Special Alert for Bloggers: American Farmland Trust is sponsoring a blog contest through September 31 to help "spread the word about the importance of farmland protection for local food." They're giving out "fame and glory" as the prize...not to mention letting anyone download cute web badges like the one above! But you'll wanna participate because it's the right thing to do!!! Check it out here.
- See also their Seven Ways to Save Local Farms & Food.
- And...you can send very nice e-cards to promote their work to friends!
- I think this is ONE example of the kind of post they seek...something that tells a story and relates a message.
Victory Gardens
• Community gardens growing in popularity amid rising food prices, health scares (Press Enterprise, 26 July 2008) Related video here.
• Nowadays, growing your own food is not only healthful and green, it also makes good economic sense (Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, CA), 26 July 2008)
• Tips on saving from the Greatest Generation (Toledo Blade, 26 July 2008)
• Remembering the Victory Garden (San Francisco Chronicle, 22 July 2008) - Marvelous piece about the history of Victory Gardening in America, with an emphasis on San Francisco's role. Mentions a book by Laura Lawson...we'll want to check it out!
• Inner city farms (Time, 24 July 2008) - A nice overview of many urban initiatives coast-to-coast.
• Green roofs, walls becoming latest trends (News Transcript (NJ), 22 July 2008) - Mentions "liberty gardens," a pseudonym for the Victory Garden revival.
• Slow food movement makes its mark (Arizona Central, 24 July 2008) - Has a source who describes the upcoming Slow Food conference as "Woodstock for sustainable food."
• Professor urges people to not panic during difficult economic times (Index Journal (Greenwood, SC, 27 July 2008)
• Planting for victory (Inquirer.net (Philippines, 28 June 2008) - Filipino POV that includes history of Victory Gardens in that country along with some interesting observations about their current government and political scene. Because it offers a global perspective, it is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
• Camilla celebrates birthday with carrot cake and cauliflower (Worthing Herald (UK), 17 July 2008) - She and Charles visited a Dig for Victory allotment garden...and a few days later HRH asks folks to start diggin' again. (Sorry, but the links are not working at the Worthing Herald!)
Book Watch:
• An RW&G reader forwarded this link...check it out: Simply in Season. It's a study guide, cookbook and intergenerational series emphasizing seasonal eating that can be incorporated into a faith community. It comes from the Mennonites, but I wonder if it could be readily adapted to other faiths? This project answers a question that I posed here a few weeks back.
• Last week, I mentioned Sharon Astyk's two forthcoming books. Here's a sneak peek of the intro for the second one, A Nation of Farmers: Defeating the Food Crisis on American Soil, co-authored with Aaron Newton. Note that Astyk's credentials include extensive study of earlier European food crises...she really knows her stuff. And given her writings about Victory Gardens on her blog, expect mention of them, too, in the forthcoming book. (Thanks to S.A. for alerting me about the preview!)
Blog Watch:
• Thanks to Blotanical, I found a new blog, Growing Roots in LA. Since I've never gardened in a community gardening and the author is a newbie to the form, it was interesting to read the posts thus far, especially this one. Check it out and give a shout!
As ever, y'all are welcome to provide links to relevant articles and blog posts in Comments! Anything related to gardening for self-sufficiency and sustainability is fair game.
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