Not only that, I can add another 1,000 jobs per day for the next week. How can I do this? I’ve got a plan that no one has thought of, not the politicians, labor, management, no one, not even the unemployed. Here it is…
I would offer every person now collecting unemployment benefits, the opportunity to go to their county agricultural agent’s office and volunteer to help out building and maintaining a new grocery Square Foot Garden. They would volunteer to go for 2-4 hours per day, 5 days a week. The county Ag agents all have space around their office and grounds for the new SFG. After all, our taxes are paying for those grounds, buildings, and staff, so why not use them in a national emergency?
Their existing grounds, buildings, and gardens would also need maintenance, upkeep, and new plantings. Many of the new volunteers will become eligible to learn free, how they can become self-sufficient, cut their food bill in half and eat healthy, fresh, and nutritious food at home, ALL FREE! It can all be done with very little start up expense and the volunteers will learn, again for free, the lifetime ability to feed their family from their own back yard. I think I could continue this program at the rate of 1,000 new jobs per day, 5 days a week, and can spread to every state in the union.
Let’s do some big round numbered arithmetic: 50 states x approx. 50 counties per state =2,500 counties x 1,000 jobs per day = Gosh that’s a big number! But using my calculator, I come up with 25,000,000 jobs per day. That’s 2&1/2 million jobs per day! next, a 5 day week = 12,500,000 new jobs per week! THAT‘S 12½ MILLION JOBS PER WEEK. “Impossible!” you say?
Alright, cut it in 1/2 to be conservative. Let’s go even further, to the extreme. Cut it by 10. Take one tenth, that’s still well over a million jobs per week. Do I have my zeros correct? How many people are out of jobs right now? Instead of thinking why this might not work, think of all the food that could be produced and who would eat all of the food that over one Million people could grow in one week.
The Hungry. The Homeless. The Unemployed. Everyone on food stamps. The Elderly. The Teachers out of work. The youth that can’t find a Job. The Politicians running for office. (just a little tongue in cheek there, sorry) could come to the county gardens and harvest all of the food they could eat. PROVIDED they also put in 3 hours per day at the same gardens. Just think, they could use their food stamps to get fresh organic, nutritious food at at least half price compared to the stores. That’s a saving for the Gov. of a lot of money they would have to pay out for those food stamps and all the administration time that would take. Now we have double the number of people learning how to grow their own.
We can also setup an entire movement for putting SF garden kits together by an additional 1,000 people a day so all those above volunteers could start taking home a free garden. Using wholesale prices and bulk quantities as well as donations, we could probably put together (using all of this volunteer help) a 4×4 SFG box for about $40 each. That includes a ground weed fabric, a SFG Book, the perfect soil Mel‘s Mix, a grid, and all of the seeds that you need.
Think of a complete garden for only $40. and it will be FREE to everyone. Why? How? Because we used volunteer help to do everything. PEOPLE THAT NEEDED SOMETHING TO DO AND HAD THE TIME. Seeds would be obtained in bulk and repackaged by these volunteers into Square Foot quantities for free seeds to every SFG Program member.
I’ll bet I could run this entire program for the cost of just one Air Force ONE flight! And it would give every person in America a free garden, teaching class and opportunity to become self-sufficient.
Want To Try It America ??????????????????? I’m Ready.
I applaud your idea! But where I live her in Baltimore it seems a lot of people would rather collect their unemployment or their welfare and sit around and do nothing. Sure there are a few. There are some in every community. The only way this could really ‘work’ is if the government made it a requirement for people to participate, but then are those the people you want helping you? Ones that don’t want to do anything?
I like your thinking Mel.
I think this is a wonderful idea. I think in order for them to CONTINUE receiving food stamps (or government help), the able-bodied people should be forced to do volunteer work that saves government money.
I actually had a plan years ago (for a college report) where the people that are in PRISON, had to do their own gardens and their own maintenance of the gardens. That the prisoners had to exist on their own with the other prisoners cooperating to do so. (So, they would come up with the cooks, dishwashers, janitors, and garden workers themselves. A small business inside the prison (no pay, of course….other than food).
Sorry Mel…that won’t fly. No government involvement is unacceptable. Think of all the waste and fraud that would be wiped out!! No cabinet position, no bureaucracy, no regulations or legislation???? That will never work!
(Lots of tongue in cheek)
It’s a great idea. There’s a lot of wasted space around our local Ag extension. Worthless grass that should be food!
