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Saturday, March 21, 2009

Department of Book Reports: Food not Lawns


To celebrate Spring and Michelle Obama's new garden, I'd like to point you at Food Not Lawns: How to Turn Your Yard into a Garden and Your Neighborhood into a Community, by H.C. Flores (Chelsea Green Publishing, $25)

This book gives you all the basics for growing food on that most wasted ground in America, the manicured lawn. The lawn itself is a hold over from romanticizing Colonist's desire to best the "old country". Our suburbs and cities do not have the acreage to support vistas of lawns for each household and the result is a cramped bit of yard. Why not turn it over and quit using the chemical broadleaf suppressant fertilizers? You'll mow less, and eat better.

Flores' work in Eugene has now blossomed into a global movement, and you can find many resources at foodnotlawns.com.

The community building suggestions here are quite simple, seed exchanges, offering surplus produce to neighbors and helping supply your local food bank to Superhero Bike Rides.

Still think it's too difficult? Here's a nifty video to show you how one garden started a movement.


If you're in the greater NW this next week, check out the Second Annual Greenfestival. Keynote speaker will be Alice Waters.


Sign the Thank the Obamas petition!
Thanks to the good folks over at The Political Carnival for pointing out the Alice Waters interview.

democommie turned tail and ran when he learned this book report would actually entail use of a spade and turning shovel. Order the book anyway!







10 comments:

  1. SeattleTammy:

    Work does not scare me. DOING work? Yeah, that terrifies me! I'm trying to get all of my neighbors to plant gardens--it's a lot cheaper than buying stuff at the grocery store--for them and me!

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  2. Dear Sister Tammy, brother commie is in the late stages of ol'e fogeyness and is suffering from the side effects of all blow and no anything else. I predict that the ol'e fogey will go out and invest in enough heavy equipment to run a thousand acre farm, just to till up his third of an acre yard and tie up another city block just to park his stuff.

    It's the American way, no spades and hand tools like that for us, that's so third world. If we have a job to do we just throw money at it until it gets itself done. I think this new thing will be great for the economy with every homeowner rushing out to buy heavy equipment from John Deere, International Harvester, and New Holland. Whoever thought this up deserves a Medal of Freedom or something for possibly saving our way of life. Thanks for promoting this potential economy saving idea, that would not include spades and shovels, except maybe to hang on the barn everyone will need to build to store their machinery. Great report sister and I think you nailed the commie on the head and I have nothing but the greatest respect for our elder deacon.

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  3. Anonymous12:25 PM

    Jesus, Dan ’n Tammy. Slap a United Farm Workers bumper sticker on the back of the VW Microbus, and next thing you know it’s the 1970’s all over again. I think I better dust off my copy of Déjà Vu and crank up the hi-fi.

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  4. My inner frenchwoman sez: "oh my heavens, mr. nobloodforhubris and I just got in from the garden, now here's your post! w00t!"

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  5. I want to know where I can get some child labor to dig my garden.

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  6. If the Feds find out about our garden, we're screwed.

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  7. SeattleTammy:

    I got the book, THANK YOU. But, it's used, I think. Somebody scribbled all over the inside of the front cover. Oh, wait, it was the author, THANK YOU TIM DORSEY!! Yay, Serge is my hero!!

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  8. You're most welcome demo, dear. I'm glad your personalized, defaced copy arrived safely!

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  9. Heya, the site I update just linked to this review:

    http://www.milwaukeerenaissance.com/GoodFoodMovementOrganizing/HomePage

    :)

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  10. Thanks Tyler! That's cool!

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We'll try dumping haloscan and see how it works.