Food Day 2012

…is October 24. Food should have it's own day and so it does. This is definitely an item for Everybody Eats. iCreate too as well as community gardens and farmers markets. Check out the many partner organizations, no government or industry funding accepted, and start panning a Food Day event. Get the word out.

Food Day is a celebration of real food and a campaign to help solve food-related problems in our homes, on our farms, in our schools and in our communities. We want food to be healthy, affordable, and produced with care for the environment, animals, and the women and men who grow, harvest, and serve it.

Why Shop At A Farmers Market?

We've said this before ~ linked, blogged, tweeted it too, but here we come again. Even adjusting for natural hype, there is no denying that the market continues to pick up, steadily developing a broader vendor and customer base. We'd like to more of both, vendors and shopper, especially local. Is anyone is still asking, "Why shop at a farmers market?" If so, here are some answers...

1. Buying Locally

Buying from your local farmer or home grower supports local agriculture and the local economy. This means that the food you are eating comes from nearby, and does not require us to waste lots of energy and petroleum to ship the food half-way around the world. You are eating food in your own environment, where it has perfectly-created nutrients for your specific climate and region. You are also supporting the environment by reducing the usage of fossil fuels.

2. Affordable Organic Fruits & Veggies

Community Container Garden

from Life on the Balcony, apartment gardening tips and tricks, Ready Set Start those seeds... 

Hopefully you have your seed packets in hand, or will shortly. I’m sure you’re itching to get starting with our community container garden project. I know I am! The first thing to do–obviously–is to get those seeds in some seed starting potting mix and get started!

It’s important to start your seeds indoors at the right time, so that they’ll have their best shot when they move outside. To calculate when it is time to sow them, you need to know when you can last expect frost. If you don’t already know, this is a handy list of last frost dates. Once you have that date, look on the seed packet to find out how many weeks before your last frost date you should begin. Simply count backwards from your last frost date that amount, and sow your seeds roughly around that time.