Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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International Kitchen Garden Day
A Global Celebration of the Most Local Food of All  
   
PORTLAND, ME - August 6 - On August 24th, kitchen gardeners and food-lovers
from around the world will gather in their gardens and kitchens with
friends, family, and members of their local communities to celebrate the
positive role of home-grown, home-cooked food in society, health, and
gastronomy. The annual event is being coordinated by Kitchen Gardeners
International (KGI), a new international non-profit group that seeks to
promote closer connections between people, their food, the land, and each
other. 

Despite some encouraging trends to the contrary, food now travels on
average between 1,500 and 2,500 miles from field to table, as much as 25
percent farther than two decades ago*. "Our current long-distance
relationship with food is a losing equation," says KGI founder Roger
Doiron. "Lettuce grown on the west coast and shipped 3,000 miles to the
east coast requires more than 35 times as much fossil fuel energy in
transport as it provides in food energy."

According to Doiron, the environment is not the only loser. "By eating
road-weary, industrially-grown produce coming from thousands of miles away,
we miss out on a great opportunity for achieving health for our bodies and
pleasure for our palates," he says. "The simple act of growing some of what
you eat is the most local, most healthful, and most delicious way of
experiencing food and represents a precious part of the world's common
cultural heritage." 
 
http://www.kitchengardeners.org/