Here's a pretty cool little story that my friend Marc sent me. It was on NPR's Day to Day a month or so back and really speaks to what i think makes this country great. A bakery in Northampton Ma, tired of volatile wheat prices and the problems that lawns create (think water shortage and fossil fuel use, not to mention pollution) asked some of the local townsfolk to tear up a ten by ten patch of lawn and plant wheat.
Their hope is that over time they will figure out which crop grows best, and than can convince local farmers to start growing wheat, something which hasn't happened in the area since WWII.
The thing I like about this is that it is a story about local folks who are banding together and saying "Enough, we can change things by ourselves and don't have to wait for big business or the government to lead the way...we'll lead and they can follow." As the story suggests, it's reminiscent of Victory gardens that were popular during WWII, small home gardens that were planted to help feed folks during war times when fresh veggies were scarce. Believe it or not, and it's tough to in this jaded day and age, this was their way of helping the war effort and a large portion of the allied populations got involved.
Perhaps we should be revisiting these old ideas and making them new again?
Live Sustainably
Dave
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