Plant of the Month program is chance to explore new foods

Today, I am proud to announce the Plant of the Month Partnership, a collaborative effort between Alachua County, the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, the Master Gardeners of Alachua County and Working Food.

Our goals are the following:

• Great tasting, fresh, inexpensive, nutrient-packed vegetables, fruits and herbs. 

• This will spur sustainable change, produce less food waste, have less environmental impact, create healthier soils, and eliminate the packaging and transport of the food products we grow. 

• After this year of COVID, we need stress relief, we need sunshine, we need the pride and happiness that comes with producing our own food.

• Growing, harvesting, cooking and eating food grown at home saves money and helps us be more resilient in the face of any future crisis. 

• Finally, food is a need we all share. Politics aside, we can all talk with a neighbor about tomatoes, blueberry bushes or zucchini. This can bring our community together, help us know our neighbors, and help us exchange knowledge, experiences and successes together.

Like many of you, when COVID first hit, I wanted to grow something, do something fundamental and essential, and feel safer and more secure. My brother and I planted a garden: We planted fruit trees, vegetables and blueberry bushes. 

Some things we planted thrived. Some did not. 

I only produced a couple of mottled tomatoes and sickly squash, and my blueberry bushes all died. But my fruit trees have grown tall and healthy, and sweet potatoes took over my entire side yard!