BlogHer - president - Comments

Victory Gardens and Yardsharing

hyperlocavore — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 02:51:16 -0600

In other parts of the world people have started land and yardsharing as a response to high food costs and climate change. Group gardening makes a lot of sense for all kinds of reasons - I've listed 100 here. You might also be interested in my Yardsharing Return on Investment post-it sounds absurd but I found an average family nearly 50K - for planting six hundred dollars worth of trees and shrubs. Growing your own with friends makes economic sense!

lizmclellan
hyperlocavore.com
a global yardsharing community
because everyone loves a homegrown tomato!

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Fertile Ground

Tammy Donroe — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 17:06:14 -0600

billbird2111: The controversy may, in fact, only be in my own mind, but I think people interested in agricultural reform are looking for some kind of sign that food is important to the Obama presidency. That he recognizes the role it plays in some of his campaign promises (health care, energy independence, environmental concerns). The question might be whether a White House garden would be enough. You know, if they even like gardens.

Andrea: That's right. Access to fresh fruits and vegetables, especially in urban areas, is a big problem. A White House garden would only scratch the surface of that need, but every little bit helps. It could send a powerful message.

Wilma: Thanks for your comment. I agree. You're making me wish the sun would shine on any part of my yard. We live in perpetual shade. All I can grow are mushrooms.

MealMixer: My thumbs are black, too. But even if people can't grow their own stuff, supporting local farms in the area is another good way to go. A White House farmer might raise the visibility of what could otherwise be a dying breed.

ARfarmlady: Your farm sounds great! Thanks for the tips. I've seen those upside-down planter things and always wondered about them.

Katelyn: Someday! In the meantime, beans climbing up your railing sound pretty cool!

Jo: Urban guerilla gardeners??? That sounds like the awesomest thing! Delicious vegetable warfare!

Kalyn: Here, here. I'll look forward to reading more about your gardens!

Right.

Nordette — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 10:48:47 -0600

You're right. I've read more about it since this discussion started.

Nordette is a BlogHer CE, personal blog WSATA. Also @ Twitter.

What's wrong with a White House Garden?

billbird2111 — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 15:47:48 -0600

Most Americans are now getting back into the idea of backyard gardening, whether by hobby or necessity. If the President wants to plant a garden at the White House, by all means, he should do it.

I don't know if it necessarily "sends a message," and I think it would be the wrong idea for the President to create a garden to "send a message." Simply put, if the Obama family likes to garden (many families do), they should.

And if the USDA dares to object, then President Obama can simply find them some new office space........in Junea, AK.

I find it hard to believe that the simple act of growing a tomato is generating so much controversey....

Get your fresh hot dissent right here

Jill Miller Zimon — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 13:24:08 -0600

First, I just emailed the following to Dana:

If you are sincere in your watching for, looking for, hoping for dissent to come when constituents who did and do support Obama voice that dissent, your chance to show it is now. There are multiple posts up today that take issue with the request by Obama of Dems in Congress to drop the Medicaid-related funding for family planning that is in the stimulus package.

I'm not writing about whether I approve or disapprove of what Obama is doing or whether that should have been in there in the first place. My point is to point out that there is plenty of dissent and it sounds pretty patriotic to me.

I'll post this on your post as well.

Two links for starters - no doubt should this happen, there will be more - including one from me.

Et tu, Barack?

Wait until after the revolution, honey

RH Reality Check

Jill Writes Like She Talks

The White House garden would not be just a symbol

Andrea Meyers — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 10:46:06 -0600

If the garden is implemented as originally proposed, it would not only feed the White House, but would also contribute to local shelters and organizations that supply food to those in need. Canned food drives are fine, but there is nothing more healthy than fresh, organically grown vegetables and fruits, something many people don't get enough of, particularly those in dire economic straits.

~Andrea,
Andrea's Recipes

Nature is the best thing

Wilma Ham — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 17:28:44 -0600

Nature is the most beautiful thing to have in our life and I think we would be better off if we spend more time being close ot nature.
I am definitely a yes to a vege garden, cover the whole white house in it to remind us of abundance, beauty and prosperity.
Garden feeds mind, soul and body and I think that people who promote gardens are very astute.

We are feeding ourselves with too much rubbish and nature brings us back to what is honest, good and respectful and of course fresh fruit and veges is the best for our health too.

Authors like Michelle Small Wright and Barbara Kingsolver are a must read for every leader and people who want to choose wise leaders.

We moved from the city to a rural place with a huge garden and fruit trees and it is making a huge difference to my well being.

Nature nurtures, cleans, heals and keeps people honest.
If there is one thing the Obamas need, it is a White House farm, and organic of course.

