“Bloom where you’re planted.”

The video clip shown here was from a Fox News Channel broadcast, one which has been appropriated by one of those survivalist groups. They anticipate rioting in the streets over severe food shortages in the next few years. They also anticipated rioting in the streets when the year 1999 came to an end. I remember that night. We had an entire floor of public affairs specialists in a rented space near the White House, waiting for the entire computer infrastructure to come to a screeching halt. Aside from providing fat contracts for the few people who still knew how to program in COBOL, nothing happened.

Still, it never hurts to be able to take care of yourself. And panic is a thing we learned about in the Boy Scouts -- it's the first thing most people do when they're lost. And even without the riots, food prices are going up steadily so far this year, and it's not going to stop.

But this doesn't have to hurt you any more than it has to. Even having come from a long line of farmers, this writer does not have a green thumb. Indeed, I'd call it "the thumb of death," as everything I've tried to grow is either watered too much, or not enough. Nevertheless, with the help of "Sal," Chez Alexandre had its first garden in a space of 1.5 by 7 (or about ten square feet), along the outside of my deck in the back yard. Sal insisted on having two rose bushes, as she loves roses. Other than that, we grew various herbs such as chives, mint, and basil. We had root crops such as wild onions, and citronella to keep the bugs away. We also had two cherry tomato plants, which ended up flourishing like kudzu, and producing more tomatoes than we could handle. I think this year we might plant lettuce and/or beans, maybe even carrots, just to be more practical. But without Sal, it never would have happened, what with my perennial curse in this area.

We'll also be seeking out advice from others, to be shown here, as to what you can do to grow your own garden. Even high-rise apartment dwellers can get one of those long planters and keep something near the window, or out on the deck. And if you have an outdoor grill that no longer works, I hear they convert to planters very handily.

This can be done. Watch the second clip with a killer sound track. And stay tuned ...