Gardening

Communities across U.S. start seed libraries, offering low-cost or free, open-pollinated, pesticide-free seeds which are grown, then returned to library at end of season

By Mary MacVean

Los Angeles Times 2011-06-18

As landfills become increasingly full, diverting food waste - 14 percent of municipal trash - becomes growth industry for composting companies, benefiting gardeners, soil

By Georgina Gustin

St. Louis Post-Dispatch 2011-04-11

Chicago officials propose new rules they say will nourish urban agriculture, but some of city's top urban farmers believe they will stunt growth of grass-roots projects

By Monica Eng

Chicago Tribune 2011-01-03

Cook County Jail garden grows produce for Charlie Trotter's, The Publican restaurants, helps inmates find peace, patience, cuts recidivism from 50 percent to 13.8 percent since 2008

By Kevin Pang

Chicago Tribune 2010-09-09

Opinion: As manicured lawns become less politically correct, local governing groups begin rethinking rules on front yards and aesthetics of vegetables that might grow there

The editors

Chicago Tribune 2010-08-30

Antique basils bring beauty to the garden, visitors to D.C.'s Smithsonian museum, and for some, the chance of romance at the windowsill

By Adrian Higgins

The Washington Post 2010-08-16

Domestic violence shelter expands its mission with raised garden beds, beekeeping to help residents learn self-sufficiency

By Valarie Honeycutt Spears

Lexington Herald-Leader (KY) 2010-07-31

Troop of volunteers conducting first census of urban green thumbs in bid to quantify New York City's annual garden harvest

By Melanie Grayce West

The Wall Street Journal. (may require subscription) 2010-06-10

Sample plots, bits of wisdom for true gardeners, who appreciates vagaries of life and knows that things will go wrong - that gardens die and are reborn

By Dominique Browning

Wired magazine 2010-05-24

Strapped corporations see goldmine of goodwill in edible gardens for employees

By Kim Severson

The New York Times 2010-05-19

Last year's first-time gardeners get another season to adjust procedures in hopes of better harvest

By Anne Marie Chaker

The Wall Street Journal. (may require subscription) 2010-03-10

Garden therapy reduces stress, cuts perception of pain, improves mood in patients at otherwise sterile settings, studies show

By Anne Marie Chaker

The Wall Street Journal. (may require subscription) 2010-04-06

Growing kale for a two-season crop along the East Coast, plus recipe

By Adrian Higgins

The Washington Post 2010-03-29

White House expands edible garden for new growing season; winter harvest yielded almost 50 pounds of produce

By Anne Schroeder Mullins

Politico 2010-03-31

Seed house head, culinary historian find common ground, create African-American Heritage Collection

By Doug Oster

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 2010-02-13

In domestic arts of chicken raising, peach canning and kale growing, women seek larger purpose, says author of "Radical Homemakers"

By Peggy Orenstein

The New York Times 2010-03-14

Concerned for their child's future, California couple replaces water-guzzling grass with wood chips, drought-tolerant plants - and is sued by city

By Amina Khan

Los Angeles Times 2010-03-02

Seed exchanges, offering unusual varieties and heirlooms, grow in popularity

By Anne Marie Chaker

The Wall Street Journal. (may require subscription) 2010-02-10

Torrential rains prove that much of needed water falls from sky - trick is catching it

By Susan Carpenter

Los Angeles Times 2010-01-23

Mirroring gardeners everywhere, Brooklyn Botanic Garden uses winter to prep new culinary garden

By Anne Marie Chaker

The Wall Street Journal. (may require subscription) 2010-01-20

Greening of VA helps war veterans find peace in life back home

War veterans learn about themselves, find measure of peace in New Jersey VA center's vegetable gardens; one vet begins landscaping business as result. Medical center gardens grew out of link to nonprofit Planetree organization; veterans removed lawn to till 20-by-50-foot plots and this summer harvested more than 1,000 pounds of produce, which was given to other patients and also used at house cafe.

