New tropical butterfly garden at the Smithsonian

Yet another reason to plan a road trip to Washington, DC. I haven’t been in at least 15 years, and I’ve been meaning to go visit the museums. Now there’s one more to add to the list: the Smithsonian is opening a $3million butterfly exhibit! The exhibit “Butterflies + Plants: Partners in Evolution” features a 1,200 square foot tropical butterfly garden with approximately 400 butterflies. In the exhibit’s main hall, visitors learn about the co-evolution of butterflies and plants.

Kudos for Whole Foods

A tip of the hat to the organic supermarket chain Whole Foods Market, which recently took a big step towards supporting the local food movement.

It started when food journalist extraordinaire Michael Pollan, who I greatly admire (or is that whom?), recently took Whole Foods to task for supporting what he calls the “industrial organic” movement. Pollan suggested that Whole Foods was hurting local farmers and should do more to support the local food movement. Needless to say, Whole Foods was pissed and their founder & CEO John Mackey exchanged some indignant emails with Pollan. You can read about that here at the Gristmill Blog.

Update: South Central Community Garden

I'm back to the blog after several days absence…I had a visitor from California and no time to blog. Checking the news as I return to my PC, it looks like the long arm of the LA police has finally caught up with the local farmers at South Central Farm in Los Angeles.

Michael Pollan on organic food at Wal-Mart

If any of you have ever read anything by Michael Pollan, you’ll appreciate his recent article in the New York Times on the organic food that’s now available at Wal-Mart. Michael is nothing if not fair–in his inimitable style, he discusses the good, the bad, & the ugly.

Benefits of gardening

A story from earlier this month that I came across on HealthDay confirms that gardening is good for the body and spirit:

There are oodles of benefits — both physical and mental — that come from the range of activities associated with gardening.

See? Oodles. That's real science.

Natural News Network: RI’s source for natural news

Calling all fellow Ro Dilandahs…Rhode Island has new source for information about nature & the environment: Natural News Network–Rhode Island's "only fresh, local, all-natural news source." RI's green community is growing and this is a great way for us all to stay connected.