has anyone else noticed ?

Has anyone else notice that most stores are stocking more garden supplies. I am guessing that as produce prices go up more people will start their own gardens and a lot of big box stores are filling the needs of gardeners. alot of emphasis on organic is also on the rise.

I have noticed. Grocery stores, too, are starting to emphasize organic foods. Giant, for example, sometimes sells organic canned beans at prices even lower than "regular" beans.

I love the idea that people are beginning to realize, or remember, that they can feed themselves or at least supplement their food supply, and do so in a very healthy way. My parents lived with rationing during the Great Depression and WW2. It's long overdue for Victory gardens to come back. Only this time, it's a personal victory.

I also think it's absolutely wonderful that kids are benefiting, growing up with the lifestyle that it's okay and YUMMY to grow your own food, even if they are vegetables. Last year I had some woman walk by my garden with her little girl. The little girl was very very interested and wanted to ask me questions... and I was more than happy to give her a few simple answers, but the woman just stalked off with her nose literally in the air and dragged her kid away. I got the feeling that she looked down on me because I had the uncouthness to dabble in dirt. Her loss....but I feel sorry for her daughter.

I am the editor of our model A club news letter and I have started a column on gardening. I started with how back in the Ford model A days (1928 to 1931) most people had gardens. So I have been keeping them updated and trying to encourge others to get back to the way it use to be. My older sister came over on sunday and wanted to see my garden as I write about on my facebook page. I gave her a lot of seeds and onion starts for her to start a garden and showed her the SFG book and web site. She was telling me one of her grand daughters who is 8 is very interested in things that grow. so here is hoping it works for her. I am going to see what size box she needs and then I will build her one.

It would be nice to build a small box--maybe a 2x2?--for her daughter to make decisions about and "own". I grew up on a small farm. I still remember the little side garden my father dug for me, right next to our huge vegetable garden, and the bachelor's buttons, marigolds and peas that were just for me to grow.

good idea about and extra box that is small, I think I will built that too for her.

What a neat "history" lesson to go with the cars.

Our Texas daughter phoned yesterday to tell me about her two year-old and four year-old picking lettuce from their 2' x 2' box. (The last time they checked on the box the temps were very cold in Austin.) She saw the girls putting on their mittens and hats on a 60+ degree day, and asked what they were doing. They replied, "We're going to pick lettuce!" Apparently they got the idea that one always wears mittens to pick lettuce.

So kids may not get quite all the details right, but they "get it" just the same. The girls picked three kinds of lettuce wearing their mittens, and ate every bit of it and then had to call and tell me about it.

That's what it's all about.