יוֹם אדםה שמייח. Happy Earth Day!

Gardens have been the big talk in the food world lately, with our rockstar President Obama putting a community garden on the White House Lawn. Check out this New York Times article about it. I was so happy when I found out this news since I was covering the campaign to get make this a reality with Kitchen Gardeners International through their "Eat the View" campaign, and overall I think the press has covered it okay and am pleased especially with the amount of coverage. I wish though that they didn't portray it as just a little housewifery hobby of Michelle Obama, but as the idea of many people to advocate for a more sustainable and healthier food future for our country. Also, when Michelle talks about it, she doesn't so much talk about sustainability but instead the health of her children eating vegetables (which of course is so important in these days of processed foods and obesity) but I know the real driving force behind the campaign was advocating for sustainability in agriculture. But it's been quite a ride. Read this article from the Washington Post about how the international community asked our beautiful First Lady about her fashion and the garden she planted on her latest stint through Europe.  The hype is insane and I'd love for colleges and Hillel centers to build off of this hype! 

I have been thinking a lot lately about starting a community garden on my college campus. I don't think any other Hillel Jewish Student Centers around the U.S. have started doing this (I highly doubt it), but please tell me if you know anything else about this. I know there's a community garden on campus somewhere and i always pass it on the way to the student center and it looks so sad. It's spring and it's just barren. I am hoping sometime in the future, all Hillel centers as well as, in general, college campuses across the U.S. can start community gardens and use those gardens as a way to advocate for local food, sustainability, and healthy eating. I spoke to the Jewish social justice organization on campus, Tzedek about this and got some positive response. The food grown from this garden could be sold to people inside and outside of Hillel and could go to charity organizations. Some great Jewish organizations which advocate for food sustainability and security are Hazon (also they offer really cool bike rides through NY and Israel, the former of which I'm doing this summer) as well as Table to Table based in Israel who work on rescuing food and giving it to those in need. Of course, there are so many other organizations which deal with food sustainability and security inside and outside of a Jewish context. I also would just love to see people trying out gardening if they've never done so since it's just a great release from the daily grind of life. Hopefully, this idea will come to fruition one day. Right now, I am unsure where I'll be next year so I don't know if a Maryland Hillel community garden would pick off. Please tell me if you have any ideas about this venture.

Also, anyone who wants to start a community garden which I also am trying to do at my home in upstate New York, please do so! Kitchen Gardeners International is a great source. I also really like treehugger since they really go into basics and are just wicked cool. Comment if you have any helpful tips or resources for home/community gardeners. I hope you all give some thought to it!

Also, happy earth day y'all. I think it's kind of silly having an earth day since it's like Valentine's Day and Mother's day and just shouldn't just be a one-day fad. But i guess all the earth day events can't be harmful. I am going to try to check out the Earth day activities on campus today and my wish is everyone can do so as well.