http://thegrowingconnection.org/thegarden/ This is the online community for The Growing Connection, a pilot project by the Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations targeted at teaching 10-15 year old kids how to grow food, while using technology to connect kids from around the world so they can learn from each other. en-gb 2009-07-01T00:56:13+00:00 [email protected] hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 http://thegrowingconnection.org/thegarden/news.php?item.39.1 2009-07-01T00:56:13+00:00 Annie Ceccarini Demand for Vegetable Seeds Is Rooted in RecessionBy Adrian HigginsWashington Post Staff Writer Monday, June 15, 2009 In 1784, an Englishman named David Landreth opened a seed store in downtown Philadelphia, confident that newly independent Americans would also want the freedom of growing their own food. The D. Landreth Seed Co., one of the oldest surviving corporations in the nation, has seen several owners and many shifts in its fortunes in the intervening 225 years. But if Landreth were looking down on his enterprise today, he probably would be grinning. After years in the doldrums, the consumer demand for vegetable seeds has abruptly climbed at a rate even industry veterans have never seen. This spring, sales at Landreth are "up 75 percent over last year," said Barbara Melera, a former venture capitalist who bought the company in 2003. Moving between the shelves of bulk seed containers in her warehouse in New Freedom, Pa., she pointed out varieties that are almost sold out: Detroit Dark Red beets, Danvers Half Long carrots, Bloomsdale Long Standing spinach. She had no kale or a popular beet variety, Lutz. "We have a modest amount of beans left." Seed producers and merchants across the United States are reporting the same phenomenon of crazy demand and even some shortages, especially of staples like beans, potatoes and lettuces. Sales of seed packets picked up last year and have grown significantly again this season, which runs from January to June. Industry observers attribute the boost in sales to a concern for food safety following outbreaks of E. coli and salmonella poisonings and a desire by consumers to be a part of the local food movement. Michelle Obama's new vegetable garden at the White House may also be inspiring people, they said. But the primary reasons, they speculate, are the recession, income loss and the need for people to lower their grocery bills by growing their own. In late April, Greg Frandano, a 35-year-old bartender, ripped up part of his lawn to extend his vegetable garden in the rear yard of his brick Cape Cod in Falls Church. "We hardly buy any produce when things are cooking," he said, as he worked composted leaves into the clay soil before planting. He started the garden four years ago and has enlarged it every spring since to feed his family of four. At four community gardens in Reston, coordinator Deana Demichelis said the wait list for 250 plots has climbed to 140 names, a backlog of about three years. "New gardeners are begging to get in because of the recession and the fact they can save money growing their own food," she said. Melissa O'Brien, a spokeswoman for Wal-Mart Stores Inc., said seed sales in March were up 30 percent over last year, sales of vegetables and herbs plants had increased by 28 percent and sales of seed-starting supplies rose 40 percent. "When times get tough, it doesn't take long for people to realize what they can do to help themselves," said Tom Johns, owner with his wife, Julie, of Territorial Seed Co., a mail-order retailer in Cottage Grove, Ore. Johns, who bought the 30-year-old company in 1985, said his sales grew 25 percent last year and have increased another 25 percent this year. "For a company getting as old as we are, those are big percentage increases," he said. Melera of Landreth Seed personally sells one-third of her vegetable and herb seeds at flower shows in late winter and early spring, bringing her in direct contact with customers. "A year ago January, we began to see a gigantic increase in vegetable sales," she said. It was driven by 30-something mothers "who were scared to death that their children were going to get salmonella from the [store-bought] spinach." This season, she said, the customers tended to be from their 20s to 40s and "many, many more males. It was much more driven by the economy." Melera has also seen a strong demand for staple varieties, "what I would call survival food." These include seed potatoes, winter squash, peas, spinach, beets and pole beans, which produce more food per plant than bush beans. "Very few melons," she said. The seed producers that supply wholesalers and retailers have been scrambling, along with their contract growers, to meet the demand. John Wahlert, sales and production manager for Wild West Seed Inc. in Albany, Ore., said in a normal year he would have seed stockpiles in June to get a jump on the 2010 season or to make up for crop failures, but he and other producers are low on a range of basic varieties. "Onions are short, lettuces are