Berry Rich

Freshly picked strawberries

I feel rich today. Berry, rich, that is, and I think that is the very best kind.

American first nations warned that, “only when the last tree has died, and the last river been poisoned, and the last fish been caught, will we realize we cannot eat money".

Although we may have heard this Cree saying many times, we still worry more about the money supply than the food supply.

Our food supply chain is dependent on cheap fossil fuels, and stable, good weather. Both are looking like a thing of the past.

If something happened to disrupt this fragile arrangement, it wouldn't matter how much money you had - if the grocery store had no food, no amount of cash could change that.

Food security is one reason Linda and I joined our community garden. Our accessible, raised bed plot is small (4X4), but productive. We are growing chard, potatoes, leeks, tomatoes, and strawberries. Lots of yummy, yummy (late) strawberries.

We have had a gloomy start to our summer on the west coast of Canada, so it wasn't until yesterday that I harvested our first crop of red, juicy-sweet berries.

While my fellow citizens were celebrating our national holiday, Linda and I were celebrating Strawberry Day. The fireworks were on our taste buds.

Better to have home grown, organic berries in the garden (or stomach) than money in the bank.