By STEVEN TURNER, Natural Landscaper
DID YOU KNOW? Millions of Floridians have only three days of food at any given moment; supply trucks can’t deliver to our grocery stores! If this is alarming, just wait until the toilet paper runs out again. Guess what? There’s a plant for that! It is known as the toilet paper plant. If you have yet to grow this plant, I recommend trying it! It is attractive, easy to grow, and provides soft hand-size leaves to use when in need.
After reading the last article: “Native Plant Lives Matter,” we can start discussing edible plants in the landscape. Growing food is natural for humans to do and is a great way to feel and be a part of something larger than you. Humans have been feeding their tribes, families, and communities all throughout time and space. If you look around, do you notice how many people in your community can say they know where their food is coming from? Sorry to tell you, but “from the back of the grocery store” is not a complete answer. Our entire food supply system relies on seed savers, land tenants, nurseries, plant growers, farmers, soil building, irrigation, harvesters, production, processing, distribution, preserving, serving, suppliers, and more… What if small farms were everywhere in your community? You would see more local food security, jobs, and connection to our soil, food, and each other, just like we all did 100 years ago. We could use A.I. to help us get to such an apparent existence again, but this time, we can have fun doing it. People can get creative here and provide art throughout these value chains for local food. The money would be kept more local before it was funneled out of our community by big supply companies and box stores. We would see more wealth, health, and lower crime rates! People would have a purpose again. Instead of drugs and violence competing with big corporations while we depend on them for all our food supply, we could be busy creating good quality food. We all depend on nutrition for healthy and happier lives. Quality food comes from quality soil, community networks, and organized value chains.
Here at Plant Lives Matter, we have organized a variety of edible and native plants to fit in any landscape. Food Installed Garden Security, or F.I.G.S. kits, are designed to work in any landscape with full sun or shade, feeding pollinators, insects, or people; there is an F.I.G.S. kit for every landscape need. We have worked effortlessly for many years to create the best plant lists for every space in the landscape. Visit the website FIGSkits.org, select the kit that fits your landscape needs, fill out the questionnaire form to make sure your kit is suitable for you, submit it, and we will do everything from there. We purchase, deliver, and install your chosen kit or kits. Completely hands-free.
We have done all the homework for you. Most homeowners, snowbirds, homestead beginners, etc., need to learn how to put the right plant in the right place. After many years of hands-on learning, volunteering, training, and more, Plant Lives Matter has solved this struggle for every homeowner. NO MORE WASTED TIME AND EFFORT WITH YOUR PLANTS!!! While we are still figuring out how to start creating local food in our communities again, we can plant edible and native plants in our landscapes to help along the way. Insects, pollinators, and birds all need to eat, then people can eat. Our first step towards food security is not destroying our soils, insects, pollinators, and wildlife populations.
Planting native plants back in our newly developed landscapes is not just obvious but necessary. With pollinators, people eat. Sadly, we are losing over 50 percent of quality soil on the planet for farming. Here in Florida, as roughly 1000 people per day move to this state, up to 500 acres get developed. New roads, housing communities, and businesses all add up every year to roughly the size of Hernando County all over the state being clearcut or destroyed to be replaced with paved highways, parking lots, and sod. As they migrate, our birds, insects, and pollinators have less and less to eat every year. Without food security for our insect and animal friends, humans will not eat. I don’t care what technology is developed. As a carbon-based life, we have to have organic matter, minerals, and nutrients to live. Try telling this to your child as they play video games, don’t play outside, or have no idea where their food is coming from. It’s sad to see but very accurate. The solution is to be played at the simple, small, local level, not at the level of the big corporate, political, or failing system. You cannot be healthy in an unhealthy environment. Plant Lives Matter. A Healthy Way to Landscape. For edible and native landscape kits, visit FIGSkits.org.
Steven Turner is the owner of Plant Lives Matter LLC. You can find him on social media platforms @plantlivesmatterllc. You may see him around Hernando County enjoying the beautiful land and working to improve our natural resources.
https://plantlivesmatter.work/