short, carrots are extremely short," he said. "Beans are extremely short, peas are short." Trevor Clarke, a seed producer in Hamilton City, Calif., said recessions tend to bump up consumer demand for vegetables at the expense of flower seeds, but this year he and fellow producers have seen the market for vegetable seeds expand by 30 to 35 percent. "This is the best year we have had in 20 years," said Clarke, of Western Hybrid Seeds Inc. "I have been in the vegetable-seed industry for 40 years, and this is the best year I have seen." The question in everyone's mind is: Will this boom end when the economy picks up or when novice gardeners realize that raising vegetables requires some skill and a lot of commitment? Melera said she's talked to beginners who thought you could grow vegetables indoors (you can't) and a customer who wanted to know how many plants he would get per seed (uh, one). She predicted as many as half the new gardeners will give up this summer. "I think we may have one more year, but I'll be surprised if by 2011 we will be seeing the same level of activity we are now," she said. But Lou Zambello, director of sales and marketing for Johnny's Selected Seeds in Winslow, Maine, said people have turned to growing vegetables for fundamental issues of health, food safety and saving money, "so hopefully this will have more staying power." Frandano in Falls Church has become so canny and thrifty a gardener that he repots tomato seedlings that otherwise would be plucked to make room for others, and harvests seeds from store-bought peppers for garden plants. "I have beans ready to go" from those he saved from last year's crop, and he intends to allow some beans to ripen on the vine this season to sow for a fall crop. "We'll eat beans all year long," he said. Diane Hund, director of marketing for the Ball Horticultural Co. in West Chicago, Ill., said two factors will insure a continued interest: "You're bitten by the bug, and second, you've got this big hole in your yard that you have got to fill with something." http://thegrowingconnection.org/thegarden/news.php?item.38.2 2009-07-01T00:56:13+00:00 Annie Ceccarini OP-ED COLUMNIST Nicholas D. Kristof The New York Times April 1, 2009As world leaders gather in London for the Group of 20 summit meeting, the most wrenching statistic is this: According to World Bank estimates, the global economic crisis will cause an additional 22 children to die per hour, throughout all of 2009. And that’s the best-case scenario. The World Bank says it’s possible the toll will be twice that: an additional 400,000 child deaths, or an extra child dying every 79 seconds.“In London, Washington and Paris, people talk of bonuses or no bonuses,” Robert Zoellick, the World Bank president, said this week. “In parts of Africa, South Asia and Latin America, the struggle is for food or no food.”Read Full Article Here http://thegrowingconnection.org/thegarden/news.php?item.37.4 2009-07-01T00:56:13+00:00 Annie Ceccarini Reported by The New York Times on March 12, 2009 http://thegrowingconnection.org/thegarden/news.php?item.36.1 2009-07-01T00:56:13+00:00 Alla Please dont miss TGC new Newsletter featuring our new Partners and Members, as well as Student Stories from Nicaragua, Ghana and USA and much much more!!! Submitted by Alla Newsletter 2009 http://thegrowingconnection.org/thegarden/news.php?item.34.1 2009-07-01T00:56:13+00:00 Alla The Rappahannock County Farm to Table Program is one of five k-12 national finalists in the Farm to School Program's "Real Food Is..." video contest! We need your help. Please cast your vote for the video entitled"Growing Pride" at this site: http://www.farmtoschool.org/vote.php. Competition is going to be fierce and we are going to need everyone’s vote. Voting ends Saturday, February 14th! Also please take a moment and send this email out to your contacts and ask them to vote as well. You can watch each video by clicking the video’s title (hot linked to You Tube).The first place winner will receive $1,000 for their school food project and a trip to the 4th National Farm to Cafeteria Conference in Portland, Oregon March 19-21.The mission of the Farm-to-Table Program is to cultivate students who are good stewards of the earth and productive community members through classroom study of horticulture, cultivation of school gardens, and hands-on experiences at local family farms. Students grow food for the school cafeterias, for special community events, and for the low-income members of our community through the Rappahannock County Senior Nutrition Center and the program that's just starting this spring called Plant a Row for the Hungry. Last year students grew over 700 pounds of produce. 