Spark

Well, you know we all want to change the world. Here are a few people who are doing it and inspiring the rest of us to join up!

Fritz Haeg is approaching growing your own food as an art expression and in the process creating a revolution in how we approach our front yards. He wrote “Attack on the Front Lawn” and installed an ‘Edible Estate’ right here in Austin in 2008.

Artist Ju Doqui playing with his vegetables...

Resolution Garden installation in a school yard.

Austin has local enterpreneurs making it sooo easy for us to get growing – now is the time.

With so many resources available to help us, why not?

Austin Urban Garden installation.

Austin Urban Gardens has a simple approach to creating your own veggie garden, as does Resolution Gardens’ Randy Jewart. Randy has this list of reasons to grow your own on their website:

Save $ U.S. farmers normally receive about 22 cents of every dollar spent on food. The remaining 78 cents is devoted to packaging, labor, transportation, depreciation and marketing.

Safety If we grow it, we know what goes into making it.

Reduce Carbon Fruits and vegetables shipped from distant states and countries can spend as many as 14 days in transit before they arrive in the supermarket.

image by Pam Penick: http://www.penick.net/digging

Eat Healthy Those who choose to eat local foods produced seasonally are much more likely to consume a greater amount of fresh fruits and vegetables, and tend to eat less processed foods that are often high in calories and saturated fats.

Share Whether it’s the farmer who brings local apples to market or the baker who makes local bread, knowing part of the story about your food is such a powerful part of enjoying a meal.

Explore Many aspects of gardening seem miraculous when you are actually involved in them – you may know intellectually that seeds grow into plants, and waste decomposes into compost, but when you actually do it, it seems wondrous.

To see more of talented designer/blogger Pam Penick's story about this garden by Jenny of RockRose blog, click on the photo!

March is a perfect time to put in a garden - look at all the veggies that go in the ground this month!
First half of month: plant potatoes, asparagus crowns, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, mustard and collard greens, carrots, radishes, Swiss chard and lettuce.
Second half of month: plant tomatoes, peppers, snap beans, lima beans, corn, cantaloupe, cucumbers, eggplant and squash.