Outgrowing Food Deserts
In the midst of many harvest feasts this week, I read an alarming article in Chicago magazine that focused on the 609,034 Chicagoans that live in food deserts, defined as areas short on access to fresh meat and produce but ripe with convenience stores and fast food outlets. Of these households, 64,000 of them don't have a car to travel the average .59 miles to the nearest grocery store.
The Curious Garden
I love children's books. Good ones have inspired hundreds of kids to try something new, and many of them grow up to continue doing the things they dreamt and read about on those pages.
Good Food Garden Now Open at the New York Botanical Garden!
I was beyond thrilled to spend this past Saturday with Mark Teich at the New York Botanical Gardens (NYBG) for the opening of our first, fully opened Good Food Garden!
GFG is part of the NYBG's exhibit, The Edible Garden, where visitors are able to experience the produce blossom and grow from now until September. While our Teich system will live there over the summer, we are planning on donating the beautiful, yummy structure to a nearby school.
A Letter From the San Francisco Garden
Hello Gardeners and Good Food Enthusiasts!
Edible Exhibit
The first time I visited the New York Botanical Gardens, I thought I'd died and gone to gardener heaven, which is why I urge you to visit our newest Good Food Gardens that is a part of their Edible Gardens Exhibit. The exhibit launches next Saturday, June 27, and runs until September 13, giving you ample opportunities to experience everything from Tropical Fruit, Roots & Shoots to the dozen of heirloom vegetables in our Good Food Garden in full bloom.
Live, From West Palm Beach
Recently, we launched a Good Food Gardens Pen Pal Program to keep in touch with our Good Food Gardeners out in the field, and we're so thrilled to share our first letter with you. It comes from the enterprising Rise & Shine Teens of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Palm Beach County, who are not only growing their own Good Food, but feeding families in the process. We applaud you Rise & Shine Teens! Thanks for inspiring us and gardeners all across the country! Here is their letter:
Watch Our Gardens Grow
You've waited so patiently to experience the Good Food Gardens for yourself, and now you can, live on a web series chronicling the launch of our first Good Food Gardens in New York City. Come see for yourself how a garden, and a little rain and sunshine, can transform a child's relationship with food.
Edible Eden
Sometimes, when I’m overcome with the heady aroma of a 26-pound Thanksgiving turkey cooking in the middle of May (occupational hazard), my mind wanders out the window and into the nearest garden. Today, this daydreaming was made easy by the arrival of the Seed Savers Exchange Catalog.
Don't Be Afraid of the Dirt!
It's been eight months since we built our very first Good Food Garden in San Francisco, back at the Slow Food Nation event in September. Since that time we've built two more gardens, an entire curriculum and a network of gardeners, nutrition educators and fresh-food enthusiast who are ready, willing and able to help us plant the seeds of change.