By Peter Applebome

The New York TImes 2009-11-29

College teaches jobless how to garden, cook, preserve crops

After DHL closes offices in southwestern Ohio town and food pantries report unprecedented demand, college provides 20 plots, teaches people how to garden. As green beans, tomatoes ripened, gardening lessons were supplemented by lessons on cooking and preserving crops. Now, nine volunteers from VISTA are expanding 'Grow Food, Grow Hope' program to more families and more seasons, and teaching schoolchildren how to garden.

By Dan Sewell

The Associated Press; The Christian Science Monitor 2009-11-16

Gardeners, small-scale farmers find flavor, favor in garlic

Gardeners, small-scale farmers find flavor, favor in garlic

seedsofchange.com

German white garlic features plump, porcelain-colored cloves and is moderately spicy.

As supermarket garlic becomes product of China, small-scale American farmers seize the moment to market garlic as regional, seasonal commodity, playing to public's hunger for sustainable and locally grown produce. Gardeners, too, find flavor in home-grown varieties - the hardneck German White, Rocambole. And: Planting, growing and harvesting garlic (click 'See also').

By Virginia A. Smith

The Philadelphia Inquirer 2009-11-06

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At some schools, green is the new cool at lunch, in class, in garden

Some Philadelphia schoolchildren measure coolness by green quotient of their lunches - reusable sandwich wraps and water bottles, recycled lunch boxes, cloth napkins. Science teachers encourage 'waste-free Wednesdays;' in environmental science classes, students compost food scraps, fertilize the herb garden that then is used for the school kitchen, thus reducing pesticides that run into nearby Wissahickon Creek, which feeds into water supply of their city.

By Meredith Broussard

The Philadelphia Inquirer 2009-09-24

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Former bank building houses new currency - heirloom seeds

Former bank building houses new currency - heirloom seeds

www.rareseeds.com

Baker Creek Heirloom seed company creates bricks-and-mortar seed bank, fills arched windows of former bank with produce. Store is evidence of effort to preserve, bring back fruit, vegetable and flower varieties pushed to extinction in era of commercial seed production. Others seedsaver groups: Kitazawa in Oakland (Asian herbs and vegetables), J.L. Hudson of La Honda, Redwood City Seed Co. (peppers), plus Seeds of Change in New Mexico, Seed Savers Exchange in Iowa (click 'See also').

By Carol Ness

San Francisco Chronicle 2009-09-06

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Growing sensible eating habits, with fast food as treat

At White House garden, Michelle Obama casts campaign for homegrown food as sensible eating strategy. She says that fighting obesity requires improving access to fresh produce in low-income communities, offering more nutritious food at schools, and overhauling how American families eat. She linked healthful eating to two major legislative initiatives: reauthorization of child nutrition programs, which fund school breakfast and lunch programs, and health-care reform. And: Watch the speech (click 'See also').

By Jane Black

The Washington Post 2009-06-17

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Recession spurs garden plans, cutbacks on alcohol purchases

Nearly 25 percent of younger adults surveyed by Pew (click 'See also') say they plan to plant a 'recession garden' to cut their food bills, about double proportion of older adults who anticipate gardening to save money. Those under age 65 more than twice as likely as older adults to have cut down on spending on alcohol, cigarettes.

By Rich Morin and Paul Taylor

Pew Research Center 2009-05-14

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Opinion: Making risky choice to reject culture of 'more'

In dramatic life change that seems risky but likely is safer bet, reporter quits job to simplify life, slow its pace, volunteer. She and fiance downsized house, will grow vegetables, preserve them and shop locally. 'We're going to see how little we can buy and how much we can reduce our use of electricity,' she writes.

By Emily Achenbaum

Chicago Tribune 2009-05-04

Opinion: White House garden as revolutionary emissions reduction agent

Michelle Obama's garden and her message of eating fresh-picked food is truly subversive: Change America's eating habits, improve health, cut emissions, change the world. Globally, agricultural sector releases more greenhouse gases (click 'See also') in growing, transporting, meat production than any activity except for constructing, heating, cooling buildings. Food sector should be priority in talks before Copenhagen meeting, where next round of emissions cuts will be decided.

