Green Options

How do two trends — the rise of backyard vegetable gardening and the downward spiral of the economy — come together? The Family Care Network in Manton, Michigan, knows how.

The non-profit organization, which just won a $1,000 nutritional grant from the Consumer Wellness Center, will use the funds to buy the seeds and supplies it needs to plant three organic garden plots. When the harvest comes in, it will go straight to the network’s food bank for distribution to needy area seniors and families … giving them, as the Consumer Wellness Center says, “fresh produce instead of the typical canned and processed foods donated to food banks.”

But, wait, there’s more:

It seems that self-sufficiency and raising your own food is winning increasing approval from officialdom in the U.S., with Falmouth, Maine, possibly becoming the next town to OK the keeping of chickens in residential areas.

The Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram reports that the Falmouth Town Council expects to vote next month on a zoning change that would allow backyard poultry-keeping in neighborhoods throughout town. Currently, only four parts of Falmouth have the OK to raise chickens in residential areas.