200 pounds went to the low-income senior citizens, 60 pounds went to the high school's culinary arts department, 40 pounds went to our school cafeterias, 70 pounds were used for the Emily Hilscher Passion Dinner and the Taste of Rappahannock. The rest was sold or eaten by students. Let it be known that kids DO like fresh, healthy, locally grown foods--I've seen it with my own eyes! In the past five years, the Farm-to-Table Program has built 14 raised beds and a 17' x 24' hoophouse at the high school and has turned an otherwise unused courtyard space at the elementary school into an outdoor classroom, complete with 4 raised beds, 24 portable grow boxes called Earthboxes, a pollinator garden, and a raingarden. We have plans to complete our raingarden this season, install rain barrels to use rainwater runoff from the school roof, build cold frames, and increase production on our 1 acre plot just 2 miles from the schools where we grow asparagus, apples, blackberries, and many annual crops such as watermelon, tomatoes, and pumpkins.This program is not funded by school budget funds, which is why we are constantly looking for innovative ways to fund the program budget so that we can continue bringing your children hands-on learning experiences in sustainable agriculture and nutritional education.Our program has received national recognition and is well known as a model for this type of program in Virginia. I have received calls from school systems in Prince William County, Fauquier County, Madison County, Orange County, Williamsburg City Schools, Harrisonburg City Schools, and other school systems who have learned about what we're doing and want to replicate it in their own school systems. Out of 38 entries, we are one of the 5 finalists in the K-12 category. If you will become a YouTube member (registration is free), it would be really helpful if you would rank the video highly (5 stars is the best rating) and add a comment to the video. The more public comments, the better! Farm-to-Table Program Intern Stephen Bradford did much of the filming and did all of the editing in the editing rooms at the University of Virginia where he is a fourth year student. However, students themselves used small cameras called flipcams during class to film skits about what real food meant to them. We used as many of these skits as we could in the three minute time limit for the contest entry.This semester I am organizing a volunteer list of parents and community members who might want to help work in the gardens, harvest asparagus, help with our hoophouse production or hand out seasonal and local food samples during lunchtime as a part of our Farm to Cafeteria Seasonal and Local Foods Project. Please call or email Trista Scheuerlein if you would like to become a volunteer. It's lots of fun! Many hands make light work and more giggles. Also of note: F2T was just awarded the 2009 Youth Garden Grants Program Award, sponsored by the National Gardening Association (NGA) and Home Depot. We were one of seventy schools nationwide who received a $500 gift card to Home Depot and educational resources from NGA.For more information about the Farm-to-Table Program, to read our annual report, or to see our wish list of items, please visit our website:http://www.headwatersfdn.org/Farm2Table/index.html [Submitted by Alla] http://thegrowingconnection.org/thegarden/news.php?item.33.1 2009-07-01T00:56:13+00:00 Sarah Fulton The Growing Connection is pleased to be featured at the inauguration of the Mercy Corps Action Center to End World Hunger. The Action Center to End World Hunger uses hunger as an organizing symbol of poverty, helping to explain and illustrate the challenges that lay behind it, such as poor agricultural practices, inefficient markets, weak health and education services, environmental degradation, conflict, and lack of access to clean water. By identifying and highlighting these underlying issues, the Action Center seeks to generate the public will necessary to end hunger in our lifetimes.http://www.actioncenter.org/?location=footer[/link] http://thegrowingconnection.org/thegarden/news.php?item.32.1 2009-07-01T00:56:13+00:00 Sarah Fulton The entire team at TGC is deeply saddened to inform you of the passing, in North Carolina last week, of Dr. Marc Cathey, a dynamic scientist and leader in the horticultural world, and a terrific friend of TGC. Dr. Cathey served, alongside Dr. Cerf, as founding Co-Chair of TGC’s Global Board of Advisors. Marc Cathey spent his entire life at the interface between gardening and education and he brought his personal style and unmatchable enthusiasm to our cause. From our friends at the American Horticultural Society, we have learned that there will be a memorial service at the National Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC at a later date. We will let people know as soon as details are available. Dr. Cathey’s ashes will be buried at National in the Columbarium. Memorials may be sent to the American Horticultural Society, 7931 East Boulevard Drive, Alexandria, VA 22308, the Davidson College Presbyterian Church, or the Residence Assistance Fund at the Pines of Davidson. http://thegrowingconnection.org/thegarden/news.php?item.31.1 2009-07-01T00:56:13+00:00 Sarah Fulton Growing Conneciton Trainings in Brooklyn Schools http://thegrowingconnection.org/thegarden/news.php?item.23.2 2009-07-01T00:56:13+00:00 Alla Press Release about The Growing Connection in NYC