As I sit here writing this article for the VEGWORLD summer issue, COVID- 19 is in full swing, spreading worldwide and causing lockdowns and shortages in many industries. I’m pretty sure that by now many of us are tired of Net- Flix and YouTube, and we are wondering what our new normal will look like going forward. I am especially grateful to our hardworking VEGWORLD Editor-In-Chief, Courtney Garza, for her patience as I finish this piece in the presence of my restless kids, whose school has been canceled indefinitely.

Through this widespread adversity I am reminded how positive innovation often occurs as a result of pressure applied to us, and this virus certainly meets that criterion.

In short, I think COVID-19 might change how we source our nutritional needs, and for the better.

One of the industries negatively impacted by the pandemic involves food supply chains. You may have experienced trying to order foods you took for granted before, only to find quantities were vastly limited or totally unavailable. It spans across countries and affects large- and small-scale supply. Whether it’s Italy, worried about losing its suppliers of wheat from Russia, or the average American family’s not being able to buy lettuce, carrots, kale, or strawberries, it strikes me how, now more than ever, we can benefit from growing as much of our own food as possible. We might not be able to source our food 100% from our own homes, but we can do a lot more, with ease, and that’s a great thing.

Growing our own food not only helps shorten the length of the supply chain, which helps reduce pollutant emissions, but it also delivers arguably superior plant-based nutrition. Plants transported long distances are often picked when unripe and can also lose some nutritional potency the longer they remain in transport or in storage. Being able to visit our own yards or kitchens for fresh food makes the journey from “farm to table” a distance of mere feet, with your feet!

What now presents itself as a crisis may wind up being the catalyst for change that empowers communities and individuals in ways never before imagined by most. Sure, there have always been a few of us out here living a bit like a modern-day Little House on the Prairie, but really, don’t we all rely rather heavily on modern conveniences? There is great opportunity to evolve and take better charge of our nutrition — if we avail ourselves of it.

This article was originally intended to be about how fresh plants can help with recovery for runners and active people in general. (I’ll still include a simple and tasty smoothie idea that’s loaded with energizing complex carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals!) But each time I wrote a draft of this piece, it seemed to be missing the elephant in the room: the availability of basic produce going into those smoothies. How could I honestly preach about eating your kale when right now many of us can’t get our hands on any?

So I reworked this piece to simply talk about the easy and bountiful foods I have grown for years at home, both outdoors and indoors. We might not be able to grow our own bananas and pineapples, but there is a lot we can grow, giving ourselves healthy, plant-powered nutritional sources at our fingertips.

Mind you, I’m no green thumb. Let’s be extra-clear on that! I am a bona fide princess-y girly girl who wears high heels, has a perfect manicure, and probably wears more perfume than you’re comfortable with (true confession). I am not a master gardener, and I am not going to make this a step-by-step gardening tutorial. I can’t tell you much about the pH of your soil, but I can tell you it is easy to grow big, healthy, bountiful plants at home. In fact, it’s mostly a no-brainer. You just have to decide to do it, and start somewhere.

Against my non-gardener background, I am just here to plant the idea (see how I did that!) in your mind that everyone can grow something. If I can grow nutritionally potent and delicious plants, I promise you can, too. There are innumerable educational sources online to get you started. Just buy some seed, some soil, and some pots, hop on YouTube and Google, and start the transformation in your lifestyle! You will be growing and producing food in no time.

Even if we ignore the global ripple effect COVID-19 is having on food supply chains, there are still numerous powerful reasons why we should be growing food at home as often as possible. More specifically, growing our own food is cost-effective, even downright dirt cheap (there I go again!). Starting plants from seed requires minimal initial investment and produces a high return on nutritional density and flavor.

The flavor of home-grown food is unbeatable, too. Have you ever tasted home-grown herbs, lettuce, tomatoes, berries, melons, or any other edible plant you can think of? How do you remember that food tasted when you picked it ripe from your own yard or indoor pot? Amazing, right?