David, Thank you for your response. I’m going to ask you to do me a favor. Find out your ag agents name, email, and phone number. You can go online and find that out no matter what state you live in. We are going to contact him to see if he’d be interested in doing this. In addition to all who are reading this, find out your ag agent because we’re sending out invitations to see if they will host a 3-Day-Symposium on becoming a Certified SFG Instructor. That way we can educate and train many of the Master Gardeners around the country and they in turn can teach SFG as an alternate method to the traditional row and raised bed methods that they’re probably teaching now. Would you all do that for me? Just think how pretty a Square Foot Garden would be instead of all that grass you mentioned.
Transforming good ideas in a college report to reality on the ground (in the garden) is noble and worthwhile! Unfortunately, this nanny state we are in won’t tolerate work for the worthless (in the sense that they are people who are institutionalized and out of touch and can contribute nothing to the worth of themselves or society). How about this, do inmates even make license plates anymore? My friend of some years back was an orderly in a state mental institution in Pennsylvania. The facility had a large garden that was tended by the patients which provided a large part of the food that was used there to feed themselves. Some do-goody decided that it was demeaning to require (permit) the patients to actually do some work that benefited them and lowered the operating expense of the hospital. So comes the reform to eliminate the garden and then turned loose untold thousands of mentally unstable people back into the streets of our cities. How in world can we reassemble our thinking to realize that those patients (inmates?) were actually better off where they were. Who said, “the road to hell is paved with good intentions?” Working with your hands in the soil doesn’t just get them soiled, it also will regenerate the soul. Thanks for what you are doing. Growing things is good for all of us. You have inspired me to get back in the dirt. This is the way to garden!
Thank you for your letter. I agree with you, but we have to be as tolerant as possible when trying to get everyone in society to do what is good and worthwhile. First of all, traditionally gardening was a lot of work with a lot of space, tools, and effort. The results were honestly pretty meager compared to the time, effort, cost, and amoutn of land needed. That’s why we eventually switched from home gardens to going to the grocery store. The grocery store bought it from big farms that could produce it cheaper and then smaller farms. With SFG we go back to the old fashioned method of “grow your own”. You only need 20% of hte space, minimal tools, and you don’t need all of hte knowledge you used to need about crops.
You have some very good ideas about prisoners, and we have developed SFG programs in prisons throughout the country. Programs with men, women, and troubled youth. By golly they have been successful. People love to garden, and when they found it didn’t take a lot of backbreaking labor they were willing to do it. One of the biggest advantages was when they got out they were life-sufficient. No matter where they went or what kind of work they did, they could grow food. Just think with all of those hospitals you mentioned. We could have people going through rehab to go to the gardens to work. Imagine the habits they would develop and they’d feel good about themselves being able to do that. It’s also a great conversation and get together to promote patience. As you said, growing things is good for all of us. I’m glad you’re back to gardening yourself. Now we just need you to spread that around your neighborhood and then maybe even think about going to one of the institutions you mentioned and suggest they start an SFG. It takes very llittle room, little money, and is easy to do. I don’t know if you heard about our project in India but it’s 6 acres and was started by an Indian priest with one book. Of course that book was the Original Square Foot Gardening Book that is now transforming thousands of people in many villages to grow their own and eat healthy. We can do that anywhere in teh world. Thanks again for your letter.
Letter I recieved about this post from Jim in Utah: Wow-you’re at it again. Of course, I remember you running this by me when I was in San Diego(did I tell you how much I loved that trip?). It never amazes me how that mind of yours works continually on coming up with new, brilliant ideas. And I think this might be another one. I’m going to chew on it for a bit and give it some thought. -Jim from Utah
Answer to Jim: Well Jim the reason I think thinking of all of these ideas of how we can get people to live better and healthier is because I believe that SFG is so far superior to any other method of gardening, especially the old fashioned single-row method. If we can get more people to grow in their own back yard (neighborhoods, families, individuals, the whole works) we will be much better off. So I’m counting on you to chew on this idea. I’ve improved it slightly from the past letters I’ve recieved and now we’re going to say “We can create 10,000 jobs a day using this idea”, and that just includes day one. Give me your feedback, Jim and get ready to start volunteering to teach America to cut their food bill in half, reduce obesity, eat healthy, and all of the great things that we’re teaching. Thank you for all of your support in the past. I’m counting on you.
