The Slow Cook is scheduled to talk about urban food gardening on the Kojo Nnamdi show at 1 p.m. Wednesday, March 25 (tomorrow). Kojo, a popular host on WAMU radio here in the District of Columbia,is located at 88.5 FM locally. You can also listen to him live on the internet here. The program is usually archived as well within an hour or two of broadcast.
News of Michelle Obama breaking ground for a new garden on the White House lawn has sparked all kinds of interest in food gardening. Here in the District the issue is community gardening and, if you cannot get a spot in a community garden, how to grow food in small spaces. Or how to join back yards with neighbors to form your own CSA. The conversation also needs to include getting local government and business involved to set aside large tracts of land for urban agriculture so that city folk have an affordable and reliable source of local food.
To my mind, the White House garden would be the perfect place to start talking about tax credits and other incentives to promote food gardening and urban agriculture around the country. And to think, the District of Columbia has had a law on the books for more than 20 years calling on the mayor to create an urban gardening program--identify vacant lots for gardening, develop food growing programs for school kids--and nothing has ever been done about it.
Posts
15 comments:
I love Kojo! His show is something I really miss about living in the DC area. I'll certainly tune in for the show tomorrow.
I'll have to remember to check the archives afterwards! I live in a condo and have absolutely no area to plant a garden, though I did just pick up container gardening. I'd love to see more programs to make gardening more accessible in urban areas. It pains me to go to the grocery store and see nearly everything is from California, at the closest (thankyou COOL)!
I'm looking forward to June when my CSA picks up.
I am down in Adams Morgan, and the community garden here fills up real quick. It would be great if there was more space for community gardens. Do you know of any community composting efforts? I don't need the compost, I just don't want to be throwing away stuff I could be composting.
Good Luck Tomorrow!
it's amazing how much attention this is getting - i just talked to someone from the WPost - look for me in the Metro's education section on Monday! i'm glad all this gardening - in schools or within the community - is finally getting attention in the district.
Kate, Kojo has the best stuff on local politics and he's so darn smart.
Brett, you can always plant a few herbs in containers so you don't have to buy them in the store, just use exactly as much as you need. Too many herbs end up in the trash (or compost).
Luke, great point. So many people are looking for someplace to compost their stuff. The city needs to get cracking. There was a grant proposal (to Washington Parks & People) to build a community composting operation at Kalorama Park and it was denied. They wanted the money to go to underserved neighborhoods.
Grace, I'm glad you're getting the attention, too. I'll look for you in Monday's paper. Cruel of you to make us wait.
Best wishes for the show today. I now I have enjoyed coming here: there is a post almost every day... and I never know what it's going to be: compost? growing carrots? roasted pumpkin seed dip? an essay about bee? a "rant" about ethanol? all good read, all informational....
I wish I could be so eloquent and prolific.... sigh...
I hope to be able to tune in.
Sylvie, you are too kind. What I should do is write less but write better, more thoughtfully. But I am too impatient. It's a compulsion left over from my newspapering days, writing daily and needing to see myself in print. But I'm glad if some readers find it useful. I figure if I do this long enough--the food and gardening bit--someday I will actually know what I'm talking about.
Great interview Ed. Hope it motivates people in DC to unite to have more land available for common gardens and allow for the upkeep of chicken and bees as well as a common compost facility (think about all the coffee grounds in the downtown office buildings!)
Sylvie,thanks for tuning in. It was great fun and the hours zoomed by. I think we spewed quite a lot of info in that segment. The phone lines were jammed and the e-mails were pouring in. Kojo was impressed. He said after the show he'd like to do that on a regular basis. Stay tumed....
I truly enjoyed listening to the exciting developments happening in the urban gardening movement. Thank you for such an interesting show!
My husband and I are originally from the Midwest and grew up in gardening families. We sure miss getting our hands dirty come Springtime and often talk about how some skills (gardening, canning, home repair, etc)are being lost in society. It is so comforting to know that there are still folks out there who enjoy these sorts of activities or are actively seeking to learn.
Heard you on Kojo! Great show...when he mentioned your blog I kept thinking.."Don't I read that one??"
Glad I'm not completely nuts!
Funny...all week I've been thinking that I need to start a garden. Something very small. We have a backyard and space but I was thinking more about something in containers.
Anyhoo, like I said before _Great show!
Storyteller, thank you for tuning in yesterday. Go for the garden. You can grow almost anything in containers. But even if you only grow salad greens and maybe some of your favorite herbs you will be saving on your grocery bill and enjoying extremely fresh food. I especially encourage home-grown herbs, since you only pick what you need and aren't dealing with these huge bunches from the store when you only require a few sprigs.
Tessa, thanks for being a reader. Don't be shy about leaving comments. We are all eaters here.
D & M, I'm glad you found that show informative. We could easily talked a lot longer and taken many more phone calls from listerners. Let's hope that Kojo can work more shows like that into his schedule. Do find a place where you can continue your gardening.
Hi Ed,
If it turns out chickens are legal in DC, as indicated in the news feature aired after the gardening bit, will you be a chicken daddy?
Patrick
Patrick, you can have chickens but only if you can get a permit for them and they have to be at least 50 feet from the nearest building, 100 feet from the nearest neighbor--lots of caveats that put them out of our reach...at least for now.
Post a Comment