By Erica Thoits, published in The Current, August 24, 2006

Fresh food is footsteps away for Roger Doiron and his family, who have everything from cucumbers to fennel growing in their backyard.

Doiron is in his third year as founder of Kitchen Garden International, a group that is promoting personal gardens for backyards, front yards and any space available in an effort to reduce the distance between people and their food.

This Sunday, Aug. 27, Doiron will lead a group through his neighborhood in Scarborough to visit various kitchen gardens. The garden tour will include about 25 people, though anyone interested is welcome to show up. The only entry fee is a favorite tomato variety, whether it’s homegrown or bought from a local farm stand. At the end of the afternoon the Doirons will host a tomato testing.

“This is not going back and homesteading it,” said Doiron. “It’s about closing the gap between you and your food. This particular generation is the furthest from its food in American history."
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture that’s been tracking home food production since 1870, last year less than 1 percent of the country’s food was produced locally.

Right now, said Doiron, in Maine the average person’s food travels about 1,500 miles from field to grocery store using up about 400 gallons of gas.

Related to Doiron’s work for the Eat Local Foods Coalition that promotes local Maine food, Kitchen Garden International goes one step further by teaching people how to garden and how to cook and store what they grow.

According to Doiron, there are now about 2,600 people representing about 50 countries that subscribe to the Kitchen Garden newsletter, which includes tips both on gardening and cooking techniques. “Kitchen Gardening is a universal experience,” said Doiron.

Doiron is also teaching his sons, 6-year-old Sebastian and 9-year-old Maxim, how to garden as well. The boys have their own smaller version of a kitchen garden in the front yard.

Doiron also hopes the idea of gardening and helping to grow local food will spread to schools as well.

“If we’re being responsible parents and members of the community, we need to think about incorporating gardens into some of the schools,” said Doiron.

Sunday’s tour begins in front of Doiron’s house on 3 Powderhorn Drive at 2 p.m. and will run until about 4 p.m. Events like this Sunday are important, said Doiron, because they help to build community. The program not only strengthens the connection between people and their food, said Doiron, but with each other as well.

“Kitchen Garden International is very much about local gardens,” said Doiron. “But it’s also about making a connection with people.”