Everyone can garden

Karrin Peterson, a teacher at Bellevue College and the leader of the BC garden club said, “The goal of our garden club is to teach students how to garden and about how our government is controlling what goes into our body (which is not cool). If you want to learn how to garden your own vegetables, learn about food justice or just love food, come join us.”
“The garden club offers students the opportunity to direct and build their own garden entirely. We offer classrooms and an accessible garden for students who are in wheelchairs or in limited mobility.” When looking to the future of our economy, Peterson is worried about water, food and other natural resources becoming scarce. “It is important to look at where our future food is going. Frankly, to be blunt, I’m scared for our future.” The drought in California is one of many events Peterson is concerned about as well, and she believes the problems will get worse.
“Although I believe our culture shows signs of going back to gardening, we still have a group of young people and even people my age who have not learned how to garden and produce their own food. This frightens me because what happens when food becomes so expensive that people can’t afford to buy them anymore? The result is that people begin to starve and this isn’t right. In addition, I believe we are at the end of affordable food; I believe the cheap food era is waning. So to me, that’s why it’s so important to learn intensive and accessible gardening methods so we can be prepared for the future.”
Gardening, however, is more and more limitedly space with an increasing population. “We can’t garden like we used to in the past. Unfortunately, most Americans don’t have the space. Most of us don’t have an acre or two or more, so we can’t homestead anymore, in the real sense of the word like we used to in the past. We need to learn intensive gardening methods and accessible gardening methods because there are also those who can’t garden who may have to garden.”
“My personal goal is not to produce all of my own food, but to produce enough of it that I’m partially off
the grid. In reality, as an urban homeowner I am not able to produce most of my own food. I mean, that isn’t realistic, but on the quarter acre that I’ve got, I have produced 50 – 60 percent of what my family eats in the course of a whole year. The key words are modeling accessibility and intensive gardening.”
Peterson’s long-term goal is to prepare students for the future. “It is important to be prepared for the future, [to be prepared] for food prices going up. Be prepared for a world of diminishing resources and increasing population.” In addition, Peterson’s other long term goal is to teach young people how to garden and provide enough food for themselves in case the worst were to happen.