To Community Gardens and Their Gardeners

I know this might have snuck up on you, but believe it or not, it's officially National Community Gardening Week. So, to all you community gardeners out there, Congratulations!

It's not exactly like you can just run out and buy a card for these kinds of occasions, so instead, I'm pulling together great places to go on the Web to learn more about community gardening and related topics. Many, I must confess, are re-gifts of sorts, namely, previous postings on InfoFarm, but rather than call me cheap (or worse, gauche), just consider it a wise use of existing resources. Those postings are simply gifts that keep on giving!

• American Community Garden Association, the go-to group for information about starting a community garden, networking with others and developing resources that support community greening. They can even help you find a community garden near you, though I know their directory to be incomplete.
• Urban Agriculture and Community Gardening, from the Alternative Farming Systems Information Center here at NAL. A list of ten of the best starting points on the Web to learn more about this great movement.
• The People's Garden Initiative from USDA, the Nation's demonstration plot illustrating the simple ways we can all support healthy eating and a healthy environment. Check out last month's blog post for a bit more.
• Enrich Your Soil with Worm Composting, InfoFarm's starter's guide to vermicomposting, with a enthusiastic nod toward Will Allen, one of the leaders of today's urban farming movement.
• And speaking of . . . Urban Farming & the D.C. Land Grant takes a look at the oxymoron "city farmer" and the resources available to help him (or her).
• Any chance the "her" we're mentioning is Michelle Obama? Well, no, but that didn't stop me from pretending as much in The First Lady Talks Up the New Garden. Despite the tongue-in-cheek content, you will find some worthwhile gardening links there.
• And though Mrs. Obama's work stands upon an international stage, it doesn't compare in size to the community garden, make that farm, The Farmer Next Door has going in Colorado.

Got something else to recommend? Leave your tips below. After all, this blog, like community gardening, is really a group effort.

Posted by Mary Ann Leonard

Added to Organic Production and Plants and Crops on August 24, 2009 EST | Permalink

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Food Fight

Libraries are, by design, intellectually neutral territory, hubs for rational exchange that give credence to the many facets of an issue, the many sides of an argument. This library is no different.

With that in mind, I'm venturing into the current cultural food wars with a quick review of a few recent offerings from different points along the ideological spectrum. All look at the American agricultural system, but each delivers its own perspective, biases and solutions.

Read them all and you should come away with a fair idea of the issues on the table, along with the multiple points of contention -- at least those present in the (more-or-less) popular media.

• Time re-entered the food fray yesterday with its lengthy cover story, "Getting Real About the High Price of Cheap Food." It's main message: The current industrial food system cannot be sustained nor can it sustain us. The solution proposed: "A distributed system of many local or regional food producers" instead of large-scale, industrial farms, and a shift in how we all think of food."
• Coming from another direction, Blake Hurst's "The Omnivore's Delusion," from last month's The American magazine, vigorously defends modern agriculture and the experience, care and knowledge today's farmers bring to the process. As a long-time farmer, Hurst also highlights the consequences, many unintended or overlooked, of different production methods. In other words, states Hurst, "there are environmental and food safety costs to whatever kind of farming we choose. . . . But farmers have reasons for their actions, and society should listen to them."
• "Spoiled: Organic and Local Is So 2008," Paul Roberts' piece from Mother Jones, puts traditional and organic farming through their paces, finding problems with each. Farming's future, Roberts opines, will not be found in some variation of current practice. Instead, "we're going to need not only new methods for producing food, but a whole new set of assumptions about what sustainability really means."
• Similarly, James McWilliams, in an April interview in the Dallas Morning News, proves nettlesome to both sides. He roasts industrial agriculture for ignoring its detrimental impact on the environment but also skewers the locavore movement for its narrow emphasis on food miles. His agricultural future relies upon concessions from all comers, including consumers. "We [need to] stop polarizing our discussions of food into big industrial and small organic, and start seeking common ground over compromises that split differences."

Of course, food, along with the systems that generate it, is endlessly complex. These articles, then, are just drops in the bucket when it comes to really understanding what it takes to feed the people of this country (if not the world). Perhaps they've sparked your interest in learning more. I hope so.

To get started, explore NAL's Web site. Not just one page. A lot of it.

Read about sustainability in agriculture, precision farming, manure management and biotechnology and plant breeding. Learn what goes into raising beef cattle or poultry. Ask questions.

And if you've got other articles to recommend, leave a note here. Reading other points of view, like eating your vegetables, is good for you. Trust me on that. I'm a librarian.

Posted by Mary Ann Leonard

Added to Animals and Food and Nutrition and Organic Production and Plants and Crops on August 21, 2009 EST | Permalink

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Submitted by: Karl S on August 24, 2009 07:25 AM

They're Here and They're Hungry

Things are not quite what they seem. That is the message behind the new ad campaign regarding invasive pests that launched in California earlier this week.

The illusion the campaign is attacking: that fruits or vegetables that look healthy are safe to bring into the state.

They're not.

The tiny pests that could be hitching a ride on them are nothing to mess with. They destroy fruit and vegetable crops, costing farmers and consumers billions of dollars in the process. With no natural predators to stop them, they also attack native plants, undermine biodiversity and upset ecosystems.

Yes, something so small and seemingly unassuming can be that dangerous.

