Growing Your Own Foods in the City

Last Wednesday on August 28, 2007 my class had a guest speaker that explained the benefits of a p-patch. Before Teresa Mares came to our class, the only thing I knew about p-patches was what I researched on the Internet. I really did not understand the concept of p-patches and could not comprehend why they were so beneficial. After discussing p-patches with Teresa for about forty-five minutes, I realized how positive the p-patches were. P-patches are little plots that Seattleans in the nearby neighborhood can rent to grow organic foods. By living in a city like Seattle, one is not graced with acreage in their backyard because the population is so dense. That is where p-patches come into play, they cost about forty dollars a year and one is required to volunteer about eight hours for either cleaning up the p-patch site or something among those lines.

(A picture of a P-Patch in the U District)
P-patches offer the resource for Seattleans to grow fresh vegetables, flowers, and fruits in the nearby streets of their house. Teresa took my class and myself on a tour two p-patches and they were so intriguing to me. I thought that it was so refreshing to see people growing their own food. Many people that live in the city think that it is to big of a hassle to grow their own foods or they do not have anywhere to grow them but, the p-patches offer the city people to live a country life (kind of)! I think that the idea of p-patches was a good idea by the city to set some land aside for people to by able to grow their own food. I do not know if I will ever rent out a plot for myself because living in a dorm and trying to grow some fruits and vegetables could be a little demanding but, I think that p-patches should continue on growing because they are valuable to the city and to the people that use them.