Letter from Steve in Florida:
Hello Mel, Well, you certainly got my attention! I’m onboard!
Let’s get the buzz started. We have nothing to fear but fear itself!
Of course, we might be putting a few hundred thousand people out of work while lowering
world food prices, effecting the shipping/trucking industry, large food conglomerates, ag chemical companies,
grocery stores, and government subsidized farms. Not to mention the the drug companies, doctors, hospitals, and companies that profit from sick people. All said and done, it’s still the best thing for America and the human race.I’m a kooky guy too. How can I help? Steve in Florida.
Answer to Steve:
Dear Steve,
Thanks for your comments and your great enthusiasm. I knew you’d be able to see far beyhond the few words in this plan. I appreciate your offer to get onboard so I need you to start promoting this idea. Send it out to everyone you can think of. Get our county ag agents all excited. You can do alot for us down in Florida. You’ve done a lot for us before and now will be the real test of what SFG can do for the country. Thanks again for your response.
Letter from Belinda in Utah about this Post:
Wow this is quite an idea and quite an undertaking. I believe in it completely. The hard part is getting it carried out…that would be daunting. I’m amazed that you are “ready”!
Belinda in Utah
My Response to Belinda:
You’re absolutely right. The hard part is getting it carried out. But we can do it! If we start by our SFG Instructors and multiply that by all of the County Ag Agents and Master Gardeners in the country plus all of the locations for community gardens, we can do it! We can have this whole plan in full operation in just one year. Just think, what else have we accomplished in the last 5, 10, 20 years that’s a great and lasting benefit to America and all of its great people. With this plan, everyone and I do mean EVERYONE can grow their own food, eat healthy, and receive all of the benefits of a great garden. They don’t even have to have a back yard with this new plan. Keep up the good work with all of our SFG Certified Instructors!
Letter from Kathy about this post:
Hi Mel, This is Kathy from Utah. I have tried and tried, but I cannot get a good handle on this idea. There are too many “glittering generalities” and not enough facts. As you know, the devil is in the details, and there are very few here. Some people will take offense by calling volunteer positions jobs. These days, a job comes with a paycheck. How many 4×4 boxes would be at each Ag location? How many people are needed to take care of the boxes. If you get too many volunteers, how many of the regular maintenance workers are you going to leave without a job? You start out with 1,000 jobs, then you talk about 1,000 per county. Even when you cut it to 10%, at some point we reach a maximum number of volunteers needed to do the job. Not 1,000,000 per week.
I applaud you for trying. I know how much you want to have people feed themselves.
This idea the way you have explained it just doesn’t seem feasible. Take care, Kathy from Utah
My response to Kathy:
thanks for your response but remember, it is just an idea to start with and rather than look for what might be wrong with an idea, I prefer to think how we can streamline, enhance, and perfect an idea. Now don’t take this personally because I know a lot of people that will say “It can’t be done”. The experts and longtime gardeners actually told me that back in the middle 1970s while I was formulating ideas for an improved way to replace single row gardening. You know what happened there. Square Foot Gardening was born and became the largest selling garden book in America, ever! You know the old tried but true saying? Don’t interrupt someone with why it won’t work while they are actually doing it. In your case that has just stimulated me to work out some of the details you mentioned so now the SFG Plan will be even better! So thank you.
Whoo, the paycheck in a volunteering job is the good feeling you get in helping others and giving back to our country. That’s BIG pay Kathy in most people’s minds. Why do so many of us volunteer to worthwhile organizations? And nobody asks for pay.
If you’re unemployed, this is an opportunity to keep busy with something worthwhile and that will boost your moral and make you feel good about yourself. In addition you might just meet someone that likes what you’re doing and would like your skills on their payroll.
First we don’t have any regular maintenance workers growing crops for the hungry and second, any location could always use extra help, no jobs are threatened, just more people are helped.
