Green Thumb Gardens

Six years ago I was the President of the Youth Volunteer Advisory Board for Maricopa County. My team and I help set up a community garden on the South side. This was to help the low income neighborhood with their grocery budget and give them a sense a togetherness and community. I am not sure if it still exists or if people are caring for it, but I was proud of what we did.

Accordingly to this article from the AP, because the economy is doing so poorly, many Americans are starting to garden. Garden advocates call these "recession gardens" and hopes that it will be similar to victory gardens after WWII.

My favorite part about those victory gardens were that its intent were to inspire self sufficiecy, which we all need more of anyways. Although today, people are gardening more for the savings it can provide, the idea of growing your own food garden is amazing. The interest in community gardens have also greatly increased. The list to join some are growing quickly with no one leaving.

Both sets of my grandparents have been doing it for years and we get tons of vegetables from them and it's delicious. In recent days, T and I have been talking about starting a garden. After reading this and really thinking about it, I am even more passionate about getting it going. Not only will we know where our food comes from, but the idea that we did it ourselves will be great. My philanthropy of choice is to feed the hungry so hopefully, our garden will be very fruitful, and I will be able to share the fruits of our labor.

[image via ThriftyFun.com]