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VOA News - Wendy Johnson Finds Enlightenment through Organic Gardening

The organic gardening movement flowered in the 1960s and '70s, as people like Johnson took part in a modern revival of traditional farming methods. She has recounted her experiences in a book called Gardening at the Dragon's Gate. The dragon of the title refers to the temple at Green Gulch.

She says the ancient teaching of Zen, with its emphasis on simplicity and appreciation of nature, inspires this farm and meditation center in the green rolling hills north of San Francisco. People come to seek inner peace as they work in the fields, coaxing crops such as leek, kale, lettuce and cabbage from the ground.

VOA News - Wendy Johnson Finds Enlightenment through Organic Gardening

Gardening: Overcome poor soil with a raised bed - Salt Lake Tribune

One big challenge for Utah gardeners is soil fertility. Utah's soil is naturally low in organic matter and high in pH, two conditions that limit vegetable production. Also, gardeners often face compacted and rocky soil, especially in new housing developments. Raised beds are touted as the end-all solution for these challenges, but without understanding the basic concepts, gardeners may create a whole new set of problems while trying to solve the first.

Adding organic matter or other amendments in proper proportions, elevating the grade, and adjusting irrigation schedules are keys to successful raised bed gardening.

Gardening: Overcome poor soil with a raised bed - Salt Lake Tribune

Cycling Back Around

Cycling Back Around

"There's a whole new clientele" choosing these bikes, Charlie McCormick, founder of City Bikes, says of this summer in Bicycle Washington. "People who haven't been riding for years and years are going back to it. It's all right to show up at a barbecue on a bike. You're not marginalized. It's cool."

Edible Landscaping with Charlie Nardozzi :: National Gardening Association

Edible Landscaping with Charlie Nardozzi :: National Gardening Association

...recently, the combination of higher fuel and food prices, global warming, pollution, contaminated food scares, and a host of other factors has spawned a whole new generation of food gardeners. These gardeners are interested in growing food, but they also see gardening as a way to reconnect with the natural world and their community, as well as part of a more sustainable lifestyle.

Why the Hype About Local Food May Be More than Just a Trend | Environment | AlterNet

Why the Hype About Local Food May Be More than Just a Trend | Environment | AlterNet

I am convinced that local food is going to become a steady, long-term growth market. For its taste, cost and eco-friendliness, local food has already become a symbol of social virtue. People are starting to realize that it is not so good for the planet to haul meat from New Zealand, wheat from South Dakota and fruit from Caifornia. Social demand and sheer economics are starting to buoy local growers, and supermarkets are looking for new ways to call attention to their local produce. The trend lines are clear.

The spending of local money for local produce is surely a virtuous cycle for local economies. It is also likely to promote greater personal connections among people locally, stronger commitments to one's local community, and a more stable and diverse local economy.

The Vegetable Patch Goes Luxe - WSJ.com

The Vegetable Patch Goes Luxe - WSJ.com

Home vegetable gardening is surging thanks to rising food prices and health scares with commercial supplies. But at the rarified end of this horticultural renaissance is a world of backyard produce that has more in common with designer boutiques than the local farm stand.

Vegetable gardening is cool. Who knew?

Vegetable gardening is cool. Who knew?

When I was in college, growing tomatoes in a pot on my dorm room balcony made me the dweebiest of dorks. Now, hip young "guerrilla gardeners" sneak onto vacant city lots and surreptitiously plant lettuce and garlic. Somehow, gardening has become wild and dangerous, a radical way to rebel against authority and subvert the dominant industrial-food paradigm.

Britain urges return to WWII food frugality - The Boston Globe

Britain urges return to WWII food frugality - The Boston Globe

LONDON - Evoking an era of World War II austerity, British families are being urged to cut food waste and use leftovers in a nationwide effort to fight sharply rising global food prices.

It's not back to ration books, "victory gardens," or squirrel-tail soup yet, but warning bells are being rung by experts at all levels of Britain's government as well as from the World Food Program.

With food and energy prices soaring worldwide, a constant supply of high-quality, affordable food is no longer guaranteed, officials warn Britons. That could mean an era of scarcity like Britain's 1940-54 food rationing, during the war and its aftermath.

...

The experts say the postwar era of cheap food has ended - squeezed by the demands of a growing world population, a greater appetite for meat among emerging middle classes in China and India, and the pressure on agricultural land from biofuel production.

"Recent food price rises are a powerful reminder that access to ever more affordable food cannot be taken for granted," Prime Minister Gordon Brown said in a foreword to a bleak report by Britain's Cabinet Office.

Peak Moment: The Bicycling Horticulturalist | Global Public Media

Peak Moment: The Bicycling Horticulturalist | Global Public Media

   

Ryan Nassichuk builds food gardens for people. His bicycle and trailer are the sole transport for himself, tools, and materials - including soil and plants! This horticulturist also builds container gardens and composters. Tour a backyard garden in which a 6-week class of students filled raised beds with soil, compost and fertilizer, did succession planting, and built a low-cost composter. Recently Ryan has added free seed-sharing to his wisdom-sharing, while continuing to propagate food gardens throughout Vancouver.

Tags: gardening, organic