Did I ever tell readers about the time in the winter of 1993 that Skagit Valley College sent my wife and I to Siberia? Yes. Actual Siberia.

It was part of an effort by the administration to have our college participate in the great moment of the West’s opening up to the formerly closed states of the former Soviet Union. The break up of the USSR and the collapse of their economy led to the emergence of a new non-communist government in Russia. They looked to the West at the time for models of development with an eye to the future integration of their state into the prosperous democratic union of European nations.

The facts on the ground when my wife Susan Prescott and I arrived in a small academic community on the outskirts of Novosibirsk were that inflation in Russia was running at 1% per day. There were no medicines available. If you became seriously ill they put you in a hospital bed and that was the extent of care. Our equivalent $25 a month pay covered food and bus fare, and even then we only had enough money to eat because the government subsidized bread, cheese and milk. Luckily we didn’t have to pay for our housing.

We were doing well enough until late March, but then all of the vegetables disappeared from the stores. Fortunately, about then a colleague approached me and asked if I might tutor him in English toward his upcoming visit to the West. That got me to thinking. So I asked him: what have you got in your root cellar? I knew that every Russian had a big garden and a root cellar to store their produce over the winter. They had learned long ago that their government and agricultural industry were not going to provide for them.

Now it is our turn. A certain party in power in America today seems to like a lot of what they have seen in Russian society. I don’t. That is, except for Russian gardening. There is increasing evidence that the new American government seems to be following the footsteps of Russia, collapsing the economy and transferring most of the wealth and political power in society into the hands of a small elite group of billionaires with questionable morals. Thankfully we aren’t as far along this path as Russian society was in 1993.

Did many Americans know that they were electing a Russian asset to the presidency at the time of the election? If not, we certainly do know now. Who else would turn against our NATO allies, cut off support for the Ukrainian people in their brave resistance to a brutal Russian invasion, and generally weaken our nation in ways our adversaries would very much like to see?

So today you may just want to follow the Russian model and plant what was once in America called a victory garden. It helped in our fight against fascism 80 years ago, and it may very well be be a godsend for your family and vulnerable neighbors in these unprecedented times.

What you will need is a site with decent sun exposure, fencing, access to water and soil amendments. Typical Whidbey soil is acidic and requires a limestone soil amendment. Most sites are also rather infertile sand, gravel and clay that needs organic matter added in the form of animal manure or some vegetable-based compost. You may also need to add additional sources of essential phosphorus, nitrogen and potassium plus some trace minerals for a thriving vegetable garden. It is also essential that you get good advice about how and when to plant vegetable starts or seeds. You will need additional advice on watering, weeding and harvesting.

While some people will just continue the practice of buying the bulk of their food from the great industrial agricultural producers who have provided for most of us so far, others will recognize that there are reasons to be concerned about the future availability of our food. The deportation of many farm workers, new tariffs on imported food, and increasing damage to food crops as a result of ongoing climate chaos are reasons to expect food to become more expensive and less reliably available.

There are numerous ways to learn to garden here. Wise elders can help. South Whidbey Tilth, an organic farming and gardening organization located at Highway 525 and Thompson Road, offers a series of gardening classes. Venture Out Nursery, located at Maxwelton Road and the highway, also offers classes, as well as the Bayview Garden nursery and gardening supply store.

There are also opportunities to learn through the Organic Farm School on Maxwelton Road, and several school farms here also offer opportunities at their school gardens on South Whidbey, Coupeville and Oak Harbor. There are also opportunities to learn to garden through our public library system and the Master Gardener’s Whidbey Island Gardening Workshop. So have at it this year, and good gardening to you all.

Dr. Michael Seraphinoff is a Whidbey Island resident, a former professor at Skagit Valley College and academic consultant to the International Baccalaureate Organization.