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As one of our great musical poets once said, "The times, they are a changing." Gas is pushing toward $100 per barrel, water woes are compounding, and still people are flocking to our lovely state and filling up the empty spaces with more homes and concrete. Unfortunately, many of these new homes are built on our best farm lands. Granted, not a lot of active farming is happening on those lands, but once built on, they are out of play. While this goes on, food insecurity at home and across the globe increases.

Who remembers a time when most families had a home garden? Who remembers how to garden, and how to put by all the fruits of those labors, saving excess against lean times? If the produce trucks stopped tomorrow, what would we eat? At the same time, this country (as some other parts of the world) is seeing a tremendous increase in health problems related to insufficient activity. We're getting fat and lazy, and this does not bode well for the long-term health and security of our nation.

I bring these ideas up to make the point that all is not lost. Many people, including private citizens and professionals, are concerned and actively working to reverse the trend towards garden ignorance. People call my office for technical assistance in starting community and school gardens, and our recently scheduled hoop house building workshop filled to capacity the day it was announced in the paper. All over the county, new and experienced gardeners are growing their own food, and even growing to sell at the local farmers markets (which, by the way, always have room for more vendors). Will vending at these markets make a person rich? No. Will it enrich their life? More than you can imagine.

So, what can you do? The answer depends, of course, on your particular situation. If you have a garden, evangelize - share produce and enthusiasm with the neighbors, with kids on the block, with anyone who will listen. If you have land and water, can it be made available to folks who don't have access to those resources? If you want to learn more, read some books, take some classes, get involved!

One way to learn more, and to get involved, is to become a master gardener. These are folks, volunteers serving my office, who take a long course on the science and practice of horticulture here in the Albuquerque area. Then, they donate time teaching and helping others become better gardeners. Through the Albuquerque Area Extension Master Gardeners, we reach out to many people, from elementary school kids, to ARCA folks, to John and Jane Doe. It is not only a great learning experience, and a great way to give back to your community, but also a way to meet new, wonderful friends. Really, some top-notch folks make up the AAEMG organization.

The master gardener program doesn't focus exclusively on vegetable gardening, though we do hit that pretty strong. We also teach our interns about arboriculture, xeriscape, roses, turf, insects and diseases, soils, and many other great topics. Whatever your level of expertise, whatever the direction of your horticultural interest, you can likely benefit from, and be a benefit to, this grass-roots group of do-gooders. And I say that with the utmost respect!

To become an intern in the 2008 season, visit abqmastergardeners.org for information, or call me at the office at 243-1386. Better hurry, the deadline for applications is Nov. 15.