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Create a Vegetable Garden or Expand Your Existing Garden

May 1, 2020
Patio vegetable garden

“Special regard must be paid to agriculture.”

—Bahá’u’lláh, Lawh-i-Dunyá, Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh

In a time of uncertainty and economic insecurity, it is especially important that many people grow some food. The economic crisis caused by the coronavirus may result in food shortages. If you already have a garden, perhaps you can expand it a little bit this year and plant some potatoes or sweet potatoes. If you are a beginner, keep it small and simple. Plant some herbs, for example chives and parsley, and a few vegetables you like.

If you grow different plants, but not too many of the same kind, you will learn what works best and will have a variety of food. Growing a diversity of plants is also interesting and fun! If you don’t have a yard, try to grow some herbs, tomato and pepper plants in pots on your balcony. Gardening provides exercise, is good for mental health – especially important during this time – and the fresh herbs and vegetables are good for you and contribute to food security. It is also wonderful when you can give away some food to those who may need it.

Illustration: young woman watering in her garden

For some information on gardening:

Beginner Vegetable Gardening Made Easy
(Better Homes & Gardens)

Learn More About Balcony Vegetable Gardening
(gardeningknowhow.com)

Grow an Edible Garden – On Your Balcony!
(growveg.com)

by Christine Muller

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Christine Muller, Teacher of Music and the Environment

Board Secretary, International Environment Forum

I was interested in environmental issues already at a young age and became a Bahá’í when I was 17, which was the beginning of a life-long study of the Bahá’í Faith. As the environmental crisis was worsening, I began to systematically study climate change at a time when not much information was easily available. I also searched the Bahá’í teachings for a spiritual solution to the climate crisis. At that time, climate change was not known to most people and there were no educational materials available. That’s why I wrote Scientific and Spiritual Dimensions of Climate Change – an Interfaith Study Course, which the International Environment Forum posted in 2009. I joined the Wilmette Institute as support faculty for its Sustainable Development course in 2011 and created its Climate Change course the following year. I also teach a course on climate change for the Environmental Sciences Department of the Baha’i Institute of Higher Education (BIHE) in Iran. I have served on the board of RI Interfaith Power&Light for more than a decade. In recent years, much of my time is spent serving the Bahá’í-inspired International Environment Forum (iefworld.org) as its secretary.  My formal academic background is in music, and I enjoy part-time piano teaching, playing and - when there is time - composing music. A recent composition is Humans on Earth – a Ballad of Our Time for two singers, string orchestra, piano, and percussion. Its lyrics include quotations from scientific sources and the Bahá’í Writings. Christine’s articles on BahaiTeachings.orgSee Faculty Bio

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