As the days start to get longer and warmer, there are aspects of seasonal change to begin thinking about in preparation for summer, including a garden. Who wouldn’t enjoy the simple pleasure of fresh fruits and vegetables right from one’s own backyard all summer long? Not to say it is a simple task to maintain such a food source, but I think it is something anyone and everyone should consider experimenting with.

The ability to grow one’s own food is more of a skill than a chore — an art form, I might say. It takes practice and patience to learn all the aspects of what it means to grow food — what the environment is like and how the two can work together. Flagstaff is not known as incredible growing environment, what with its  fickle weather and mountain-desert climate. But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to be prosperous in home-grown efforts.

I think it’s important to rekindle skills of sustainability during a near-Depression economic state, as we are currently experiencing. Skills such as providing one’s own food are the kind of confidence we need right now — the confidence of knowing we need not be dependent on large-scale systems of mass production to survive.

This kind of skill is not easily come by these days; however, it is becoming more common in the Flagstaff community. There are at least two community gardens within walking distance of the downtown and NAU vicinity during the summer. There is a growing number of people moving in this direction with every compost bin (which can be provided by the city), every attempt to grow in the backyard and more local businesses providing local foods. An example of this would be the farmers market held once a week downtown during the summer. It is a community of its own local farmers, artists and chefs.

I am a beginner in the world of gardening. But I will be investing much of my time and money to experiment with different foods this summer, learning just enough to do better next summer. Anything from root vegetables and greens to strawberries has been known to grow in Flagstaff under the right conditions. And it’s under these conditions that a group of people could turn out plenty of food for themselves all summer, or even take the product to the farmers market and share it with others.

Learn to grow a garden and you will be fed for life.