Dear Kitchen Gardener,

In case you haven’t guessed, this month’s newsletter is about hunger.  Earlier this month, the United Nations organized an emergency food summit in Rome to address the effects that soaring food and fuel prices are having across the world.  Nowhere are these effects quite as dramatic as in Africa.  Experts predict that Africa's spending on cereal imports will rise by more than 50 percent in 2008. Needless to say, Africans’ incomes are not predicted to rise by corresponding amounts which means that – barring any miracles – Africa’s poor this year will get poorer and its hungry hungrier.

“What does that have to do with me and my garden?” you might ask.  As much as we’d like to share the surplus squash, beans and tomatoes coming from our gardens, we just can’t. The excellent “Plant a Row for the Hungry” program doesn't deliver to Africa.  What we gardeners can do is show solidarity with our gardening friends in those parts of the world that are struggling day to day to meet the food needs of their families, friends and neighbors.  The challenge is not only to meet these needs in the short term, but to find solutions for the longer term after the current food crisis has subsided.  A recent report by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that global food production must double by 2030 to meet rising demand.

What’s needed is not so much a global “Plant a Row for the Hungry” effort as a “Help the Hungry Plant Several Rows for Themselves” program.  In this spirit, KGI is launching a cooperation with a new partner group in Kenya which is teaching people how to grow food for themselves using organic methods.  The Organic Agriculture Center of Kenya (OACK) has already helped 600 families to start and maintain productive gardens and is looking to expand their activities to reach more people and new groups including school children.  We’re shining the spotlight on their work this month and asking you to help support it.  Thanks for whatever help you can offer. Your donations to OACK will be matched dollar for dollar.

I hope you’ll enjoy this month’s newsletter which is the most generous portion of gardening info, food for thought, and discussion we’ve ever compiled.  If that’s the case, it’s because you’re doing a lot of the work.  The social networking part of our website now has over 530 people participating in discussions, setting up local and issue-related groups, posting their own Kitchen Garden Day events, watching and uploading videos, and sharing photos.  If you haven’t joined that part of the KGI party, the doors are wide open...just give your clogs a good kick before you enter!

Best wishes from Maine,

Photo credit: Superfantastic

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