When I give talks about the changes we need in our food system, I am often met by skepticism that it can be done. How can our nation possibly shift away from large farms? It would mean a lot more farmers and probably higher priced food. Plus, suburban sprawl tends to raise real estate prices and move our farmland farther and farther from population centers. That means many farmers live nowhere near their customers, making it pretty hard for many of us to "eat local."

Well, one solution is gardening. And, to many of us, this sounds impossible. Gardening? You mean millions of Americans are actually going to turn the TV off, dig up their lawns, get their hands dirty, and grow their own food? Certainly, even if they did do that – how the heck could they grow enough to make up a significant part of their diets? Of course there’s Barbara Kingsolver’s popular book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle about her family’s yearlong adventure growing their own food (even making their own cheese and raising and then slaughtering their own chickens and turkeys!). It makes for a good story, but it also shows how much dang work it all is.

When it comes to imagining a future nation of gardeners, seeing is believing. I am proud to say that I am now a believer. And, before you read on, consider this: During World War II, Victory Gardens provided 40 percent of the nation’s produce.

Before recently, I was a skeptic about the role of gardening in food system reform. OH BOY was I a skeptic. I am friendly with a number of urban ag fanatics (who I would describe with adjectives like "zealous" and "militant" in their enthusiasm for urban agriculture and their belief that it will be the salvation of this country). Until recently, quite frankly, I thought they were nuts. Maybe, I thought, urban ag could account for 2 percent of the country’s food. And that’s nice. It’s hugely significant for the people it affects… but it leaves the other 98 percent of the country without a solution.