Now is the best time to make your garden an edible one.

Greetings and Greenings, Friends and Foragers!

We are back with a vengeance, and with a renewed sense of purpose, in light of recent global events. We hope this finds you well. We hope you are all safe. We hope you are in compliance, as well, because everyone's cooperation is so, so important right now!

So! You would have to be living under a rock not to know what is currently going on in the world. It is all over the news. It has gotten pretty scary, even for those of us who generally do not panic or believe the Hype.

And with us officially cresting 1 million infected with COVID-19, gardening is likely the furthest from most people's minds, even with spring in the air. However, now is the best time! If you are here you may be thinking that as well. But maybe you don't quite have the specifics. Let's cover some quick facts:

#1.) Being at home keeps you less active unless you are making a strict effort to keep yourself active. 

You know what is unintentionally active? Gardening. It takes a little bit of work every day or every few days, after the initial start-up, and there are so many apps to keep you on track for weeding, applying fertilizers, pesticides/herbicides (if you use those, keep in mind they can be organic), and watering your garden. We are going to do a blog on just these apps coming up. If you need a little inspiration getting moving right now, though, check out this printable flyer we found from "ExerciseIsMedicine.Org".

#2.) If you have kids this can help keep them engaged and active, as well.

 Just get it set up, install your apps on everyone's devices and begin delegating tasks. For help with compliance, try having rewards at the ready for completing each task, set of tasks or maybe a tier of tasks (in this economy, unless your currency is hugs, I know coming up with rewards may be a challenge, but get creative!) Making it a game is really my plan as a mother of special needs children with many behavioral struggles. And failing those, here are more suggestions from some of our online parenting haunts:

Help from Fatherly.
Suggestions from KiwiFamily.
7 Tips from Mother Earth Living.
Checklists for ActiveKids.

#3.) If your garden is outdoors you have now cultivated a reason to be outdoors if quarantine should last into the summer months.

#4.) Your overall nutrition will improve if you are relying on your garden for food security. Cutting processed foods has scientifically proven to reduce body mass over time in clinical trials, likely because this allows us to dramatically decrease our sodium and sugar levels, which will help stop the retention of water weight, and possibly reduce some other inflammation in our bodies we may not even be aware of.

We are looking at longevity and boosting our immunity at this point. So, if you must go out, should you (hopefully not, but should you) become exposed to any of the yuck going around, and have to fight it off, your vitality and immunity will be in the best possible shape to fight off infection!

That's not to say you're not going to keep enjoying your favorite treats altogether. However, when you are surrounded by fresh produce you are much more likely to make meals with these things and snack on them, helping your body do what it does already naturally more effectively than it would if you were living off of diet sodas, processed snack foods, quick meals, and cocktails the rest of the year.

If any of this does not make sense, please see the hyperlinks we are including in this text or feel free to visit our pages, send messages and ask for clarification. Additional resources are available and those involved are passionate about the science behind nutrition, sustainability, and public health. Do not hesitate to engage us!

This video is over an hour long but very relevant to the next topic and if that topic interests you, I highly suggest it, but if not feel free to skip.

#5.) This is a polarizing subject for whatever reason so we will make it brief. This organization, being much of HSM, believes many small-scale grow-ops are the long-term answer to the global climate change problem, at least to the extent that we can most effectively take action, right now, to make the most effective individual change. 

These activities, over time, have the potential to create a domino effect in behavior and public health because of how the human brain works. We believe in a quiet revolution that involves guerrilla gardening, and edible lawns and forests. COVID-19 and all of the natural disasters in the last few years are the sources of many woes and we think that becoming more self-sufficient (in spite of local and state laws) is the answer for every individual everywhere.

Some of us have experience running for office. All of us are very engaged in civics for various causes. We are here to help however we can. Please do not hesitate to reach out with questions and concerns regarding your own projects. We will do our best to get to you with whatever we can offer.

 #6.) Any project with longevity will give you something to look forward to, right now. 