By Mark Hertsgaard

The Nation. 2009-04-20

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First Lady, USDA head praise produce during garden planting

As Congress reviews funding for school lunch program, Michelle Obama, Tom Vilsack of USDA, elementary students, chefs plant 25 varieties of heirloom seeds and seedlings including kale, rhubarb, arugula, lettuce, spinach and Savoy cabbage in White House garden. USDA head tells pupils they need daily access to fresh foods.

By Jane Black

The Washington Post 2009-04-09

Opinion: First Garden drives shovel into heart of American icon

With incredible, edible garden, Obamas aren't just eating the view, they are eating the lawn. At 40 million acres, lawns are largest agricultural sector in America. They consume 270 billion gallons of water a week, enough for 81 million acres of organic vegetables. We spend $40 billion a year on seed, sod, and chemicals for them; they are the populist enemy.

By Ellen Goodman

The Boston Globe 2009-03-27

Food deserts must bloom along with Obamas' new White House garden

It's not enough for Michelle Obama to laud the fresh vegetable, and plant a backyard garden. She must use her considerable influence to help bring fresh food to poor, urban neighborhoods, those "food deserts" where there's nary an unfried potato to be found. And: Cities take on their own grocery gaps (click 'See also').

The editors

The New York Times 2009-03-21

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Mapping plant hardiness as climate warms

Mapping plant hardiness as climate warms

USDA

An updated version of this 1990 version of the plant hardiness map is expected from the USDA sometime in 2009.

New gardening zone map expected from USDA this year; new map likely will extend plants' northern ranges, show continent's warming. It draws on 30 years of data, including local temperatures, altitude and presence of water bodies. USDA commissioned map after American Horticultural Society released draft update that showed significant warming over 1990 version, with many parts of nation shifted to warmer climate zones.

By Jennifer Weeks

The Daily Climate/Environmental Health Sciences 2009-03-23

Activists seek food/agriculture policy reform - beyond Obama garden

As Americans flock to farmers' markets and buy local at Wal-Mart, sustainable-food activists, who see cheap, processed, subsidized food as profiting agribusiness, causing (and deferring costs of) diet-related disease, ruined environment, seek fundamental change. Chef/gardener Alice Waters urges tripling of budget for school lunches (with costs shared by Department of Education - click 'See also'); author Michael Pollan wants diversified, regional food networks. But he worries about movement's lack of infrastructure.

By Andrew Martin

The New York Times 2009-03-21

See also 

Obamas' 55-variety salute to organic gardening

Obamas' 55-variety salute to organic gardening

Karla Cook/The Food Times

Black kale, also known as Tuscan, dinosaur or lacinato kale.

Obamas' raised bed garden will contain 55 varieties of vegetables, including cilantro, anise hyssop, Thai basil, tomatillos and hot peppers, arugula, spinach, chard, collards and black kale. Lettuces will include red romaine, green oak leaf, butterhead, red leaf, galactic. A White House carpenter who is a beekeeper will tend two hives for honey. Plots will be enriched with White House compost, Chesapeake Bay crab meal; ladybugs, praying mantises will help control pesky bugs. And: Sources for seeds (click 'See also').

By Marian Burros

The New York Times 2009-03-19

See also 

Fighting environment, economic woes in gardens, kitchens

Fighting environment, economic woes in gardens, kitchens

Seeking solution to problems of climate change, fossil fuels depletion, food safety lapses, economic crisis, health and national security, writers issue call to arms in 'A Nation of Farmers: Defeating the Food Crisis on American Soil.' In their vision (click 'See also'), grassroots-led agricultural revolution would result in produce 100 million people becoming farmers and millions more becoming home cooks.

