A crash course in changing the world.
The person I picked as a hero might not sound like a hero to most of us. But for me, he opened a world of possibilities for the garden.
His name is Lee Reich.
The first I heard from him was a recommandation from amazon.ca of one of his books. The title made me curious. Uncommon Fruits For Every Garden. "Fine," I thought, "I guess these must be great to grow in California or something like that." I was wrong. Most of them are for our northern climate. Some goes even as low as Zone 2! Now, that's interesting for me!
I would love to grow my own bananas or mango, but let's face it ; a lot of the "popular choices" at the grocery come from way South or sometimes China. And I don't like apples that much and it feels like it's the most common fruit here. So how can I avoid the dreaded apples and have something as delicious as papayas or even simple oranges and not have them come from so far away (I shed a tear every time I buy a fruit from afar, thinking about the gas it cost to bring here!)? Well, it never occured to me they were thousands of choices that were just not convenient for mass production but that can easily fit in a garden, but were forgotten choices. So you wouldn't find them at the grocery for multiple reasons (fragility and lenght of growing period are just two), but they are easy and hardy to grow here, in my soil!
So where's the innovation some might ask? Well he didn't invent anything, surely. Well maybe, I didn't read all his posts, maybe he did invent something brilliant I haven't stumble upon yet. But he is doing one heck of a job ; opening the minds of people all around about forgotten lore my grandparents and great grandparents probably had. He is an active gardener with useful posts I delight in reading and taught me that, if I want to grow something similar to bananas, I would go for pawpaw and "gasp!" it can be grown in my backyard, no need for a tropical weather either.
The book that opened my mind :
http://www.amazon.ca/Uncommon-Fruits-Every-Garden-Reich/dp/08819262...
And his blog :
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