Archive for the ‘In the News’ Category
Wall Street Journal Jumps on the Home Garden Bandwagon
I saw this article in yesterday’s Personal Journal section of the WSJ, touting the increase in new home garden enthusiasts.
To read the entire article and get advice from seasoned Master Gardeners click here.
photo credit: wildgrace429
Cheap Food Is An Illusion
Here’s a great movie trailer from Fresh The Movie:
FRESH is a grassroots efforts for a grassroots movement. The movie is a platform to raise awareness and connecting people to the solutions available in their community.
The objective is to make sustainable food no longer a niche market. You can view more video here.
FRESH celebrates the farmers, thinkers and business people across America who are re-inventing our food system. Each has witnessed the rapid transformation of our agriculture into an industrial model, and confronted the consequences: food contamination, environmental pollution, depletion of natural resources, and morbid obesity. Forging healthier, sustainable alternatives, they offer a practical vision for a future of our food and our planet.
Among several main characters, FRESH features urban farmer and activist, Will Allen, the recipient of MacArthur’s 2008 Genius Award; sustainable farmer and entrepreneur, Joel Salatin, made famous by Michael Pollan’s book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma; and supermarket owner, David Ball, challenging our Wal-Mart dominated economy.
… food for thought.
Church Grows More Than Faith
… One foggy Maryland morning last spring, I was among more than 400 people who donned jeans and boots, packed shovels and hoes, and headed to…church. After months of hoarding leaves from suburban yards and gathering manure from local farmers, parishioners at Cedar Ridge Community Church in Spencerville were ready to spend a Sunday transforming hard clay into dark, rich humus.
Creating a farm might seem an unlikely mission for a congregation of urban dwellers and suburbanites. For Cedar Ridge, the idea had grown out of a year of prayerful reflection about how to use our 63 acres in a way that would cherish the earth and its inhabitants. We also hoped that working the soil and giving organic food to our neighbors in need would help us to grow spiritually.
Click Here to read how a small Maryland congregation came together to build a church garden; cherishing the earth and feeding a community in need.
Gadzucks!! Charlie Brown
I heard on the news this week that a pumpkin weighing over 1,600 pounds won the Morro Bay Pumpkin Festival, and had to check it out for myself.
I was really intrigued because earlier this year a very kind pumpkin grower from Pennsylvania gave our 4-H club seeds from HIS award winning pumpkin, along with instructions on how to grow those whopp’ng big ones.
Although our gourds didn’t get any where near that big, a few did weigh-in over 150 pounds. Boy - if I had only known about the prize money!
To read more about the Iowa man who won first prize and took home $10,000 for his efforts click here .
To learn more about the festival, or to attend if you’re in the area, check out their website.
There’s vacations and staycations, but what about haycations?
I found this story in the New York Times and thought you all might enjoy it. Whether seasoned gentleman farmer or suburban homesteading newbie, I think anyone would enjoy learning something new that could benefit their homestead, I know I would. And, what a great way to meet like-minded people.
Read the story here…
Earth Day 2009 – Celebrating Mother Earth
Cities all over the world will be celebrating Earth Day 2009 throughout the month of April. Although each city celebrates in their own and unique way, most focus a great deal on gardening, self-sufficient living, energy efficiency, composting and the like.
Whether you already homestead on your suburban lot or are thinking seriously about starting, Earth Day gatherings are a wonderful place to meet people who are doing the same. Many celebrations include community garden organizations, gardening clubs, schools, city or county departments, even youth organizations that promote homesteading related topics. All of which can be wonderful resources for new and seasoned homesteaders alike.
Strike up conversations with vendors and community organizations and build your network of knowledgeable people who can help you on your path to a more self-sufficient homesteading life. Gather information about meetings, workshops, seminars and classes where you can learn about homesteading topics you’re interested in.
But, most of all, watch and listen as people you’ve never met talk freely about how they got started, what they do now, their trials and challenges, and how it has changed their life. Use their stories and experiences as inspiration to start your own adventure.
Check out local information to find dates and times of celebrations near you. If your town or city doesn’t hold an event, don’t be shy, go to another city. The goal is to not only educate yourself, but find people you can ask for help or advice.
A word of caution though - the celebrations I’ve attended are teaming with freebies and sale items. From useful tools to free plants you’ll be loaded down by the end of the day, so go prepared with totes and rolling baskets to carry your bootie home. If your Earth Day also includes free compost go prepared with a shovel and buckets, barrels or trash cans to bring home your share of that Black Gold.
photo credit: MissFancyPants