By Morgan Josey Glover

News & Record (Greensboro, N.C.) 2009-03-09

See also 

Opinion: Cut hunger risk with more farmers, home gardens, awareness

Jews farm because Judaism is an agrarian religion, but thousands of years have taught Jewish farmers that solution to hard times was passport. World climate, energy crisis can't be escaped by moving, and one in nine people in U.S. need food stamps. Best way to reduce hunger is more farmers, victory gardens everywhere, heightened awareness of importance of food. And: Farming, cooking aren't such radical ideas, says columnist (click 'See also').

By Sharon Astyk

The Dallas Morning News 2009-02-06

See also 

Cutting expenses by growing a garden

Cutting expenses by growing a garden

To grow a garden, think like a seed, and make sure that little plants have water, nutrients, drainage and sunlight. Savings on food bill will grow as well: One tomato plant, for $3.50, can grow 20 pounds of fruit. Organic mixed greens are $2.79 a seed packet. One-half gram of arugula seeds costs 55 cents, enough for a crop that matures in 40 days and returns each spring. And: Shopping for seeds by catalog (click 'See also').

By Jane Kay

San Francisco Chronicle 2009-02-27

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Opinion: Replanting White House garden no small potatoes

Opinion: Replanting White House garden no small potatoes

Peter Sellers as Chance the gardener in Jerzy Kosinski's 'Being There.

Just as Chance the gardener inspires country in 'Being There,' so did Eleanor Roosevelt's planting of Victory Garden. Barack Obama could show similar wisdom by replanting edible garden on White House lawn. We grew $2,200 of produce in our modest garden last summer; more than 50 million American households with similar yards could be making homegrown savings of their own.

By Roger Doiron

Chicago Tribune 2009-03-01

Fighting downturn with power of growing

Fighting downturn with power of growing

Karla Cook/thefoodtimes

Growing a vegetable garden won't balance budget, replace lost benefits or make up for shock of lost job. But part of our crisis is sense of alienation, powerlessness. You don't meet many alienated gardeners, unless it's been a terrible woodchuck year. And: A deepening drift of seed catalogs and the virtual gardens of winter (click 'See also').

By Verlyn Klinkenborg

The New York Times 2009-02-15

See also 

Lowering stress, heart disease risk with parks, gardens

More neighborhood green space reduces risk of heart disease, greatly narrows health gaps and death rates between rich, poor, UK researchers learn. Governments should promote and invest in green areas, which provide opportunities for stress reduction and physical activity. And: Plunging hands into the dirt therapeutic for gardeners (click 'See also').

By Michael Kahn

Reuters 2008-11-07

See also 

Praising parsley and a crop-rotation plan

Praising parsley and a crop-rotation plan

Amazon

Multi-year rotation plan critical for the health of all vegetables; best idea to keep track comes from garden book: Group vegetables according to families. Thus all the members of the Solanaceae family - tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants and peppers - are grown together, then moved together to a different bed the following year.

By Shirley Barker

Berkeley Daily Planet 2008-10-16

Teens grow nutritious economy in view of Wall Street

Replacing an asphalt lot, a three-acre garden in view of Wall Street becomes a go-to place for teens and has drawn more than 5,000 students with their classes. Gardens were begun by two employees of Red Hook yourth court who started a nonprofit, Added Value, and now employ teens who 'weed it, turn it, rake it, seed it' - and sell the bounty at a farmers' market and to Brooklyn restaurants.

By Jim Dwyer

The New York Times 2008-10-08

As fuel prices rise, so does cost of dirt

As oil prices rise, dirt no longer cheap, nor are dirt bags, since plastic is a petroleum product. Potting mix ingredients come from all corners of the world and are vulnerable to rising freight costs. Fewer housing starts mean less shredded bark, which pushes prices up; fertilizer, too is in great demand by farmers growing corn for ethanol.

By Joel Achenbach

The Washington Post 2008-08-17

Planting for a Slow Food Labor Day celebration

Alice Waters leads 150 in planting of updated version of a World War II victory garden at San Francisco's Civic Center. Slow Food Nation Victory Garden will be centerpiece of the group's conference over Labor Day weekend. Produce will be distributed to local charities.