A number of California agricultural and environmental organizations have banded together with USDA to form the Hungry Pests Coalition, the folks behind this new ad campaign. Together they're working to get the word out about the dangers of non-native, invasive pests and to take action to control those pests, to protect the trees, plants, gardens and parks they threaten and to limit the economic damage they can inflict.

The problem is real and immediate. Just a few days ago, a plant-sniffing Labrador named Chelsea working a FedEx facility in Fresno detected 10 Asian citrus psyllids in a duffel bag. The psyllids, found on curry leaves coming from India, carried the citrus greening disease, an incurable bacterial infection of citrus trees that results in green, misshapen, bitter fruit.

In areas of the world affected by citrus greening, the disease has seriously threatened or even wiped out citrus crops. Estimates put the potential impact of the disease in California at $224 million annually — 20 percent of total production — if it gets established.

And that's just the work of one pest.

Numerous others are inflicting their own brand of damage across the country. The European gypsy moth, soybean cyst nematode, emerald ash borer, Mediterranean fruit fly and many others all strike fear into the hearts of farmers, growers, foresters and entomologists. They should strike fear into your heart as well.

And a healthy fear should spur you to action. Educate yourself about the invasive species threatening your region — NAL's National Invasive Species Information Center is a great place to start — and don't move, ship or transport prohibited fruits, plants, seeds and animals, including firewood, either from infected areas or from abroad.

And if none of this has convinced you, watch the new TV spots from the Hungry Pests Coalition. The bugs crawling on your monitor just might do the trick.

Posted by Mary Ann Leonard

Added to Invasive Species on August 19, 2009 EST | Permalink

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Happy Belated Birthday, Smokey!

The big guy turned 65 earlier this week, and if you ask me, he doesn't look a day over 40. Such is the work of long walks in the woods and clean, healthy living, I'm sure.

Smokey's birthday on August 9th marks his arrival on the American scene as an icon of forest fire prevention. That first poster showing Smokey pouring a bucket of water on an abandoned campfire didn't yet bear his trademark phrase, "Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires," but it wasn't far behind. Indelibly etched on Americans' psyches, it remains the longest running Ad Council campaign in history (though it was slightly updated to the more inclusive "Wildfires" in 2001).

The campaign itself evolved over time, as Smokey's magnetic personality took hold and his rugged good looks emerged. You can track that evolution through the U.S. Forest Service Smokey Bear Collection held here at NAL. A visit to our Special Collections unit will bring you face-to-face with Smokey's life and legacy: original paintings and drawings, posters, photos, film clips, print clippings and three dimensional memorabilia. It is something to see.

So, too, is the simple, heartwarming birthday video the Ad Council pulled together to mark the occasion of Smokey's 65th birthday. I doubt it will be around long, so be sure check it out now.

There's also a flickr photo contest going on, and a move to get us all to take the Wildfire Pledge. So do it. Pledge to be careful and responsible, and "Get Your Smokey On." It's really the best present Smokey could wish for.

Posted by Mary Ann Leonard

Added to Art, Artifacts and Photos on August 14, 2009 EST | Permalink

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Photo of the Week: Tractor Rollover

Wow, that is a disturbing photo. Even knowing it's a simulation, part of a farm safety demonstration, I can't get over the shock of seeing someone trapped beneath an overturned tractor, even when that "someone" is a mannequin.

Perhaps that shock, albeit temporary (fortunately), will serve as a strong reminder of the dangers inherent in farming.

As I've discussed in the past, farming is a dangerous occupation. Farmers are at very high risk for injury, both fatal and nonfatal. According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 8,088 farmers and farm workers died from work-related injuries in the U.S. between 1992 and 2007. The leading cause of death during this time: tractor overturns, which accounted for an average of 96 deaths annually.

What can you do to keep from becoming a statistic? Learn how to operate a tractor safely to prevent a rollover in the first place.

• Avoid steep slopes.
• Reduce speed.
• Avoid driving near ditches, embankments and large holes.
• Drive smoothly, engaging the clutch slowly and evenly and slowing down before stopping or turning.
• Observe all motor vehicle rules and regulations.
• Do not permit riders.
• Hitch to the drawbar or manufacturer-recommended hitch points.
• Set the parking brake securely when stopped.

ROPS, or Rollover Protection Structures, are roll bars or roll cages that create a protective zone around the operator when a tractor rolls over.

If you have a ROPS, use a seat belt. The secured belt will keep you in that protective zone.

If you don't have a ROPS, first, look into retrofitting your tractor to get one. They are the most effective why to prevent tractor overturn deaths. But until you get that ROPS installed, don't wear a seat belt. In the event of a rollover you might get lucky and be thrown clear.

For more on farm safety, check out the list of resources pulled together by NAL's Rural Information Center, along with the previous blog post I mentioned.

For more ag-related pics, most far less gruesome than the one above, visit the CSREES Image Database. You'll actually be seeing there the fine work of Edwin Remsberg, who was the focus of InfoFarm's second posting ever way back in October 2007.

Posted by Mary Ann Leonard

Added to Art, Artifacts and Photos and Farm Safety on August 07, 2009 EST | Permalink

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Submitted by: Jimmy on August 7, 2009 07:46 PM

Submitted by: Mary Ann on August 10, 2009 08:38 AM