Thriving too

Future of Urban Farming Deux

No room for crop cultivation in your cluttered flat? Well tidy up for heaven's sake!

Or, hang them from the ceiling. Which ever takes your fancy.

Sky Planters by Patrick Morris. Available from Thorsten Van Elten

(Future of Urban Farming I)

You are what you eat

Researcher / London UK / 1 person household / Once sold a flapjack to a 10ft Elvis / 2009

More at GOOD's photogallery of Mark Menjivar's project

Tree-tastic

Organic Meltdown are preserving rainforests and making scrummy Fairtrade chocolate all at the same time. Busy guys.

Working with the World Land Trust, for every bar of chocolate you consume, they will save one tropical forest tree.

Now that's an excuse to get stuck in if ever I heard one!

Heart shaped

Heart shaped water melons from Japan that apparently took 3 years to perfect. Yours for the bargain price of 15,750 Yen, or £107. Eat your heart out...

Bugged out

The tomatoes and salad are coming along nicely on the balcony. I'm not sure any of them will get big enough for a sticker, but here's hoping!

Get your stickers here...

Mine, mine, mine, mine

Ah, the microcosm of society that is the communal fridge. The sharers, the hoarders, the sneaky milk drinkers.

Don't get me wrong, I love shared meals. I'm getting innordinately excited about international potluck dinner plans in a couple of weeks (Australian, Malaysian, Scottish, Canadian, American, Indian and English and still growing). Any suggestions for a vegetarian savoury main to fly the English flag?

Anyway, back to the issue in hand. If you have lovingly prepared your lunch, and used a steel will power to wait until midday to devour it, you don't want it to end up in someone else's stomach.

Enter the ingenious anti-theft lunch bag! (Provided you can keep your appetite)

Fuelling Creativity

A report on Creative Review about work by the Centre of Design Research to discover the foods and lifestyle choices that increase 'creative fluency'.

Apparently chocolate and jellybeans are out. White fish and chicken is in. What are the vegetarians going to do?

Presidential potatoes

One of the biggest carbon culprits is our long-distance food habit. Strawberries from Israel, sugar-snaps from Zimbabwe, and tomatoes from Morocco. Not to mention the mountains of plastic packaging *shudders*

Contrast with the idea of a crisp freshly picked salad or the smell of a warm muddy newly dug potato - right from your back yard / windowsill / front door / garden / anywhere.

Kitchen Gardeners International want to help us all to grow provisions closer to home, and they are starting with the Whitehouse lawn. Don't worry - you can start with cress.

I wonder does Obama have green fingers?