Tuesday, May 12, 2009

If you give a person a carrot...

Well, first, the mail carriers' food collection (which I am under the impression is a national collection) was on Saturday. I don't know about anyone else, but it was a little harder this year to part with my Spam, since I use it so much more often now. :) I did send some away, though, because it's my understanding that protein items are always in demand. For those who don't read my other blog, and tend to like Spam as well, you might look at this recipe, which I found over at Preparedness Pro, and which I already posted about on my other blog. Can't have too many good Spam recipes on hand....

Just looking at the news around Idaho, the good news is that as a state we are getting better at making sure children don't go hungry, according to this article. Going up from sixth worse in the nation up to 27th worse is definitely a good thing, but still leaves a lot of room for improvement. I hope that the food collection by the mail carriers will help those with or without children who already find themselves in an emergency situation...

And in other Idaho news, from Post Falls comes this article, which contains this opening line: " A community garden will teach students about growing vegetables while helping them cultivate better lives, school officials in this north Idaho town believe." While the students won't get the immediate benefit of the food grown, (according to the article, "Food produced at the garden will be donated to area seniors who are no longer able to garden for themselves") they will be learning valuable skills--a fact that is summed up nicely in the article's last line: ""I think this is absolutely the most wonderful thing," said Barb Tilton, a local gardener. "This is so good for the kids. This is something they can take with them for the rest of their lives."

So good things are happening here in Idaho. Mail carriers collecting food for people already in need of assistance. Improving on how well we are dealing with children who are hungry. And another generation being given the chance to learn how to grow their own food. What's that saying about giving a man a fish and he eats for a day, but teach a man to fish, and he eats for a lifetime? Something like that. Well, giving a person a carrot is good, but teaching him how to garden is even better....

2 comments:

idahobob said...

Not only is this a really good thing for the kids learning new gardening skills, but I'll just betcha, that those seniors that cannot garden for themselves, will be a well spring of valuable information for those young people to learn from.

Bob
III

Marie said...

Bob--That is an excellent point that had not occurred to me--makes it a winning situation in more ways than one. Thanks for your comment!