Wilma Ham

www.wilmasblog.com

I think it's a good idea

MealMixer — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 15:06:16 -0600

There are so many people right now who are looking to the Obamas as role models. Right now there are people in cities and they have no access to fresh vegetables or fruits, so maybe it could be a case of leading by example.

I cannot imagine a summer not going out to my husband's garden (all of my thumbs are black) and biting into a sun ripened tomato.

People need to put their health and well being first and embrace cooking from natural ingredients.

Very simplistic

californiaguy — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 01:50:15 -0600

Your comments and viewpoint seem very dogmatic. Everything conservative is good. Everything "liberal" is bad. This isn't a very enlightening conversation. And, as Jill says, you seem to ignore facts, and history, that completely contradicts your position and in fact invalidates your whole position.

It's religion... only political. Let us pray...

Misrepresented

californiaguy — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 01:45:29 -0600

The "I won" comment by Obama back to Eric Cantor was misrepresented in this blog post. Obama was simply responding to Cantor's challenge on a policy issue by pointing out that the American people had overwhelmingly endorsed his point of view on the issue.

Sometimes the people who need to "set aside differences" are the ones who got their asses kicked in the last election. Right? If you ain't got the mandate, step aside and let the people get some work done.

Julie, I am right there with you

californiaguy — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 01:37:28 -0600

I love the way that neocons have basically confused dissent with disloyalty, as if criticism of one's government made one's patriotism suspect. Of course, for those of us who truly love this country and the Constitutional principles upon which it is based, nothing could be further from the truth, and this brings us back to Dana's opening salvo, as you say.

I have to just crack up when I see these old geezers driving around with their ridiculous yellow ribbon magnetic bumper stickers which say "Support our troops." Support them, how? Bake them some cookies? Send them some thank-you cards? No, actually... stop criticising the government, is what these folks are asking you to do. "My country right or wrong."

I hear a lot of crap from people, just like Julie has said, saying things like "if you don't like what the president/country/war is doing, you need to move to Russia/RedChina/etc because you must be a damn commie and you ain't no patriot, that's for sure."

Edward R. Murrow might have said it most memorably: "If we confuse dissent with disloyalty — if we deny the right of the individual to be wrong, unpopular, eccentric or unorthodox — if we deny the essence of racial equality then hundreds of millions in Asia and Africa who are shopping about for a new allegiance will conclude that we are concerned to defend a myth and our present privileged status. Every act that denies or limits the freedom of the individual in this country costs us the ... confidence of men and women who aspire to that freedom and independence of which we speak and for which our ancestors fought. "

Since this his BlogHer I wish I could conjure up a similar quote from a famous and powerful woman of the twentieth century, but I am sorry to find that this knowlege isn't at my fingertisp. Still, I think the point is well-made: dissent cannot be anything but patriotic at the peril of our becoming truly fascist... this, along with freedom of (and from) religion, and the imperative of due process of law (including freedom from unreasonable search and seizure, and the right to public fair trials) are the very cornerstones of our democracy, the very best one on earth, conservative influences nothwithstanding :-)

The founders of this nation were very clear about the importance of dissent. It is the very first thing mentioned not only in the Bill of Rights, but also in the Declaration of Independence. You wanna try and tell me the Founding Fathers (pardon the sexism) were not "patriotic"????

Disagree...

californiaguy — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 01:21:06 -0600

Obama has been "associated" with as many sketchy people as you, or I, or Dana. And that is, in passing, in most cases with no real substance to the relationship. These are cases of people trying to make substance out of phantoms.

To me, the whole thing smacked of desperation. When Obama told McCain publicly that these "accusations" said more about [McCains] campaign than his, he captured the hypocrisy and banality perfectly.

Axis of evil as a meditative mantra

californiaguy — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 01:17:04 -0600

Bullshit. You can't decide that everyone else has to grow up without doing so yourself, and I shamefully count myself among those who should be chided on occasion.

I think there has been so much said by this low-IQ former president, including all of that AXIS OF EVIL -- UH-- bullshit! (there I said it, sorry!), that telling the nation that we all need to grow up a little and pull together is not uncalled for.

Really now, it has been eight long, miserable years in a mostly intellectually bankrupt conversation. You can't be alive without realizing, whether you agree or not, that GW Bush will probably go down in history as one of the very worst presidents ever, one who has brought America to the brink of fascism and who presided over the biggest economic disaster in nearly a century.

Not disappointed in Laurie!

californiaguy — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 01:08:35 -0600

You go girl!

I'm not mixed up, you are...

californiaguy — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 01:06:55 -0600

Economic issues? Social issues? You think they are different? Well, there you go. I don't need to say anything more. QED, as they say.

Sorry, the god thing was generic, not really in response to anything you said, but just a talisman against the stuttering of neocons everywhere about some god that I don't believe in, nor do at least 15% of all Americans. It's hard enough to stay on topic without getting superstitious about it!:-)