On Sat, 13 Dec 2008 17:11:28 -0600, Kathleen
> wrote:
>modom (palindrome guy) wrote:
>
>> Kathleen's road emergency kit gift suggestion is a good one.
>>
>> I'd like to add that for people who find themselves giving things to
>> family members who most likely don't need anything (say, you gave them
>> a road emergency kit last year), a charitable donation makes a lot of
>> sense.
>>
>> Keeping it on topic, you may want to donate to Feding America
>> (formerly Second Harvest): http://feedingamerica.org/
>>
>> Another worthy cause is Heifer International, which uses cash
>> donations to deliver food animals like goats, geese, honey bees, etc.
>> to needy communities around the world. http://www.heifer.org/
>
>Seconded. I love Heifer International and have made several memorial
>donations to them.
>>
>> I was surprised to learn recently that a community garden in Dallas
>> that caters to the needs of SE Asian immigrants (mostly elderly
>> Cambodians and Laotians) is supported in part by a gift from Heifer
>> International.
>
>How cool is that?! I would like very much to see more support for local
>producers for low income clients, especially where hands-on
>participation is encouraged.
>
>Based on my own experience, my own kids were and are much more
>interested in eating vegetables and herbs they'd grown themselves than
>they are in store-bought produce. There is little or no financial
>advantage to growing a couple rows of radishes, a row of sweet corn, a
>few tomatoes, some peppers and a plot of basil in your back yard, but it
>teaches them where food come from and how wonderful it tastes when it's
>absolutely fresh.
We've begun the process of setting up a community garden here in Cow
Hill. It should be ready for planting in the spring. Part of our
mission is to educate kids (and grown-ups, too) about where food comes
from.
The one I mentioned in Dallas allows participants to grow vegetables
they can't get in stores in the area. On Saturdays they sell some of
their produce to the public. Once I picked up a bag of greens there
and asked the lady behind the table what the English name for them
was. "I don't think there is an English name for them," she told me.
--
modom