Wall Street Journal & New York Times: Suburban Farming and Kitchen Gardens

Today, the Wall Street Journal featured an article and a video about individuals who have started to farm their own and their neighbors' suburban lots for food. Kelly Spors writes:

"Since 2006, Mr. Nash, 31, has uprooted his backyard and the front or back yards of eight of his Boulder neighbors, turning them into minifarms growing tomatoes, bok choy, garlic and beets. Between May and September, he gives weekly bagfuls of fresh-picked vegetables and herbs to people here who have bought "shares" of his farming operation. Neighbors who lend their yards to the effort are paid in free produce and yard work."

Last week, the New York Times also wrote an article about the less-extreme resurgence of kitchen gardens. Anne Raver writes:

"During World War I, to save fuel and labor, President Woodrow Wilson had sheep grazing on the White House lawn. His wife, Edith, planted vegetables to inspire the Liberty Garden campaign, in which thousands of students, called 'Soldiers of the Soil,' grew their own food in their schools and communities, she said. As the Allied powers began to win, the name Liberty Garden was changed to Victory Garden...Just after Pearl Harbor, Ms. Hayden-Smith said, another Victory Garden campaign was started. Eleanor Roosevelt grew peas and carrots on the White House lawn, and by the end of the war, Ms. Hayden-Smith said, 'Americans were producing 40 percent of the country’s produce' in their gardens' (emphasis added)."