On Earth Day, it’s easy to get carried away with how exciting it is to be building and planting beautiful, organic Good Food Gardens. But last night I got a good reminder of exactly why we are building the gardens and of the families that so desperately need our help at the Food Bank’s Can-Do Award Dinner. The annual award’s dinner, which raises money to fight hunger in New York City alone, was its usual success with guests like Jimmy Fallon, Stanley Tucci, Jon Bon Jovi and even Bill Clinton showing up to raise money and awareness for the very real concerns of feeding all the hungry mouths in New York City. But this year, the numbers were especially daunting. Four million New Yorkers are going hungry every day in our own neighborhoods. That’s half of New York. And three times that many children, around 12 million children are at risk for hunger all across America every day.

That’s why we continue to fight the fight to provide access, information and nutrition education to bring nourishing foods to every child. And that is what the Good Food Gardens is all about. Are the Good Food Gardens good for our earth? OF COURSE!  But most importantly—they’re good for inspiring, educating and best of all feeding all the little mouths that deserve Good Food every day. 

Happy Earth Day! Plant a seed, sprout a garden, feed a hungry mouth!

-Sarah Copeland, Good Food Ambassador, Earth Day 2009 

I tend to be a renegade gardener—with good intentions of
course. I till the soil and mark out each section of the soil with plans of
planting one seed at a time in tidy little rows. In the end, I usually wind up “seasoning” the whole area with tiny seeds like sprinkling salt on a T-bone,
wrecking havoc on my landscaping.

Perhaps it’s my enthusiasm that gets the better of
me---holding my future harvest in my hand in the form of tiny seeds. Each year
my sense of awe is renewed for what each seed promises to become --- whole
heads of leafy kale, bright bold scallions, spicy radishes….and sometimes
hybrid rows of kale-ions-ishes in places where my fingers weren’t nimble enough
to gather seeds from inside each packet without spilling the whole bunch.
But that’s half the fun---watching and waiting for the ground to get warm
enough, planting a scattering of seeds and then waiting….waiting….waiting for
little green patches to sprout up all around you, reminding you that the reward
isn’t in how neatly you planted those seeds, just that you planted them.

Sure, garden planning has its benefits, but don’t let
planning stop you from getting out there and planting some seeds. Plant them in
a pot, plant them on your windowsill, plant them right in the soil (organic
soil, of course) and see what springs up. You might find it’s more than a
little green patch. 

Good Food Gardens at the Good Green Expo! Food Network and Share Our Strength® are at it again, and will feature a Good Food Garden on the show floor of the Go Green Expo this weekend. This trade show for everything green will help us showcase Good Food Gardens and why fresh food is so important for our kids!

Saturday & Sunday, April 18 & 19th, the event is open to the public, families welcome(kids under 12 are free). Admission is only $10. For half price admission please visit www.GoGreenExpo.com and use promo code FOODNETWORK. This offer is only available on line.

In addition, see over 200 booths & Learn from industry professionals, best selling authors & eco-celebrities on how to "green" your life & business; Mariel Hemingway, Nigel Barker, Josh Dorfman (the Lazy Environmentalist) Jen Boulden (founder of Ideal Bite), Ken Rother (President of Treehugger) Gay Browne (founder of Greenopia) Sarah Beatty (founder of Green Depot) Julie Edelman & Seth Leitman (best selling authors) and many other leaders will be joining us for this annual event from co's such as GM, Dell, Green Depot & more.