> "When conditions are ripe for it, these suburban lots could quickly be
> developed into mini-farms, either as home-based businesses or as a
> source of much good food for the family living there. That sort of
> flexibility, coupled with broad-based ownership of prime agricultural
> land in the form of suburban lots, may turn out to be a very lucky and
> important break at a moment when we need one badly."
>
then steve groff wrote:
>Anyone interested in seeing this type of agriculture first hand should go to
Japan. I was >there a year ago and was amazed at the intensity of
>food producing plots. Not a single square foot is wasted! Even in the
downtown areas in >of Tokyo there were plots as small as 4x5 ft that had
>veggies growing in them. There is no grass for yards *anywhere* near the
population
>centers. It is considered a waste of resourses not to grow food in open
>spaces. Even at major interchanges on the highways they have planted the
whole area in >vegetables.
When I was in South Korea a few years ago the phenomenon was the same. Even at
the gas stations, bitter melon grew on wires up the sides of the pumps! All
public landscaping was edible and people cultivated in every square inch of
available space they had access to. Old women would dry, grind and process
chili peppers into paste right on the sidewalks! I felt like I had come to the
gardeners mecca! Since N and S Korea are very mountainous and have little
arable land, this urban agriculture is essential. I have seen statistics that
say as much as 95% of all food is produced in the cities of Japan, Korea and
China. In the US, that number is less than 1/2 of a %. Hmmmm...
-- dawn aka gardenbettyWe will be known by the tracks we leave behind... —Dakota proverb
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