Many plants, like the fresh wheatgrass pictured in this article, grow in very small spaces inside your home with almost zero effort and in a broad spectrum of environments in terms of temperatures or the amount of light available. So even if you have a very small apartment kitchen and little direct sun, you can still grow very potent foods.

Again, I am not a gardening guru. Please use this article as a source of inspiration to get you to explore more. Head to your local gardening store, talk to the employees, and have them help you pick out supplies to begin. Many supplies can be ordered online these days, too. We can do a lot to transform our households, be they standard homes in suburbia or small apartments in the city. We can turn our homes into robust centers of food production using fewer resources and yielding tremendous nutrition. Got room for a few pots, or a relatively small tray? You’ve got space to grow plants! If you have a yard, replace grass with edible plants! Dig that grass right on up!

Pictured in this article are some of the food sources I have growing on my property:

1. KALE. This stuff never dies! Plant it for decoration instead of flower beds or bushes. Plant all varieties you can get your hands on! For the most part, it just keeps going even through winter. Kale can even survive the snow! In this photo, you are seeing beautiful, robust kale that is still growing from last summer’s planting. The only maintenance it gets is occasional watering. Oh, and in summer, just make sure you hose off any aphid clusters, or those little suckers will cover the leaves in time. Kale is a very inexpensive, hearty plant you can pick as needed to supply incredibly nutritious leafy greens for your smoothies and salads.

2. LEMONS. I realize citrus won’t be able to grow everywhere. If you can’t grow lemons in your yard, investigate indoor lemon bushes and see if it’s possible to grow a little one inside. I live in Northern California, and this bush produces hundreds of giant juicy lemons each year. They are so delicate that you can drink the lemon juice plain and even juice the peel.

3. STRAWBERRIES. I first began planting strawberries when I was totally new to gardening. Now I know why The Beatles sang the line, “Strawberry fields forever,” because these things grow like weeds. They will overtake your garden and yard! And they, too, stay alive through winter. You can plant them in pots, as well. There is no greater pleasure than walking out into your garden with bare feet, picking fresh and totally ripe, sweet strawberries, and eating them right there with your feet in the dirt. I have had to remove some strawberry plants to make room for other crops because they keep growing, and growing, and growing! Again, very cheap, and very, very easy. You can do this!

4. APPLES. I bought some small fruit trees at a local hardware store years ago. Pictured are beautiful pink apple blossoms. This particular tree produces more apples than you can shake a stick at! (I also have a plum tree in my front yard that is so bountiful, I have to give them away.)

5. WHEATGRASS! What a champion of a plant! As you can see, I grow this indoors using a very small physical footprint, tucked away on the kitchen countertop. I sprout the seeds by soaking them in water, and in a matter of days I have a big beautiful tray of wheatgrass that will often yield two full growth cycles and gifts me with a lot of potent wheatgrass juice. You can also grow herbs or microgreens on your countertops. Wheatgrass is just one example of what I have growing right now.

Lastly, as promised, the smoothie suggestion as pictured involves lots of kale, stems removed, and lots of fruit, both fresh and frozen. As you can see, I began with placing the kale at the bottom of the blender first, filling it about halfway. (That’s about one bunch of kale that would typically be sold in stores.) Then I loaded it with 2 peeled oranges, 2 cups of frozen strawberries, and about a cup of pineapple.

Exact measurements in green smoothies are not needed. You can adjust quantities however you like; I want you to be confident in your abilities! This is just a visual to get you started. And of course, if you are using your own home-grown foods, you might not have oranges or pineapple, but

you could easily add more strawberries and any other fruits you can grow yourself.

Here’s to all of us continuing to innovate and empower ourselves, becoming stronger in the face of our shared global challenges. Start small and simple, have fun with the process, and just keep going! You’ll be amazed by what you are capable of, and how you can creatively transform your living space into a food-producing garden.

Just make that decision, and start! Happy growing!