Section » Growing
Defender of the seeds: Q&A with Claire Hope Cummings, author of “Uncertain Peril”
An environmental lawyer for 20 years, including four spent with the USDA, Claire Hope Cummings reports regularly on agriculture and the environment; she has also farmed in California and in Vietnam. We chatted recently
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Rebuilding itself, New Orleans is reconstructing food community
The following post is by Stu Shafer, a professor of sociology at Johnson County Community College in Kansas and a farmer-member of the Rolling Prairie Farmers Alliance, whose newsletter this post first appeared in. He
Victory Garden update: Getting in a few good digs
Memorial Day weekend, though mostly seen as the first taste of summer vacation, also gives us time to reflect on the meaning of patriotism. For those of us who garden, it offers a little of both, especially now that more and more people are viewing their Victory Gardens as a way to save our
We’re seeding a trend here…
Maybe a collective spring fever is making its way around the Internet, but I've seen and read more about gardens lately than I have in a long time. If you somehow missed the hubbub this past week, Michael Pollan published
Digest – Features: Pollan preaches it, NYT Mag’s Eat Green, Londoners growing food
In the New York Times Magazine's Green issue: Ask not what your planet can do for you: Yeah yeah, we're huge Michael Pollan fans, but this really is one of his most inspiring essays ever. Thankfully, protestations to the contrary,
Coming out of hibernation
Finally, after 3 months of blizzards, winter seems to be showing signs of weakness in Montreal. I'm sure this doesn't mean that winter is over, even though spring officially began over two weeks ago, but still, today the sun was shining and the snow was melting, and people were out on the streets,
Soil vs. dirt
The radio program Living on Earth has been running excerpts from "Home Ground: Language for an American Landscape," a book by renowned nature writer Barry Lopez ("Crossing Open Ground," "Arctic Dreams," "Of Wolves and Men") that defines landscape terms such as
Sow what? Planning and starting our Victory Gardens
We've just dug out from a mild winter storm here in northern Ohio (only a few inches of snow, but topped with a thick glaze of ice), and I'm finally able to see the ground emerge from that blanket of cold, frozen precipitation. The weather lately has fueled a number of dreams of sunny, tropical climes
We’re plotting… our Victory Gardens!
During both World War I and II, the American government mandated that its citizens ration food in order to feed the troops overseas. In order to supplement their rations of meat, oil, sugar, and other precious foods, the American people followed the government's call to plant War Gardens (in WWI) and,
The plot quickens: The Children’s Studio School Garden in DC
Those of us who are passionate about local foods tend to use point-by-point logical arguments to persuade our friends and families to support local farmers and food producers: freshness, taste, ethics, environmental considerations,
Digest – Blogsnacks: Feminism and slow food, Hillary likes USDA name change, FoodMed reporting
Slow Food makes women feel bad?: Bay Area food writer turned blogger Jennifer Jeffreys has a fantastic post about whether the SOLE food movement is counter to feminism. She writes: "I started thinking about how we as women feel such tremendous pressure to stay svelte, balance our budgets, keep a journal,
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Montreal Community Garden Season in full swing
I have made mention several times of my community garden plot, most recently when I made Sorrel Potato Soup from the first growth of sorrel, which is a perennial and returns to the plot each year. I also mentioned
Montreal Community Gardens Contaminated
By this time last year, I had already cleaned up my community garden plot and sowed my seeds, after laying down a few bags of organic manure bought from a farmer in the Eastern Townships. Here is what my plot looked like the first week of May, 2006. You can see Noshette and my garden partner Marc hard
Digest: DIY carnivores, urban farms, Puck rehashed, irradiation’s back
Walking the talk: Reading "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan inspired us to start this blog. That's nothing. It inspired a group of suburban moms and one dad in Davis, CA, to start raising their own cattle, pigs, and ducks. But after killing ducks once, they're now going to outsource the slaughter.
Digest: Iowa’s gamble, Quebec ponders GM labeling, animal IDs are COOL
"Fueling Iowa's Future": An informative new series launched today in preparation of the 2008 Iowa caucuses. A number of articles and graphics highlight the state's opportunities — and the serious challenges — as Iowa attempts to become an alternative energy leader for the nation. Des
