[CPEO-BIF] Urban gardening and Brownfields 2011

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Healthy Soil for Healthy Vegetable Gardens

BY AMY HALLORAN |
Food Safety News
April 13, 2011

Interest in vegetable gardening is growing, thanks in part to rising  
food costs, ecological concerns and incidents of foodborne illness  
related to produce.

Just how many backyards are becoming food gardens is hard to  
enumerate, but the American Community Gardening Association estimates  
there are now more than 18,000 community gardens in the United States  
and Canada.

While many community gardens exist in rural areas -- such as one in  
Cambridge, New York, on the site of a former trial garden for the  
Asgrow Seed Company -- community gardens are also urban endeavors.

...

Last week, the 14th annual Brownfields Conference was held in  
Philadelphia.  A joint effort of the EPA and the International City/ 
County Management Association, this year's conference was the largest  
ever, with almost 6,000 people in attendance.  Nine out of more than  
a hundred sessions focused on urban agriculture, school gardens,  
composting and the importance of safe soils.

...

The conference inspired a pop-up art event with scientific roots  
called the Soil Kitchen.  From April 1-6, members of the artist group  
Futurefarmers served soup in exchange for soil samples, and hosted a  
number of educational events, too.  By April 5, 300 samples had been  
collected, reaching the capacity of the EPA's mobile soil-testing  
lab.  Results of the tests will be used to create the Philadelphia  
Brownfields Map and Soil Archive.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2011/04/healthy-soil-for-healthy- 
vegetable-gardens/


--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

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