Should you choose to create your own fruit or vegetable garden in your backyard or on your windowsill, how can you keep Monsanto from reaching its grubby fingers into your home? The corporate behemoth has gained control of 40% of the U.S.
For some, spring is a chance to plant a few tomatoes. For Florence Nishida, it's an opportunity to re-landscape the face of Greater L.A. This month, for example, the 75-year-old master gardener will be checking in on some of the 20 or so South Los Angeles yards she helped turn into vegetable gardens.
Urban Farmers Ltd. On an early June morning in 2010, I stood outside the Aquaponics research facility at the University of Applied Sciences, perched on a green hilltop in Wädenswil, Switzerland, 20 minutes outside Zurich. The lab director, Andreas Graber, had finally given in to my persistent calls requesting a visit.
Fired up about gardening March/April 2013 California Bountiful magazine Story by Megan AlpersPhotos by Paolo Vescia From fire hose to garden hose: Firefighters plant a little green alongside their red fire engines. More online: Recipes and more Many homes in the Silicon Valley city of Mountain View have manicured lawns, a lemon tree here and there, and maybe even a few tomato plants.
March 2, 2013 We love this cool hotel concept: The Allotment, a hotel whose culinary focus makes growing and cooking food the fundamental ingredient of the guest experience. This was the grand prize winner of the Tablet Hotels competition, Rethink Hotels, which called for a "social hotel concept of the future" for New York City-an environment that would bring together hotel guests and city residents unpredictably, unexpectedly, and serendipitously.
Growing organic food in the desert is no easy task. But Marilyn Yamamoto, who cultivates several acres of land a short drive from the famed Los Vegas Strip, has transformed her acreage into a test garden to help gardeners in the area determine the most efficient plants to grow on their properties so as to provide quality healthy food for their families.
Matt Dayhoff / Journal Star It's not every day that a former prison work camp is given new life as a place to grow food. But that's exactly what's happening in Peoria, Ill., where Hanna City, the shuttered facility that was also once a home for delinquent boys and a 1950s Air Force radar base, is being reborn as a food hub and farm incubator site.
Infinite economic growth is at odds with our finite planet, and this obsession with endless growth is driving us towards ecological catastrophe. I've just returned from the annual World Economic Forum meeting, and this reality has never been so clear to me. The forum brings together economists, but also activists, business leaders, humanitarians and technologists.
The artist formerly known as "Snoop Dogg" recently visited Jamaica and was horrified by the poverty and hunger he witnessed. Now Snoop Lion is doing something about it. During his Reggae transformation, Snoop Dogg visited Jamaica. He was tired of Rap music and wanted to get into Reggae.
My suburban street is a picture of American diversity. Nine ethnicities from around the world inhabit this residential area: blacks, whites, Hispanics, Chinese, Indians, Pakistanis, Filipinos, Koreans, and Vietnamese. Despite living side by side for 25 years, we barely interact with each other at all.
(CBS News) DENVER - On a clear Colorado morning, the sun shines kindly on 13-year-old Shelby Grebenc. It admires her red hair and warms her way to school -- a professional courtesy, perhaps, for this fellow ray of light who's seen her share of dark times.
On the surface, it's a common display. A bin of apples with a sale sign greets customers as they enter the grocery store. Behind the scenes, however, it's unchartered territory. Those apples are too small to be considered sufficient quality, or grade, for retail grocery stores.
"Was that the spine?" a young woman inquired about a loud cracking sound as several onlookers winced. Mr. Morquecha, a professional butcher, then carved apart the freshly decapitated carcass, separating it into parts like coppa, the muscle at the top of the shoulder; fatback, between the skin and the meat; and cheek.
As the price of food continues to rise, people are shopping around for bargains. Some are forced to go to food banks. Others, though, are growing their own. Nigel McKinney is one of them. Back in April he transformed a piece of rough ground at the back of his house outside Kilcoo, County Down, into a fruit and vegetable garden.
Food waste is not just a problem for restaurants - airports also have to deal with piles of this kind of garbage. At one of the nation's busiest airports, Charlotte Douglas International in North Carolina, each passenger generates half a pound of garbage on average per visit.
