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1. Read through it and see if the messages fit with your own thoughts and values.

2. If so, copy the text into an e-mail message and adapt it by inserting your town and name in place of "Smallville" and "Jane Doe".  If the quotes we've included sound like the type of thing you might say and the list of produce coming from your garden is accurate, then feel free to leave them as is.  If not, please change those to reflect your own voice and the reality of your garden.

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Dear Editor,

 

I am a resident of Smallville and part of an international nonprofit group that is working to get people gardening again.  According to the latest statistics from the US Department of Agriculture, food gardening in the US reached an all-time low in 2005. 

 

I was wondering if you would be interested in using the article below which you are welcome to shorten or adapt.  I believe that many of your readers would find it of interest.

 

Thanks for your consideration.

 

Jane Doe

 

 

Local Gardener Helps Grow a Global Movement

 

If you were to look in the backyard of Smallville resident Jane Doe’s suburban home, you would see her planting a variety of spring crops.  If you were to ask her what she’s sowing, however, she would most likely answer “a revolution”.

 

Doe is a member of a new nonprofit group called Kitchen Gardeners International or KGI that is working to regrow the global food system, one small garden at a time.

 

“Growing some of what I eat is not just about nostalgia and taste – although I think my veggies can stand toe to toe with anyone’s”, says Doe.  “For me, gardening is about reconnecting with my own food, knowing its origins, and knowing that I am doing something that’s right for me, my family, and for future generations.” 

 

Doe cites the environmental impacts of food transportation in the US as one reason for keeping a food garden.  It is estimated that the ingredients for the typical American meal travel on average 1500 miles from field to fork, using up 17 times more fossil fuels than a meal sourced with fresh, local ingredients. 

 

With gas prices, global temperatures and the world’s population all rising and the amount of arable land decreasing, small-scale kitchen gardening could well be a revolution whose time has come. 

 

“We’ve seen a steady increase of interest in our work,“ says KGI’s founder Roger Doiron. “It’s only natural that the local foods renaissance that has been sweeping the country the past 10 years should find its way into people’s backyards and communities.”

 

Started by Doiron in Maine in 2003, KGI now has over 3000 supporters from 80 countries. While KGI plays up the pleasurable and light side of its work (it refers to itself as a network of “dirt-y minded food lovers” and “garden-variety foodies”), its members take their common mission seriously.

 

“Activities like gardening and home-cooking are important strands of Smallville’s social, cultural and historical fabric,” says Doe.  “Kitchen gardens offer a way of staying rooted in our past while reaching upward to a sustainable and bright future.”

  

Doe and her kitchen gardening counterparts from around the world will celebrate “International Kitchen Garden Day” on Sunday, August 26^th.  For more information about Kitchen Gardeners International, see their website: www.kitchengardeners.org