MY HEALTHY ADDICTION

From Pete Amyoony, Dunster BC

Some of my first memories were of spending time with my Lebanese Father in his “Victory Garden” behind our store in downtown Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1943. I was “helping Daddy” to water the garden with my new watering can and eating way more than my share of radishes, carrots and fresh peas.

I continued spending time in the gardens this way until I headed West to British Columbia in 1963 to teach school in Burns Lake. It didn’t take long to realize that something was missing in my life so I bought a garden fork and cut out a small patch and planted the usual fresh veggies I loved so much. From then until now (well into my 85th year) I have always had a garden and greenhouse.  I subscribed to Organic Gardening, Mother Earth News, and Harrowsmith magazines and learned about Heritage seeds and how to save them. Eventually I ended up collecting over 200 varieties of Heritage Tomatoes and started growing up to 30,000 bedding plants for sale each spring in my large greenhouse.  I helped start two Farmers Markets, a Seedy Saturday, a Community Garden  and I wrote a weekly garden column for 20 years.  I always claim that it is my “Healthy Addiction”.