OK then Kathy, Let’s see if we can simplify the arithmetic. I’m going to increase the start by saying
I can create 10,000 jobs per day, X 5 days = 50,000 jobs per week who can sign up at the 2,500 county Ag station locations That’s only 20 per week per location. A month would see 4 times that or 80 per location. 3 months or one season of growing would = 240 per location, Total USA would then be 240 X 2,500 locations = 240 X 2,500 = 600,000 people or jobs or boxes per season in the USA. Do that for the 3 growing seasons, Spring,Sum,Fall, and you have 1,800,000 jobs. Thank you Kathy because you have stimulated me to re design and re calculate the plan and numbers so we can now say I can create 10,000 jobs per day, see my new blog to be posted tomorrow on how to do that. Thanks again Kathy, you have always been able to stimulate my thinking and I admire and appreciate that. Thank you for your comments. We need both the pluses and the minuses to get this all worked out. First we need people to be sold on the concept, then build the platform, and then fill in the details. As you know, I’ve been working with/on SFG for almost 50 years now. It can first seem daunting with all of the numbers but as this is spread out through all the counties, the numbers become more manageable. People are finding that the whole plan can be done in 1/2 an acre for each county. SFG in 1/2 an acre. Think about it, that’s just one building lot. WE can bet 2 million people to work and they can then do their gardens at home. If everyone just duplicated what they’re doing in this plan, we’d have 4 million new gardens around the country. There is hope in the numbers. What we have to do is energize the people to want to do this, energize them to see the advantages, and motivate them to get started. I appreciate your response. Please be looking for a continuation of this plan. I did put too much in the first letter. Your letter made me realize that so I boiled it down to phase 1, 2, and 3, which makes it more palatable and more easier to understand.
Kathy wrote: “Some people will take offense by calling volunteer positions jobs. These days, a job comes with a paycheck.”
Kathy, they’re already getting the paycheck!
Gina
Good comment, Gina! I think we could point out a lot of the “paycheck” values you get when you become a volunteer. It sure looks good on your resume when you’re looking for a paying job. The younger you are, the more important that is. What an employer sees when they look at your resume if you’ve indicated you’ve been a volunteer for any type of organization doing any kind of work, they understand that you probably have a good attitude about working, you probably show up on time, you work hard during the period you’re there, you don’t stand around and waste other people’s time, and you added value to the organization you volunteer for. Those are just as important for a business as it is for a volunteer organization.
And, one more comment on the “volunteer”-ing. A lot of employers LOOK at your resume to see just what a person does for their community (volunteer work). If none….you may not get that job. All else equal, they may hire the person that “gives” vs. the person that just does the paying job and goes home. Doing nothing beyond his/her job. While I don’t volunteer right now (outside my home), I DO “give” in other ways and I have done a lot in the past and will do more soon.
Jeryl, you’ve added some excellent ideas on my blog about creating 1,000 jobs tomorrow. You’ve mentioned many things that most people don’t even think about. Thank you for this! Just the idea of someone showing up to work on time and dressed appropriately ready for work actually takes a lot of training! These are some of the things that we need to teach our kids, even while they’re still in school. We need to teach them life skills and work habits that are positive and helpful. Many people often say “I got there on time” which means they arrived at the parking lot at 9:01, but by the time they diddled around and went to the bathroom and combed their hair again, it’s 9:25. I don’t mean to be demeaning to anyone, but having a volunteer job is as valuable as a paying job where you learn the work habits. Thank you for all of your ideas Jeryll. They are very valuable, and I hope everyone reads this.
Great suggestion and it has more benefits then mentioned. People will be working with other people, building connections, seeing the internal and external benefits of helping each other. They will be exercising, away from TV, Smartphones and Internet and also eating healthier which will have dollar savings. Doing other projects to help the community will spin off as the people see a benefit for themselves and others from the garden project. Kind of gives you hope.
Terrific idea Mel. There are not enough of us coming up with good ideas of how to help those who don’t have a job at this time. Your idea is definitely a morale booster and as you said it will teach life skills and helpful work habits.
Thank you Kathy, for understanding the value of what I’ve suggested. I’m going to write another soap box about how if you don’t have a job now, and you really want one, the best thing you can do, right now, is to go volunteer with some organization and tell them you want to help them out. It will get you in the mood of having a job, learning all the good habits as you suggested in your answer, but you’ll also make many new contacts. It’s almost like going to a job training class that you don’t have to pay. At the same time, you’re giving something back to the community and the organization. I have heard of many people who’ve done that and were so appreciative of the opportunity that when they did find a job, they were then doubly sure of keeping it and pleasing their new employers. The above is particularly appropriate for our young group of people who are having a harder time than ever finding a new job and feeling worthwhile in thier lives. So, Kathy, keep spreading the word, and lets hope we can help all those who need and want a job.