I enjoyed this video about a former journalism professor who has gone off the grid in upstate NY with a somewhat odd farmer companion; it makes me a little nostalgic for the beauty of the the Northeast! I was pretty impressed with the man’s comments about what he would do should he ever get a life threatening disease. No doubt a national health care system would make such decisions less dramatic. . . I wonder if he pays taxes.
Anyway, the video got me thinking about how I might become a little more sustainable myself. According to a Louisiana State University horticulturist, “Options include fig, citrus, blueberry, pawpaw, pomegranate and persimmon. . . Most of these can be easily grown, are low-maintenance, have nice landscape form, texture and color and provide wildlife benefits.” Imagine fresh pomegranates off the vine! I think I’ll ask my landlord before I start digging. Honestly, though, have any of you converted some wasteful grass into productive cropland?
I have a neighbor who dotes on his lawn. It absorbs an inordinate amount of his time and energy, and requires fertilizers and water out of all proportion to the benefit realized… a bland, perfect, white guy’s suburban lawn. A crop of pawpaw would be a better use of this space. BTW: what the hell is pawpaw?
I live next to an eccentric psychiatrist that keeps his property totally wild except for patches of organic tomatoes that he grows during the summer.
I have tried to grow food here but have not been very successful in the past. I might try again though.
Let me know how successful you are in NOLA but don’t give up your traditional way of getting food yet.