Planting a Change Garden

During the First and Second World Wars, Americans were forced to deal with food rationing and limited accessibility to items that had, for the entirety of their lifetimes, been used on a daily basis. "Working your own little patch of ground is part of the home front fighter's front-line assignment," wrote horticulturist Dr. Frank Thorne in 1943, "Chief weapon should be tomatoes."

Today, we're at war in Iraq but more devastating is the war we face at home -- the one against a crumbling economy. Then there's the war against global warming. Might it be time again to resurrect the Victory Garden?

Alice Waters and the group behind Revive the Victory Garden certainly think so. The farm to table trend in food doesn't have to be limited to high-end restaurants, or the economically sound who can afford all organic produce all the time. Plant a vegetable garden, and your home can be the next Blue Hill at Stone Barns.

As someone who is so very into organic and local produce, this is now my new project. I have a half acre of empty property (that had once been a highly productive apple orchard) and as of May 3rd, an indeterminate amount of time to tend to my tomatoes, lettuces, herbs, and zucchinis.

So anyone out there know how to work a plow?