the council rubbish bin. I think that would be an interesting widget.

At any rate, I'm not sure how Jason is progressing at the moment but I hope that as a backyard edible gardener he is continuing his pursuit of making that progression from feeding from the supermarket to feeding from home. It's an admirable thing in this day and age. And in this day and age, we could all do with something worthwhile like this to strive for.