While having breakfast this morning and reading the "newspaper" (online news forums), I ran across an interesting article on CNN about people tearing up their front yards and putting in vegetable and herb gardens.  Now, before moving to the country, we grew the occasional vegetable or herb in our front yard (okra does a beautiful hibiscus imitation and rosemary provides a wonderful, scented welcome when planted beside the front door or the steps coming up to the house), but nothing like this. 

While some of the neighbors object to anything other than the less money) and, apparently, social (one family said that their neighbors never spoke to them until they had the vegetable garden in the front yard; another, who also has chickens, says that hardly a day goes by that a neighborhood child doesn't stop by to see the chickens).  The sharing of food is an old, time-honored way of connecting with each other and making friends, well worth renewing.  Digging in the soil, for many people, growing their own food, is a therapy you just can't get in a doctor's office.  And the health benefits from working in a garden are well-known - it's a form of exercise that pays you back in many ways.

Time was, all or most of the food we ate was grown at home.  And, these days, the more food that can be grown at home, the better from an ecological standpoint, because that food doesn't have to be transported further than from the garden to the kitchen, conserving fuel and preserving freshness.   Whether it be a pot or three of herbs, or a tomato plant, or an entire vegetable garden in the front (or back) yard, we can all contribute in this fashion and add pleasure to our lives at the same time.

We have a garden out here on the ranch; while I love cooking green beans that were picked not five minutes before, it would be nice to be able to share some of the abundance with someone right next door (our closest neighbor is a quarter mile away) during those times of plenty (meaning, too many beans to eat before they get tough - I'm not into canning yet).   And zucchini - there are only so many ways that two people can eat zucchini without turning into one, and zucchini plants are notorious for producing more than anyone can eat.

I think this is an encouraging step that some are taking.  It will be interesting to watch it unfold and to hear what others have to say about it.