In memory of my mother
What does growing delicious tomatoes have to do with fighting the coronavirus? Quite a lot, it turns out.
When I was growing up, my mother loved vegetable gardening. She created our family’s enormous garden, with over 15 kinds of vegetables, as well as various herbs. Our garden even featured strawberries and rhubarb. Being something of an overachiever, my mother was not content with just one variety of sweet corn or tomato, bean, pepper, or pea; she grew several of each.
Especially memorable were the tomatoes. More than two decades after my parents had moved from my childhood home, my mother and I would occasionally reminisce about the tomatoes from that garden. We raved about their flavor, texture, and juiciness. We agreed that they were the best tomatoes that we had ever eaten, and we had both tried plenty of tomatoes over our lifetime.
But that quality of tomato was not born overnight.
To prepare for the arrival of their second child, my parents had moved into a newly-built house on a property that was just under an acre and a half. The house was constructed on the site of a former sand and gravel pit. The mining activities had removed the topsoil, and the area was later used as a landfill. The trash that had been dumped there was eventually compressed and the space filled again with sand, gravel, and some top dressing.
It was on top of this pile of sand and compacted rubbish that my mother started her garden literally from scratch. She utilized organic gardening methods long before they became fashionable, so we used no chemicals or synthetic fertilizers. (See photo below).
In the early days, the soil was poor, and we had many pests. A few years ago, she and I talked about those struggles. “The first year was the worst for tomato hornworms,” my mother recalled. “In organic gardening, the goal is to strengthen the plants so that they are resistant to bugs,” she explained.
Over decades, we built up the garden soil with cow manure, chicken manure, straw, compost, and leaf mulch, as well as my personal favorite, fish fertilizer. (Is there an emoji for holding your nose?) As the years went by, our plants thrived more and more. With each passing year, the tomatoes became more delicious. By building up the soil, we enabled the growth of strong, healthy plants that were resistant to pests and bore the tastiest of fruit. Adding a range of organic matter to the garden developed the soil microbiome, which plays a key role in the health of plants.
Just as my family built up the soil in our garden, we humans can strengthen our own terrain and become more resistant to pathogens of any kind. For me, one of the very discouraging aspects of the COVID-19 response has been the focus on simply defeating germs. There has been almost no emphasis on strengthening the terrain. Public health officials have told us to lock down, practice social distancing, use hand sanitizer, wear masks, and get vaccinated. Few doctors have spoken about the importance of strengthening our terrain, including our microbiome.
Modern infectious disease treatment is based on germ theory, which holds that pathogens of various kinds invade the body and cause illness. An alternate view, terrain theory, holds that a healthy terrain is inhospitable to pathogens; only if the host becomes weakened can a germ take hold. Over the past two years, we’ve seen many people become very ill and die from COVID-19, unfortunately. Others, however, haven’t experienced any symptoms at all. Could the severity of illness–or the very susceptibility to it–be related to a person’s terrain?
If we think of our body as a garden that needs to be cultivated, we can strengthen our terrain by eating nutrient-dense whole foods, including bone broths and meats from pasture-raised animals, consuming vegetables grown in healthy soil, and ensuring an adequate intake of fat-soluble vitamins. It’s also critical to nourish the intestinal microbiome (gut flora) by eating some fermented foods like yogurt or sauerkraut. In addition, it’s important to stay hydrated, get enough rest, and avoid environmental toxins.
Sadly, I’ll never again have the chance to eat those wonderful tomatoes of my childhood. But it’s never too late to strengthen our own terrain. If my family could grow delicious organic vegetables in a former gravel pit, then you, too, can build a healthy terrain and microbiome in your body…and you’ll be ready for the next germ that comes down the pike.
This post was inspired by Dr. Tom Cowan’s June 9, 2021 Facebook post about terrain theory.
Disclaimer. All information in this article is solely the opinion of the author and for educational purposes only. No information in this article is intended as diagnosis, treatment, prescription, or cure for any health condition.
© 2016-2023 Katharine Spehar. All rights reserved.
Image credits: Pixabay, Walter M. Bellemore
My uncle, parents, and maternal grandmother by the garden in its early years.