Restaurants with roots Restaurants across the country are now boasting farm to table fare on their menus, sourced from local farms or, increasingly, a farm of their own. But not all can present their patrons with the farm just outside the restaurant doors. Restaurants with integrated onsite farms invite diners beyond the table to the…
Fresh, healthy, nourishing food is a human necessity. However, in modern society, food often comes with high out-of-pocket and environmental costs, is increasingly depleted of nutrients and is produced miles from where it is enjoyed, offering consumers little to no connection to the farmer or the growing process. These troubling aspects of modern food production…
Bringing food back to Denver neighborhoods marked by the EPA as hazardous waste areas. In just two years, The GrowHaus, a 20,000-square-foot Denver greenhouse and education space, has become a veritable food oasis. Based in Elyria-Swansea, a neighborhood with Superfund designation and few healthy food options, The GrowHaus is providing fresh, local, affordable produce to…
Can you and your neighbors produce a complete diet for the community from your own home gardens? Own Dell believes so, and gives his tips for defining, organizing and creating your own hyper-local foodshed. Situated on some of the most fertile land, many suburbs have a legacy of once being extensive orchards or acres of…
Owen Dell discusses creating resilience and food security in communities through intelligent and organized communal food exchange.
Owen Dell talks about his experience starting a free neighborhood food exchange and working toward food security through converting ornamental suburban landscaping to edible ones. Owen Dell is a sustainable landscape architect and advocate of edible landscaping in suburbia. In my interview with Owen, he describes how a free food exchange that he and a…
We continue our conversation with Owen Dell about food security and hyper-local foodsheds. If you haven’t read the first part of this fascinating interview with Owen Dell, you can find it here. Owen lectures around the country and internationally on sustainable landscaping and related topics. He is the author of How to Start a Home-Based…
Community food exchange fosters a resilient hyper-local foodshed. Many home gardeners find that they grow more produce than they can eat. Residents in Santa Barbara have found an alternative to using this surplus as mere composting material—they’ve decided to pool their suburban harvests to create a free community food exchange. Santa Barbara Food Not Lawns…
What sets Forage apart is its ingredients – or more specifically, their sources. Dedicated advocates of ultra-local, Forage leads the way in inspired community sourcing, serving food that includs home-grown produce from neighborhood gardeners.