Expansion of local gardening efforts

Snap peas in the backyard garden

Did you know that in 1943 the United States had 20 million gardens that produced 8 million tons of food?  Up to 41 percent of all the vegetables consumed in the nation were produced in these Victory Gardens.  (City Bountiful: A century of community gardening in America, Laura Lawson).

With the nation's dependence upon oil, vast dependence upon corporate farming and unhealthy diets, I would vote that we reenact the Victory Garden movement.  There are indications that this movement has already begun.  Certainly First Lady Michelle Obama has been a great example, planting a vegetable garden in 2009 at the White House.  She has recently written a book "American Grown" that tells the stories of the White House garden among others.

I'm excited to be going to three days of workshops starting today on "The Business of Food".  Photos and stories sure to come in the days ahead.

Pictures from our vegetable garden.

Backyard garden

Raised bed gardens
(new this year)

Reducing food deserts

Michelle Obama is leading the charge against childhood obesity.  As a part of her "Let's Move" campaign she's working to provide accessible fresh produce and meat to urban and rural areas that don't currently have such access.  An article "Supervalu joins White House push to open stores in poor areas" documents some of the progress she is making with the food industry.  An interactive map of the United States can identify food deserts; places without stores that sell fresh fruit and vegetables.

4-H participant with cabbage

Having worked in North Minneapolis for 15 years I often witnessed kids standing at the bus stop with a candy bar and can of soda in hand. Not the kind of breakfast one would wish for them. While accessing quality food doesn't mean that people will necessarily eat nutritionally, it certainly helps to make it more likely.  The rise of urban farmers markets and locally grown produce is also supporting healthy eating movement.

Hat's off to Supervalu, a Twin Cities based corporation that is helping to make nutritious eating available to more of our nation's children and families.

Food shortages and vegetable gardens

I read with concern an article in today's StarTribune "Land O'Lakes makes case for more food".  It seems food scarcity and a corresponding rise in food prices have moved 44 million people in developing nations into poverty since June.

While most of us can't seemingly do much about the rise in the world's population or global climate change that is impacting farmers ability to keep up with demand, there are some things we might consider. Here in the US Victory Gardens were popular during World Wars I & II, in order to ease pressure on food production.  Why not encourage this once again?  First Lady Michele Obama is setting a great example by growing a vegetable garden at the White House.  Seems we  have lots of grass growing in yards around this country that would be great  for vegetables.  It is depressing to think the long journey most of the vegetables we purchase at the store have taken to get to our homes.

I was excited about getting a jump on the late growing season here in Minnesota by making a cold frame.  Just after I constructed the cold frame yesterday morning, entirely out of reused materials, the large glass pane of the shower door broke.  This occurred after the screws holding down the door's handle gave way.  I will likely be in the market for some Plexiglas to fix this problem.

We're also well underway planning a garden at our church with a local 4-H group.  I'm responsible for leading up the garden fence construction.