The Los Angeles Times just profiled Huntington Ranch, a 15-acre project to promote urban gardens. This is an exciting effort to demonstrate the potential for vegetable gardens, orchards, and food forests to be incorporated into urban life. And when the LA Times wanted an expert to provide context to the effort, they called on Rose Hayden-Smith.
Rose, a speaker at a recent conference on urban gardening at the Huntington Ranch, provided commentary on the importance of “claiming our heritage” of food production. But she probably made the biggest splash with her call for the military to support healthy foods for kids. She provided some historical context for the connections between gardens and national security, and she noted that several military leaders expressed concern about the rise in childhood obesity. Rose's solution? "Let's have the pentagon pop some bucks for school lunch."
As Congress continues to struggle to pass a Child Nutrition Act, thanks to Rose for reminding all of us of where our priorities should be.