San Francisco Chronicle 2008-07-13

Opinion: Growing a kitchen garden on White House lawn

Considering rising cost of food, the carbon footprint, the food shortage, the moral queasiness about biofuels, food safety issues and the Midwest floods, activist wants to see next president think global, eat local - from the 18-acre yard of the White House.

By Ellen Goodman

International Herald Tribune 2008-07-04

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Starter garden resources for schools, back yards

Though growing season is upon us, resources on tending, weeding, compost making, harvesting and cooking vegetables still available in Chicago. Good starting point is Edible Gardens in Lincoln Park Zoo's Farm-in-the- Zoo, which are garden demonstration models for home and school gardens, and popular field trip destination.

ABC7 News Chicago 2008-06-17

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A gardener and his three degrees of activities

Backyard gardener works on three scales: With raspberries, boysenberries, he heads to the back door of Chez Panisse restaurant for that night's dinner. His wild mushrooms - often chanterelles - are sold at California's Monterey Market. And in Afghanistan, he helps restore orchards destroyed by war.

By Deborah K. Rich

San Francisco Chronicle 2008-06-28

Backyard gardens poisoned across UK, Wales

Gardeners across UK, Wales, warned not to eat homegrown produce if they used Dow herbicide-tainted manure. Extent of problem, which could extend to market gardeners, unknown. Affected crops include potatoes, raspberries, onions, leeks, beans, peas, carrots and salad vegetables, which wither or become deformed.

By Caroline Davies

The Observer (UK) 2008-06-29

Record price for gourmet watermelon

Seventeen-pound gourmet watermelon auctioned in Japan for $6,100 as buyers compete for prestige of owning first ones of the year; buyer says he wants to support local agriculture. Biggest watermelon from the day was later priced at $5,945; other watermelons of the season will likely cost $188 to $283. Two cantaloupes last month sold for $23,500.

The Associated Press; The Star (Malaysia) 2008-06-06

Economics of gardening move local food trend to back yards

Planting a garden helps reduce impact of food, fuel costs on family budget. In studies that compared the dollar value of home-grown produce to the cost of the seeds and supplies, the ratio was as high as 17 to 1. Easiest place to start: Grow what you like to eat.

By Betty Cichy

PhillyBurbs.com 2008-05-21

Stealth gardeners lob seed bombs for food, beauty

In reaction to wasteful use of land and suspicions about food sources, guerrilla gardeners plant without approval on land that's not theirs. The movement, part beautification, part eco-activism, part social outlet, turns neglected public space and vacant lots into floral or food outposts. First two requirements: sun and water source.

By Joe Robinson

Los Angeles Times 2008-05-29

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Opinion: Garden for homeland security

Food again is vital to our national security. We don't want a repeat of food riots that occurred during the Civil War, the Panic of 1893, and the Great Depression. As it did in World War I, government should allocate funds to promote national school, home and community gardening. Back then, Uncle Sam said, "Garden!" and millions of Americans picked up their hoes.

By Daniel J. Desmond and Rose Hayden-Smith

Ventura County Star 2008-05-04

Opinion: Elegy for slow growing

Spring displays a disquieting undertone this season, not born simply from the news that the cost of rice has climbed out of reach for many but because it seems that time is ripening a little too quickly. Already, we have sweet, dark-green Lancaster County asparagus, and if summer rushes, local strawberries due in late May might shave a week or two off that. Meanwhile, we give thanks for April's showers.

By Rick Nichols

The Philadelphia Inquirer 2008-05-01

Opinion: Green thinking, garden action

Opinion: Green thinking, garden action

Karla Cook/thefoodtimes

Growing mint in a backyard garden means one less purchase at the supermarket.