If you haven't noticed, gardens are popping up in some unconventional places - from prison yards to retirement and veteran homes to programs for troubled youth. Most are handy sources of fresh and local food, but increasingly they're also an extension of therapy for people with mental health issues, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD; depression; and anxiety.
Over the last few years, sustainable farming startups have managed to get loans from companies like Whole Foods, or sold equity stakes to venture capitalists like Michael Dell's brother, Adam. A lot of the seed money is being used to help these businesses grow, many with a focus on being local.
Chicago's Black Belt area, on the historic South Side, was once a hub for jazz, blues, and literature, but today is riddled with vacant lots, poverty, and blight. Now, a new plan envisions the area as a thriving urban farm district.
Companion planting (aka interplanting, bio-diverse planting) is an ancient farming method of using different plant species, planted in close proximity, to enhance and support each other. Among its benefits are reduction in the numbers of plant pests, enhanced growth and flavor, attraction of beneficials and weed suppression.
What began as an environmental studies project in 1999 at Dickinson College has evolved into a flourishing organic farm. From a handful of eager student gardeners, who began with a small garden plot on campus that grew into a half-acre plot, gradually the program grew as it attracted greater student interest, says Matt Steinman, assistant manager of production for the farm.
The days when everyone had an underground cellar full of produce may be gone, but here's a simple technique that will give you sweeter, crisper winter vegetables than any you can buy at the grocery store. This method takes advantage of the fact that some vegetables can survive freezing temperatures and remain fresh, even when buried under a blanket of snow.
The U.S. is suffering the worst drought in 50 years. But crop damage may well have been avoided if high quality non-GM ( genetically modified) varieties were available to farmers. Further evidence is emerging that glyphosate-tolerant crops are ill-equipped to deal with drought, while high quality non-GM varieties are flourishing.
The love of gardening is a seed that once sown never dies. - Gertrude Jekyll As we are digging ourselves out of the snow banks or watching the flood water recede and preparing for the next winter storm, I will wager dollars to dahlias that we are dreaming of our spring gardens!
The U.S. Composting Council is taking the guess-work out of choosing the right kind of compost by launching its Consumer Compost Use Program - a labeling system that will identify the types of uses that a compost product is best suited for, including trees, shrubs, flower and vegetable gardens and lawn care.
S, M, L, or XL-sized metropolitan agriculture? Mia Lehrer, FASLA, Mia Lehrer + Associates, said it's not just about one size, which definitely doesn't fit all when it comes to cities, in a session at the ASLA 2012 Annual Meeting. In an era where it seems like any school or community can start a garden,...
IT'S becoming clear that we can grow all the food we need, and profitably, with far fewer chemicals. And I'm not talking about imposing some utopian vision of small organic farms on the world. Conventional agriculture can shed much of its chemical use - if it wants to.
By Andrea Abel My gardening intuition was telling me something was amiss in my backyard vegetable beds. The summer crops of tomatoes and squash just didn't have the "umph" of past seasons. Time for a little soil TLC. In this case, some fall cover crops.
video by SNAPgardens
http://www.SNAPgardens.org Since 1973, food stamps (now known as SNAP) have allowed for the purchase of food-producing plants and seeds. However, very few people know that the choice exists when deciding how to spend SNAP benefits. SNAP Gardens is growing awareness and working to cultivate gardening successes. Everyone has a role to play!
Preparing your vegetable garden during the fall for the following spring is a simple way to get a head-start on feeding your plants. Sometimes referred to as "lasagna gardening," layering organic mulch and other materials will kill weeds and grass while it breaks down into your soil, increasing drainage and nutrient levels.
Go Back To Previous Page Principles and Practices for the Organic Gardener By Bill Kohlhaase, Planet Natural Sustainability is all the rage, a movement that embraces all facets of human endeavor. "Sustainable" means to perpetuate existence as well as to provide sustenance and nourishment. Today, the word is attached to everything from forestry to ceiling tile.
Don't worry, we won't post anything.
89
427
