The city and the countryside haven’t always seen eye to eye. In fact, the world’s greatest cities define themselves as everything rural areas can’t – vibrant, dynamic, bursting with energy and forward-thinking. But now, millions of urbanites are reconsidering. Greening the city has become an obsession for planners and apartment dwellers alike. But what does […]
Urban gardening is nothing new in Mexico. Lack of space and a growing population led to the invention of chinampas, artificial islands in the lake waters of ancient Mexico City. Today, some of the islands still exist as productive farmland. The modern concept of reclaiming urban space for agriculture has become popular in Mexico for […]
NEWARK, NJ — For the past 15 years, Lot 50 on Grafton Avenue in the city’s North Ward has been a wasteland of syringes and garbage, bringing down the community’s morale. Those days are coming to an end, according to Bilal and Breonna Walker, two educators who are transforming the lot into a community project unlike any […]
In Costello Park, the lonely farmer works his fields under the sun. Thomas Paulsen, of Andover, holds the rototiller’s wide handlebars and plows the dark earth at the urban farm, the largest in a network of community gardens operated by Groundwork Lawrence. Paulsen then rakes the beds, mounding rows for vegetable seedlings that will become food […]
Diatomaceous earth is a naturally occurring, soft sedimentary rock that is crumbled into a fine white powder. Wondering how you can use DE in your garden? Well, as a natural method of pest control! DE works at killing insects because the microscopic particles are very sharp and as an insect crawls over it, it gets […]
NOTE FOR 2020 READERS: This is the eleventh in a series of open letters to the next century, now just 80 years away. The series asks: What will the world look like at the other end of our kids’ lives? Dear 22nd Century, For all the pain, grief and economic hardship the 2020 coronavirus pandemic […]
On March 13, Gov. Ralph Northam ordered schools closed in the interest of public safety. With the schoolhouse shuttered, many high school seniors are saying goodbye to their public school legacy without many commemorations. But one Norfolk Collegiate senior got to end the abrupt school year by celebrating pollinators and the native plants that support […]
In recent weeks, public health experts have warned that the coronavirus pandemic could have a devastating effect on mental health. In the United States, rates of anxiety and depression are rising. Dread and confusion pervade everyday life. From a mental health standpoint, strict lockdown rules mean that many of the activities we derive joy and […]
There’s nothing like eating veggies you grew in your own garden. But gardening is a big investment: there’s the daily watering, the careful pest control, and the delicate process of keeping the soil chemistry just right. The internet is full of ways you can make gardening easier and cheaper, but some methods are too good […]
When restaurants closed their dining rooms because of the coronavirus outbreak, Good Life Growing was left with a glut of vegetables. It also had bills that couldn’t be paid if the produce was left to rot in the fields. Restaurants represented 90% of sales for the urban farming enterprise, which grows vegetables outdoors in St. […]