The climate-change crisis, caused by our everyday choices, is upon us. We can tell ourselves stories to justify doing nothing; waiting for politicians or technology to solve the problem suggests we're not serious. But planting a garden reduces our sense of dependence. It's solar technology, it's nutritious, it's delicious, it's practically carbon-free, it reduces trash, it burns calories, it builds community and it sets a standard.

By Michael Pollan

The New York Times 2008-04-20

Home grown tomatoes, politics

Gardening, and its connection to palate and soil, is timeless, whether you're planning to convince the new president to plant an edible garden (and a political statement) on the White House lawn, or laying your BlackBerry in a protected spot while you dig for authenticity. What's the same is the miracle, the buried gold, of tasting that first potato.

By Anne Raver

The New York Times 2008-04-17

See also 

Opinion/Blog: Just sow

Enthusiasts provide their favorite, mostly organic and heirloom, mostly edibles seed sources, culled from years of gardening. Evocative names include Purple Peacock Broccoli, White Satin Carrots, Touchstone Gold Beet, Red Noodle Bean, Momotaro Tomato, Chocolate Cherry Tomato and Thai Rom Dao Watermelons.

Fork & Bottle 2008-02-03

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Going green

Going green

The Cook's Garden

Little Gem lettuce

Following in steps our our ancestors, many of us are growing delicious food in backyard gardens, and using techniques that leave the soil enriched. For the price of a single packet of seed, we can grow a cornucopia of salad greens. The first step is to find a spot that gets full sun for most of the day, even if only a patio or deck.

By Ann Lovejoy

Seattle Post-Intelligencer (WA) 2008-01-23

Measuring flavor

The Brix scale, long used to define quality of taste and flavor in wines, can be used in fruit and garden vegetables, a group argues. The number, they say, reflects the sucrose as well as the concentration of minerals and proteins, and these factors combine to make taste.

By Dennis Sentilles

Columbia Missourian 2007-12-05

See also 

Garden green

Baltimore's public garden guru, Miriam Avins, wins $48,750 grant from George Soros' foundation to facilitate urban gardens. Gardens, she says, improve communities' eating habits, strengthen neighborhoods by gathering residents together for work and help the environment by reducing water runoff.

By Adam Bednar

Baltimore Messenger 2007-11-28

Saving the future

As farmers increasingly specialize in one or two crops, aging European gardeners become accidental guardians of biodiversity and flavor. Preservation is crucial because old seeds can be bred into mainstream food crops as climate changes and population grows, but new generation is eschewing agrarian lifestyle, and seeds are being lost.

By Elisabeth Rosenthal

The New York Times 2007-11-27

Fall crops

In most parts of the U.S., now is the time to plant cool-weather crops for this season or next season's harvest: onions, garlic, lettuce, spinach, sweet peas, Swiss chard, turnip and mustard greens, broccoli, cabbage and kale.

By Dotty Woodson

The Star-Telegram (TX) 2007-10-27

Victory gardens

Victory gardens

The gardener's January dream of abundant harvests turns less lovely in late summer, when the eggplant keeps bearing, the dill self-seeds (again) and the tomatoes are rotting on the vine, but there is hope in moderation - next year.

By Kathy Stoner

Napa Valley Register 2007-09-22

Opinion: Water problem

Mountaintop removal coal mining, with toxic leftovers shoved into streams, foul residents' water and kill the fish; study traces mining pollution to children's nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, and shortness of breath; long-term effects unknown.

By Eric Reece

Orion Magazine 2006-01-01

Opinion: Healing garden:

Near the site of a murder that ripped a North Carolina town apart, the Anathoth Community Garden now grows, the gift of a black woman to a white church, and now the working poor find food at their door, and the town is finding a new peace.

By Fred Bahnson

Orion Magazine 2007-07-01

Growing lessons:

Austin-based non-profit group adds school gardens and farm-to-fork program to agenda that includes teaching low-income residents garden programs and how to sell produce they grow at farmers' markets.

