Showing posts with label Food Not Lawns. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Food Not Lawns. Show all posts
5/20/2009
4/25/2009
The Food Revolution
Michael Pollan | A Food Revolution in the Making From Victory Gardens to White House Lawn
truthout.org/042309EA
Michael Pollan, OnEarth: "Last month, First Lady Michelle Obama broke ground for a new vegetable garden on the South Lawn of the White House. It's the first time food will be grown at the president's residence since Eleanor Roosevelt planted her Victory Garden during World War II. Back then, as part of the war effort, the government rationed many foods and the shortage of labor and transportation fuel made it difficult for farmers to harvest and deliver fruits and vegetables to market. The First Lady's Victory Garden set an example for the entire nation: they too could produce their own fruits and vegetables. Nearly 20 million Americans answered the call. They planted gardens in backyards, empty lots, and even on city rooftops. Neighbors pooled their resources, planted different types of produce, and formed cooperatives - all in the name of patriotism."
truthout.org/042309EA
Michael Pollan, OnEarth: "Last month, First Lady Michelle Obama broke ground for a new vegetable garden on the South Lawn of the White House. It's the first time food will be grown at the president's residence since Eleanor Roosevelt planted her Victory Garden during World War II. Back then, as part of the war effort, the government rationed many foods and the shortage of labor and transportation fuel made it difficult for farmers to harvest and deliver fruits and vegetables to market. The First Lady's Victory Garden set an example for the entire nation: they too could produce their own fruits and vegetables. Nearly 20 million Americans answered the call. They planted gardens in backyards, empty lots, and even on city rooftops. Neighbors pooled their resources, planted different types of produce, and formed cooperatives - all in the name of patriotism."
3/29/2009
We Don't Eat Grass
http://mail.live.com/default.aspx?wa=wsignin1.0
What Michelle and the kids and the crew did the other day was to drive a shovel right into the heart of that American icon: the lawn. They literally took the most pampered lawn in America, dumped it in the wheel barrel, and carted it away. All that was missing was a chorus of "This lawn is your lawn."
Is it possible that along with local, organic food, the First Garden can promote the thoroughly subversive idea that this symbol has seen its day?
. . .The low grassy surface has its roots in the English aristocracy, among folks who had so much food and land they didn't have to farm it, they only had to display it.
Today, lawns cover 40 million acres, making them the largest agricultural sector in America. They consume 270 billion gallons of water a week, or enough for 81 million acres of organic vegetables. They suck up $40 billion a year on seed, sod, and chemicals, leading one historian to compare them to "a nationwide chemical experiment with homeowners as the guinea pigs."
What Michelle and the kids and the crew did the other day was to drive a shovel right into the heart of that American icon: the lawn. They literally took the most pampered lawn in America, dumped it in the wheel barrel, and carted it away. All that was missing was a chorus of "This lawn is your lawn."
Is it possible that along with local, organic food, the First Garden can promote the thoroughly subversive idea that this symbol has seen its day?
. . .The low grassy surface has its roots in the English aristocracy, among folks who had so much food and land they didn't have to farm it, they only had to display it.
Today, lawns cover 40 million acres, making them the largest agricultural sector in America. They consume 270 billion gallons of water a week, or enough for 81 million acres of organic vegetables. They suck up $40 billion a year on seed, sod, and chemicals, leading one historian to compare them to "a nationwide chemical experiment with homeowners as the guinea pigs."
3/16/2009
3/05/2009
2/16/2009
Bridge to an Organic Future Forum, Carrboro, April
Bridge to an Organic Future: Opportunities for health and the environment, the 27th National Pesticide Forum, will be held April 3-4, 2009 at the Century Center in Carrboro, NC.
This national environmental conference, convened by Beyond Pesticides and Toxic Free NC, will cover a range of issues affecting NC and the nation including: fair, organic food; pesticides and health; clean water; organic lawns; schools and daycare; and more. Keynote speakers include: Jim Hightower, author and radio commentator; Baldemar Velasquez, president of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee; and, Philip and Alice Shabecoff, authors of Poisoned Profits.
Registration and more information online at www.beyondpesticides.org/forum. Carolina Farm Stewardship Association is co-sponsoring this event.
This national environmental conference, convened by Beyond Pesticides and Toxic Free NC, will cover a range of issues affecting NC and the nation including: fair, organic food; pesticides and health; clean water; organic lawns; schools and daycare; and more. Keynote speakers include: Jim Hightower, author and radio commentator; Baldemar Velasquez, president of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee; and, Philip and Alice Shabecoff, authors of Poisoned Profits.
Registration and more information online at www.beyondpesticides.org/forum. Carolina Farm Stewardship Association is co-sponsoring this event.
8/09/2008
7/20/2008
4/23/2008
Edible Lawn--Eat Your Weeds, Children
http://www.gardensalive.com/article_mcgrath.asp?ai=1&bhcd2=1208943643
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