First Lady Michelle Obama and White House chef Sam Kass tell the story of the first garden on White House grounds since Eleanor Roosevelt’s Victory Garden during World War II. This new garden was planted in the Spring of 2009 with the help of local elementary school children and has yielded a constant supply fresh produce for the First Family and White House events.
Category: Kitchen Gardens
Growing your own food is exciting, not only because you get to see things grow from nothing into ready-to-eat fruits and veggies, but you also don’t have to worry about the pesticides they might contain, and you definitely cut down on the miles they—and you—have to travel.
If you’re up to the challenge—and it really isn’t much of one—growing your own food can be so rewarding. And so much cheaper! Just be sure to choose the right planter or container, learn how to maintain it properly, and go find yourself some seeds! (Or starter plants.)
Here’s a starter list of all the crazy things even urban gardeners, without space for a garden, can grow at home.
Urban farming is a growth industry in New York city’s concrete jungle and with little open land free, agriculturalists and beekeepers have taken to the rooftops to pursue their passion.
Andrew Cote uses the emergency fire ladder to climb up to the roof of his East Village building, where he tends to 250 bee hives.
Cote, a professor of Japanese literature doubles up as president of the New York City Beekeepers Association, and is happy the city authorised beekeeping in mid-March after an 11-year ban.
‘The city wants to plant one million trees, and the trees need to be pollinated,’ Cote told AFP.
Robert Hart summarized his vision of harmonious living on Earth in the following quote,
Obviously, few of us are in a position to restore the forests.. But tens of millions of us have gardens, or access to open spaces such as industrial wastelands, where trees can be planted. and if full advantage can be taken of the potentialities that are available even in heavily built up areas, new ‘city forests’ can arise…
He identified 7 layers to a successful and productive forest garden:
We are a group of around 40 gardeners who live in the City of Sydney and share a garden of native plants, flowers and vegetables.
Coming from all walks of life, we share an interest in sustainable living, cherish open space and city parks, follow organic and biodynamic principles and most of all – we don’t mind getting our hands dirty! The Gardens consist of 25 individual plots, with common garden beds and a sunny, grassy lawn on the beautiful grounds of the Life & Balance Centre in Glebe. We don’t use pesticides or herbicides, we feed crops from our compost bin and water everything from our rainwater tank. We enjoy our garden as a community and view sustainability as essential, not a nice to have.