Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>]

The (not so) New Agtivist: Joan Gussow, mother of the sustainable food 
movement
http://www.grist.org/article/food-2011-01-12-the-not-so-new-agtivist-joan-gussow
12 Jan 2011 10:38 AM

   Few would argue that Joan Dye Gussow is the mother of the sustainable food 
movement. For more than 30 years, she's been writing, teaching (she is 
emeritus chair of the Teachers College nutrition program at Columbia 
University), and speaking about our unsustainable food system and how to fix 
it. (This excellent article by journalist Brian Halweil showcases her work in 
detail.) Now more than ever, her ideas have wings. Michael Pollan, for 
example, has said, "Once in a while, when I have an original thought, I look 
around and realize Joan said it first."

   Gussow lives what she teaches, growing most of her own food year-round in 
her backyard. The New York Times profiled her last spring as she was 
rebuilding her garden after it was destroyed by a flood. When I asked her 
about her newly rebuilt garden, she said, "It's given me 10 additional years 
of life, at least!"

   I spoke to her recently about how far we've come, the future of the food 
system, and her new book, Growing, Older: A Chronicle of Death, Life, and 
Vegetables.

Interview: