Wow, does anyone have any thoughts on what has made the price of peppers skyrocket over the last 30 years? Yet another great reason to grow your own!
Also, you should take a look at this charticle documenting the change in what Americans eat over that same time period. I’m actually quite surprised by the drop in dairy consumption, but am not surprised in the least by the rise in processed foods and sweets. What America Spends On Groceries : Planet Money : NPR via Bon Appetit. ~AR
New exhibition at the National Archives looks at the history of gardening and cooking in America as the country moved from rural and agricultural to urban and consumer. “What’s Cooking, Uncle Sam?” is on view in Washington, D.C. through January 3, 2012.
— Andrea Wulf, author of Founding Gardeners, on the near simultaneous birth of the United States, and of the environmental movement, in the Los Angeles Times.
According to a new study, groceries in New York City are on average about 10% cheaper than in most of the rest of the United States. The researchers posit that the reason New Yorkers feel that they spend so much on food is because they have so much more choice, “You can get bread in any grocery store, as Mr. Weinstein says, but “if you go into Fairway in New York, you can buy a Balthazar baguette”—and pay for it too.”
(Source: bucolicbushwick.com)
A very interesting look at the politics and economics behind your favorite beer from our friends over at Civil Eats.
It’s not just grade school and high school cafeterias that need a “real food” makeover. Millions of adult Americans get their midday meal from corporate or college cafeterias, too. Mark Bittman takes a look at two food service companies that are trying to change the way cubicle dwellers and college kids eat.
(Source: foodnewsjournal.com)
(Source: foodnewsjournal.com)
One New York City charter school took the health of its students (and teachers) by working to emulate the way private schools handle lunches. The result? Healthier, happier students, and lower food costs.
(Source: foodnewsjournal.com)
This video has been making the rounds on the Internet for about a month now, but it really never fails to impress. General consensus places this vegetable market in Thailand. What most impresses us is how the people who live in this town are willing to risk life and limb in order to get their daily dose of vegetables.
Two new maps from the USDA highlight the difficulty that faces some families in procuring good, healthy food with which to feed their families.
Via GOOD.
Petaluma Health Center in California has planted a small garden in front of its offices in an effort to help combat the rise in childhood obesity it is seeing within its community. The center encourages the children who visit the clinic—35% of whom are obese—to help tend the vegetables and offers cooking demonstrations and weekly meetings. Could gardens at health centers and doctors offices be the next big trend in community gardening?
The city is getting greener thanks to grants just awarded to 29 schools to create garden classrooms.
“Our goal is to have a garden or access to a garden in every public school in the city,” said Marcel Van Ooyen, director of GrowNYC, which awarded the grants with the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City.
The winning schools, spread throughout the five boroughs, won up to $2,000 each to create or expand a school garden.
We have the Atlantic Wire to thank for drawing our attention to this article from the Times on an unheralded consequence of rising food prices: Theft.
According to the Times, as the price of tomatoes rose after a deep freeze in Mexico, a highly sophisticated ring of thieves, “were just sitting and waiting, watching the produce because they knew it (the price) was climbing.” The thieves, who posed as contracted truckers, made off with six big rigs of tomatoes, another of cucumbers, and another of frozen meat. Total? Nearly $300,000. That’s no small potatoes.
The Bloomberg administration has put a lot of time and effort (and money) into fighting the ill effects of poor nutrition in New York City’s less well off neighborhoods, but a new report by Manhattan borough president, Scott Stringer, says that City Hall still hasn’t done enough.
The report states that communities that want to organize a farmers market in their neighborhood face a miasma of red tape, formidable bureaucracy, confusing rules, and exorbitant fees. The Bronx’s own Karen Washington (who also sits on the board at the Garden) fought with City officials about getting a market in the Bronx. Officials were hesitant, so Washington & co. decided to take the challenge on on their own, “Instead of listening to the naysayers, we figured: since we grow it, we know our community; let’s form our own farmers’ market.”
Rosemary (in NYBG pot) and friend
Love you, Mom <3
Happy National Public Gardens Day! A female carpenter bee visiting the pea vines yesterday. She’s California’s largest bee.
HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY
This Mother’s Day don’t just go local—go native: Fill your weekend with flowers and garden parties at the city’s botanical...
Be the change you want to see in the world.
-Gandhi
Lovely tree peonies at the NY Botanical Garden