By Paul Brown

News8Austin (TX) 0000-00-00

See also 

Universal needs:

Running an organic garden is easy with a large staff, but techniques, detailed in "The Elements of Organic Gardening," by Prince Charles, are simple - good soil, black plastic, and keeping the chickens out.

By Charles Elliott

The New York Times (may require subscription) 0000-00-00

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Fighting hunger:

Seattle's Lettuce Link, which teaches gardening, nutrition and cooking to low-income population, helps fill coffers of food pantries and hot meal food banks whose regular donors are on summer vacation.

By Ann Lovejoy

Seattle Post-Intelligencer (WA) 2007-08-17

See also 

City harvest:

As Atlanta grows, community garden plots are feeding the burgeoning appetite for locally grown produce and mingling of cultures; advocacy group partners with administration to open parks for communal plots.

By Elizabeth Lee

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution 0000-00-00

Backyard local:

Whether in miniscule back yards or near abandoned houses, urban farmers find every sunny spot and put it to use in effort to connect to their food; backyard chicken and egg trend in Salt Lake City is nothing short of coop d'etat.

By Chris Adamson

Salt Lake City Weekly 2007-08-23

See also 

Star power:

Star power:

Like prima donnas, heirloom tomatoes wait an extra week to ripen, but these voluptuous misfits with the tawdry, nightclub-act names - Cherokee Purple, Banana Legs, Green Zebra, Hillbilly, Black Russian - have it in their power to hold us all in thrall for a good part of the summer.

By Tim Stark

Washington Post 2007-08-15

Eating summer:

Seeking the perfect tomato means eschewing perfectly formed orbs in favor of a weedy tangle of vines in which antique, thin-skinned heirloom treasures are hidden; this obsession is an art in the Merrimack Valley, where growers proliferate.

By Kristi Ceccarossi and Darry Madden

The Hippo (NH) 2007-08-23

Picking plenty:

For fruit tree owners tired of picking peaches and apples, or plums raining down from their trees, there's Community Fruit Tree Harvest, which connects them to Seattle volunteers who can harvest the fruit and deliver it to local food banks and meal programs.

By Kathy Mulady

Seattle Post-Intelligencer (WA) 2007-08-19

Feeding the hungry:

Religious brother skips "jogging for Jesus," instead choosing to spend the last 25 years growing potatoes, beans, squash, carrots, beets, raspberries and other staples in a massive garden, most of which goes to community food bank in Canada.

By Andrew Hanon

Edmonton Sun (Canada) 2007-08-20

Growing lessons:

Vermont school, working with local farmers and agricultural experts, plants garden designed to feed its 200 students homegrown vegetables at lunchtime, teaching a way of life, not only nutrition or fitness.

By Nicole Orne

Brattleboro Reformer (VT)

Pesto power:

Too much basil calls for afternoon of stripping leaves from stems, grating Parmigiano-Reggiano, chopping garlic, drizzling olive oil and pureeing big batches of green magic that will take us through the winter with sanity intact.

Rob Kasper

Baltimore Sun

Growing sprouts

Community activists gather and build a garden for children in apartment complex; the program is part of a larger effort of education on nutrition, food security and self-sufficiency in Ohio community.

By Mike Ludwig

The Athens News (OH)

Backyard bonanza

Taking cue from Cuba, Vancouver gardener and agricultural scientist sows seeds of what he hopes will be an urban gardening movement that provides a locally grown alternative to modern and usually distant agribusiness.

By Nicholas Read

Vancouver Sun 2007-08-13

Hard harvest:

In northeastern Brazil, farmers use simple technologies and great persistence to harvest, pick, raise and slaughter, despite high temperatures, little rain and unfertile soil; they begin with a mud-patch, to hold rainwater to create oases of production.

By Isaura Daniel; translated by Mark Ament

Brazil-Arab News Agency

Mapping climate change:

Gardening groups, with warming on their minds, re-work the USDA Hardiness Zone Map to better match high- and low-temperature regions and new realities.

By Nate Pardue

Foster's Daily Democrat (NH)