Just When I Thought I Had Calmed Down

"Who plants a garden, still his Eden keeps."

I have been dreaming of free food from a special plant. It would need to grow in zones from 2 to 11 (this leaves out the north and south poles), not need watering, after its first year plant itself, grow in soils either alkaline or acidic.

Oh yes, it would be nice if it had almost 16% protein and vitamins and minerals too.

While I am dreaming, it would be really neat if the crudest tools could be used to plant it and harvest it, like sticks and buckets.

You know me by now, I am speaking of my love affair with the amaranthus varieties, from the so called "pigweed" to the showy and beautiful Love Lies Bleeding flower.

While I am dreaming, I have another thing I would like to see happen. It would be that homeless people, released prisoners, and all the unemployed could find work as "garden hands".

There is so much idle property, much of it idle because it is not suitable for farming through quality of soil, location, or dry conditions. Maybe you could rent it?

Amaranths are equal opportunity plants. They don't care who plants them or harvests them. They will happily grow where other plants will not. I just read an article by a brilliant and diverse man (Willem Malten) who decided on amaranth flour to bake special bread for his Mexican neighbors. The bread has become very popular.

Not farming with millions of dollars of equipment, chemicals like herbicide and insecticides, or fertilizers. Amaranth needs none of these. It will not poison your groundwater like they do.

Garden hands can work anywhere--in vacant lots, backyards, any fallow land. They can drive to work on bicycles.

Agriculture in the U.S. is chemical-crazy, and it is killing us, physically and financially. A weed or cultivated pseudo grain is available and ready to grow. It is free and very nutritious. People in India and Africa know amaranth is far superior to rice, soy or wheat, and infinitely easier to grow.

I may not be around to see a harvest, but I hope to be around for planting time. God has provided a way out of our GMO crops and chemical poisons. An almost forgotten plant could help save almost forgotten people.

View a short video on the Amaranth Harvest!!