We all need that right now even if you are not currently feeling it. So, even if you do not decide to take on a garden, please keep all of these things in mind, and perhaps come up with another project or something else you can look forward to. Here is a super basic tutorial, anyhow. Check back for more, soon.

Suggestions for other projects to keep people healthy and growing during this rough time are welcome! We will post the best ones on social media, so check-in for those. All out-of-date links will be refreshed in the next 24 hours. Follow and look out for updates via our new Insta! We are super excited about it.

Take care, friends. Please tune in on the Facebook soon for helpful apps and tutorials on how to get started now that we have a whole 'lotta why to do so. Stay safe, until next time! Wash your hands. Don't touch your face.

Green Thoughts and Bright Dreams.

-Hyp Team

Additional Resources regarding COVID19:

Information Is Beautiful Datapack

Current projections of contagion and spread as of 4/4/2020

In an Emergency:

Granny Weatherwax, mostly for Baltimore MD but organizational tools and advice is universal.
United Way
Federal Benefits Finder
Debt.org
HUD
NLIHC
1-800-273-8255 is the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.
Text CONNECT to 741741 for the SelfHarm Text line.
HelpGuide for further mental help crises when no healthcare is in place
Grantspace

For Maryland Specifically:

(410) 769-6419  Covid-19 crisis Hotline for Maryland inmates' families to call in with concerns

Maryland COVID-19 Resource Center
Small Business Help
Small Business Resource Center offers help from State
Help by County
MOCO lists state, county, and Fed, but, also scams
Childcare for essential workers
ChildCare Aware of America- MD

Washington County:

211
WaCo CoC

Help with keeping Kids busy:

iCivics
Scholastic Classroom
Scholastic resources for the advanced learner
Bonding Games from ADDitude Mag
Sample Schedules and Resources from ADDitude
Getting kids off the couch, also ADDitude Mag
Guide to utilizing Khan Academy as a homeschool resource

We're moving forward. :)

“Food desert” is a term that is used to describe areas where fresh produce is a scarcity and obesity rates are startlingly high. Not surprisingly these areas are usually located in large cities and are accompanied by high rates of asthma and respiratory-related illness. This may have something to do with the fact that approximately 1/3 of greenhouse gas emissions are estimated to be produced by the consumption, distribution and production of food. The further from the source a city lays the more perilous the process of getting that food becomes. Vancouver was responsible for self-producing 44% of food consumed in 2009. Imagine the costs saved on transportation, third party handling and public waste! The goal of this endeavor is to create a sustainability resource center complete with an urban farm, green technology, public resource meters, natural energy sources, free public education and several affordable products to offer individuals at all income levels. Mission: "Putting the 'unity' back in community by bringing people together and getting them closer to their food and resources" We're setting up shop here in Hagerstown in hopes of spreading the word of sustainability, but then it is off the the West Coast before finally taking this model to the DRC in Africa! Visit our GoFundMe page and make your contribution today. :)

It is a time for change

Atheism and a general lack of conformity to major religions has a tendency to be viewed poorly in the public eye. I know from networking and just the usual socializing that those that fit that demographic, as a rule, are unhappy with that notion.

When you are struggling with money in life, it is churches and ministries that offer hope with food banks and shelters. Secular people are just as capable of organizing a food drive or applying for grants to build shelters, or starting community projects to occupy the free time of budding youth. I can not take responsibility for the idea: all that I know is that there is a Secular Humanist Ministry in Morgantown.

Churches and ministries do good, or, sometimes, what they are taught is good that is not, necessarily. I think we can start a creative, gentle, humanist revolution by requesting government and state funding as well as sponsorship for community enrichment programs.

The first step is to band together, not just atheists but those who can accept others of any faith and work next to them to support a better world: Ministries all over the world, dedicated to lowering crime, eliminating hunger and pollution, and educating the masses on morality, logic and reason.

If the missionaries sent to Africa had been secular, perhaps the spread of disease could have been severely reduced.

But first, lets start at home and show our nation's people (whatever that nation may be) that a particular religion, or any religion at all is not necessary to live in harmony on our planet.

This group is for any good person looking to help others, help the environment and see real change in their lifetime.