A Weed by Any Other Name

Yesterday I wrote about the ingenuity revving up, and resourcefulness sprouting up, in Cuba under the conditions created - or more accurately, exacerbated - by the US embargo.

While I only noted in my post that a resurgence in organic methods was happening, what's more striking about the food production revolution occuring on the island is that urban agriculture is developing. From the same article I linked then:

Havana, a city of about 2.5 million people, was hit the hardest (by the Soviet collapse and subsequent dearth of chemicals, fuels, and machinery). Located on the island's north coast and relatively isolated from farming belts, the capital found itself in the midst of a major food shortage. Fuel needed to transport and refrigerate food from rural farmlands was in short supply, and state rations meant to provide for a month only lasted a week. Frustrated by the deepening shortages, many Cubans took matters into their own hands. Literally. They started growing their own food, even in urban Havana[...]

The most prolific gardens are the self-provision plots that have sprung up in Cuban cities across the island. These are small parcels of land maintained by individuals and only modestly regulated by the central government. Many of the estimated 30,000 private gardens - huertos populares - in Havana's 15 municipalities are small tracts that produce traditional crops like yucca, taro, cilantro and onions, and can provide 30 per cent of people's food (emphasis mine). Businesses, schools, and hospitals have also carved out gardens to supply their kitchens and cafeterias[...]

The Ministry of Agriculture even transformed the lawn around its headquarters, a 20-story building in Havana, into an employee-run garden. Getting a city of 2.5 million to meet that much of its food need from within its limits is absolutely revolutionary. Pun completely intended.

If there's one saving grace to the regrettable pattern we've laid across North America - that we will be living with for generations - called 'urban sprawl,' it's that we can mimic this food production strategy in times of horrible economic dowturn immensely more easily than other civilizations. Vast stretches of cul-de-sacs with a half-acre each could meaningfully contribute to the food supply. Sprawl has already fractured the society into individual units; and transportation energy needs will suck a squanderingly if not debilitatingly high percentage of our economic productivity for generations, but we could grow some serious food in the 'burbs.

I still think suburbs are generally ugly. And urban revitalization is critical. But perhaps the internet can counter the isolation, hopefully fuel cells can be fed by a sustainable hydrogen-generating industry, and probably those cookie cutter atrocities with double garage doors and no sidewalks will look a hell of a lot better - to my eyes at least - if they're someday engulfed by beans, squash and corn.

Too bad Americans love their lawns so damn much. To protect and perfect them we will go to the ends of the Earth, figuratively speaking, of... course... I...

One of my favorite party tricks is walking gracious hosts through their yard offering bite-size samples of all the food that's growing unbeknownst to them as anything other than "weeds." It's a good way to find out who really trusts you, too. Now, the word 'irony' falls way short of capturing the essence of this situation: Here's Ortho, Inc.'s "Weed Finder" to help you identify the painstakingly tested, perfect poison to eliminate just the very vegetative invader that had the gall to assume a spot in your perfect green outdoor carpet. With handy-dandy police sketches adorning the Wanted:Dead posters.

Of the 31 "broadleaf weeds" (dicots, basically), no less than 21 are edible, one is medicinal (and I'm not an herbalist - it's probably more) and one is, well, um, recreational.

While the 12 "grassy weeds" (monocots) don't calculate as well, 7 of the 12 "woody plants" needing herbicidal elimination have at least one edible part. Two others are trees, for Chrissakes. You don't need poison to kill them. Small or large. Ever. I'll admit that 2 of those 12 are exotic invasives: Kudzu and Honeysuckle. I've resorted to chemical warfare on each species. They are worthy opponents.

But one of the "woody" weeds is Blackberry. Holy crap, man, Blackberries! They're three bucks a frippin' pint at the grocery store. And those aren't even close to as good as the ones fresh out of your yard. Crazy.