Graham Kerr - Growing at the speed of life: a year in the life of my first kitchen garden

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Table of Contents

Stand at the crossroads and look;
ask for the ancient paths,
ask where the good way is, and walk in it,
and you will find rest for your souls.

JEREMIAH 6:16

For Treena

The one who shares my table and my bed, the absolute love of my life. She has chosen the path to wellness rather than going out on her genetic tide. It is to her that I dedicate my garden and this book with my ongoing love and care.

And for Gracious Gardeners

My present enthusiasm was made possible by my many newfound friends and neighbors, who shared their lifetimes of gardening experience with me.

Please dont let it stop there!

I have much to learn (and welcome learning) from everyone who has proven experience. If my newfound ideas are different from yours, then I really want to hear from you.

Remember contribution to the common good beats criticism every time. And the common good is the good we can do in common.

To contribute, please go to www.grahamkerr.com/speedoflife.

GK

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I owe my understanding of greenhouses to Charley Yaw. Charley Yaw passed me on to Scott Titus, who heads up the Center for Holistic Advanced Organic Studies (CHAOS)and yes, he really does have a good sense of humorfrom whom I got a new perspective on topsoil.

Both Charley and Scott have become dear friends, and together with Deb Mitchella delightful master gardener/lecturer connected to Washington State UniversityI have a rich source of local knowledge and continual advice.

While in the midst of reading twenty-four excellent reference books, from which I wanted to extract useful snippets of information to offer in this book, I came across Stephen Alberts Kitchen Garden Growers Guide and his website, Harvest to Table (www.harvesttotable.com). Steve had already done my homework, having researched each plant comprehensively with the practiced eye of a true expert. My sketch pages for each plant were greatly aided by all his hard work.

Sandy Silverthorne went beyond his usual cartoon whimsy and outlined all my plants with his customary economy of strokes. I love his work!

The nutritional numbers have been through multiple layers of analysis, with a final pass under the eagle eye of my very long-term friend and culinary associate Suzanne Butleror Butters, as I often call her. Its as close as she ever gets to being saturated!

Every word, indeed every keystroke, was the work of our personal, private, and confidential secretary, Wendy, and without her, our little world would be snow white blank pages, without a digital stroke in sight.

Then theres my dear friend John Duff, with whom I have created six books. I strayed for a season of three more literary efforts, and now Im happily back in the fold and benefiting from his understanding of good food, good gardening, good books, and, as a result, the truly good life.

PREFACE

Lets try starting this book with a mild confession. Until this year Id never met a plant that I couldnt kill. I was my very own herbicide.

I now understand the problem. I never gave them a reasonable amount of my undivided attention. I even used to suggest that there was no point in going back to smell the flowers inasmuch as I had blown the petals off as I flew past on my way to who knows where!

Almost all of this has now changed. Im still very active, but I dont leave my plants unattended. Now they dont die (at least not from lack of attention). Not only do they survive, but they actually thrive! And here I am with my 29th book, written at the speed of this new inclusive life.

Im finding a new rhythm, with fewer fits and starts, a more evenalmost predictableadventure that is nonetheless filled with unexpected natural challenges and great joy from sharing the eventual harvest. May our kitchen gardens help us understand what it means to keep growing personally at the speed of life.

Graham Kerr
Nonsuch Cottage and Garden
Mount Vernon, WA

CHAPTER ONE

Why I Decided to Grow a Garden

For almost 60 years I have been running the final stretch of the relay race to put healthful food on the table, which means I was the last one to carry the baton of fresh fruits and vegetables, preparing them for the plate, which is the finish line. Its not an uncommon role for most cooks, professional or otherwise.

Another member of the team started the race by selecting and germinating the seeds. Another followed by preparing good soil and transplanting the vegetable starts. A third and fourth nurtured those plants through their maturity and got them to market to be handed over to methe cook.

In my long career as a gourmet/nutrition teacher, I have cooked just about everything that grows, but Ive never grown a thing Ive cooked. So what got me thinking about the earth-to-table process?

You have to be from another planet not to have heard that a diet made up of mostly fruits and vegetables is a first-line defense against so many of the avoidable chronic diseases of our time, such as obesity, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and some cancers. Ive been looking at this issue in our own family since 1975, when the National Institutes of Health first introduced the 5 A Day conceptthe idea of consuming five or more servings of fruits and vegetables every day. In fact, I worked with the institutes to promote this initiative. But curiously, and disappointingly, as one set of records shows, the $24 million campaign resulted in an increase of only half a serving (from 3 to 3.5) among American consumers between 1975 and 2008.

The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2001-2006 (compared to NHANES 1988-1994) revealed the following for consumers aged 40-74: The number of those who even attempt the 5 A Day concept has dropped from 42 percent to 26 percent, and at the same time the obesity rate has risen from 28 percent to 36 percent. Also, the engagement in exercise (12 times per month was used as the benchmark) has fallen from 53 percent to 43 percent.

Nothing about these numbers is good news for our nations future health. But please notice that the fruit and vegetable decline is way ahead of the rest by at least 6 percent.

Now that might seem to be a pretty boring statistic, but the way it hit me was far from boring. Any greater release of energy, and I would have gone into orbit.

For my small part in the 5 A Day programI had done nearly 500 newscasts on the subjectI saw consumption go from only 3 servings to 3.5 servings. I took this personally, even though I was far from the only one urging folks to consume more.

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