Published January 8th, 2010
There’s nothing like an economic downturn to remind us of what’s really important in life. A family that can grow its own food will always weather tough times and come out stronger, the same way a plant comes back after a hard winter.
Some of us are old enough to remember when country families provided most of their own food. Not so long ago, the “womanly arts” included home canning, scratch cooking, sewing, and tending the family vegetable patch. Farm boys learned animal husbandry, how to raise crops, and the many trades required to maintain farm buildings and equipment. Our Adams County neighbors have a long tradition of stubborn independence and self-sufficiency.
When this country was founded, the majority of Americans lived on small farms, growing most of what we needed ourselves and selling the surplus for cash to buy hardware and dry goods. The boom-bust cycles in big-city financial markets didn’t have much impact on family farms. Times could get hard, but there was always enough to eat.
2009 is a good year to dedicate ourselves to teaching traditional life skills to our children and grandchildren. What better gift can we offer to future generations than the gift of life, the confidence and capability to “shift for ourselves”? Plants and nature offer us a timeless solution to the challenge of survival. Modern technology can help us understand and harness natural forces, but it can never replace them.
At GoodSeed Farm we are focused more than ever on edible plants. We’ve seen people turn to the Internet for plants and information on how to garden, but there’s a better way. We offer locally grown, earth-friendly, Ohio-hardy fruit and vegetable plants and seeds you can see and touch and smell, plus the personal experience to help you succeed. We’ve noticed that young people really like coming here and hate to leave. This year, let us help you pass on your love of plants and gardening to a new generation.