Tag: food

Are ants harmful to the garden? Usually not

I replanted some of my containers last week, swapping out dead pansies for petunias, which will better withstand the heat as summer progresses. As I removed the spent plants from their pots, a swarm of ants immediately covered my bare arms.

That wasn’t the first time I’d disturbed an ants’ nest in my garden. Last year, they were in my potato grow bags; the year prior, in the front garden bed. Each encounter ended with me racing into the house, removing my clothes as quickly as possible, placing them straight into the washer and taking my second shower of the day.

It’s not pleasant to stumble upon a colony of ants, to say the least, but are the tiny little insects actually harmful to our plants?

Myths abound! I’ve heard gardeners attest that peonies won’t bloom without ants. This is simply untrue. I’ve also heard gardeners lament that ants were

… Read the rest

Woman who fed starving neighbors shares heartbreaking video after vandals poison her garden with salt: ‘You won’t stop me’

A woman who uses her land to grow food for families struggling with the U.K.’s cost of living crisis was devastated after discovering that her garden was destroyed by salt.

Carly Burd (@carlyburd43 on TikTok) is based in Harlow, Essex, and has been growing fruits and vegetables on her plot of land as a part of her “A Meal on Me With Love” initiative to help put food on the tables of families in need.

This was until someone vandalized her land and crops with salt.

In a video that has garnered over two million views at the time of writing, a tearful Burd shows the freshly-tilled soil polluted with white specs of salt.

“I’m absolutely heartbroken,” she says.

Burd suspects someone must have jumped over her fence at night to scatter salt over her land. Just as excess sodium is bad for humans, too much sodium chloride

… Read the rest

Monroe’s food bank garden fundraising for a shed

 

 

 

 

 

 


By ADAM WORCESTER, contributing writer
Published March 1, 2023

Monroe’s food bank garden fundraising for a shed


Jim Scolman file photo

The Julia V. Morris Centennial Garden, next to the Sky Valley Food Bank at 233 Sky River Parkway in Monroe, helps grow fresh fruit and vegetables for the food bank. Above, garden volunteer Lori Heffner plants cabbage starts from her home greenhouse. Julia Morris founded the food bank 47 years ago. The garden was planted in 1999 and named in Morris’ memory. Volunteers tend the garden as a community effort. To connect with them on Facebook, find the group “Friends of JVM Food Bank Garden.”

MONROE — The friends who tend the Julia V. Morris food bank garden need a shed. Heading into the week, the volunteer group was about $1,700 short of its $7,000 goal to buy the 10-by-12-foot cedar structure.
They would replace an aging greenhouse that

… Read the rest

Master Gardeners: Save on food costs: Grow a garden | Home And Garden

The number of U.S. households that are involved in gardening has shown a dramatic increase each year since 2018.

It’s no surprise that during COVID the number of gardeners increased. It makes sense. People were stuck at home and bored — and the garden beckoned us. It seems that upward trend will continue in 2023 as we see the cost of groceries getting more expensive.

There are many reasons to garden: exercise, enjoyment, healthier food among them. But as the economy has worsened and inflation increases, 76% of gardeners say they plan to enlarge their food gardens this year to save on food costs. This is a normal response when people are worrying about food insecurity or struggling with their household budgets.

Will a food garden produce enough food to feed a family?

In uncertain times, many folks say, “I’ll plant a garden to feed my family.” That’s probably not

… Read the rest

Central Texas Food Bank cuts ribbon on new Loewy Law Firm Garden Center

Austin, Texas – The Central Texas Food Bank cut the ribbon Friday on the latest addition to its hunger-ending portfolio of programs, the Loewy Law Firm Garden Center.

The facility is a purpose-built space within the Food Bank’s garden that enables innovative approaches to nutrition education and gardening programs. The important companions to the organization’s system of food distribution.

The new Garden Center is a weather-protected space that allows Food Bank nutrition educators to provide cooking demonstrations using garden-fresh produce while promoting nutritional knowledge, culinary skills and healthier eating habits.

In addition to a large covered pavilion, the Garden Center features a storage space for tools and supplies and an area to wash, process and pack produce, minimizing spoilage and waste. There are also restrooms to support the high volume of volunteers working in the garden as well as classroom.

The Garden Center’s AMD Pavilion will also serve as

… Read the rest

Food supplies running low at some Central Florida shelters, food banks

Food supplies running low at some Central Florida shelters, food banks

More shelters and food banks are needing help to feed people in need. It’s causing some of their food supply shelves to look bare.

WINTER GARDEN, Fla. – More shelters and food banks are needing help to feed people in need. It’s causing some of their food supply shelves to look bare. At Matthew’s Hope Ministries the outreach center is struggling.

“It’s disheartening. It’s very hard to help when they ask for something,” said Matthews Hope volunteer Andrea Pumar.

“Watching it literally get worse – just day after day and for us. As we watch it get worse, we’re watching our shelves just become completely depleted,” said CEO Scott Billue.

Billue said he has seen a 30% increase as more families are in need due to increased fuel costs and a delay in getting food stamps. Many don’t even

… Read the rest

US Botanic Garden’s ‘Cultivate’ exhibit explores changes in agriculture

Placeholder while article actions load

Did you know that crayons, chalk, toothpaste, sneakers and even diapers contain materials that in some way come from corn? That one-fifth of land in the contiguous United States is used to cultivate crops? Or that 1 in 3 American households — whether on farms, in backyards and community gardens or on balconies and windowsills — grow some of their own food?

A new exhibit at the US Botanic Garden (USBG) covers these topics and more. “Cultivate: Growing Food in a Changing World” shows how agriculture isn’t just an activity that takes place on faraway farms but something that shapes almost every aspect of our existence.

“Agriculture is part of our everyday life, and it’s in a lot of everyday things that we never thought about,” says Amy Bolton, the museum’s manager of learning and engagement.

The exhibit, the largest the USBG has ever

… Read the rest

Community garden in West Eugene: a cultural hotspot for green thumbs | News

Tucked behind Kennedy Middle School lies Churchill Community Garden, engulfed in green and peppered with purples, pinks and yellows from native flowers.

Two women carrying supplies out of the garden’s gates chat in Spanish and follow the puddled path leading back to the school.

Near the back of the garden, three bee boxes and an uplifted saucer of water provide refuge for the bees visiting the garden. Several of them hover around their sanctuary despite the light rain.

Managed by the non-profit Huerto de la Familia and originally created by FOOD For Lane County, the garden is about two decades old and has served as an affordable way for people in the West Eugene community to grow their own food. Beyond this, the garden is a cultural hotspot, where members of the community come together to speak different languages, educate themselves on gardening and celebrate their passion for growing.

… Read the rest