SPRING HAS SPRUNG!

bench outside PFC in Portland

     Last fall on a fabulous visit to Portland, Oregon, I was thrilled to discover a display case outside the People's Food Co-op with information on cover crops. This is a cornerstone of veganic growing since we build soil fertility by adding nutrients to the soil without first passing those nutrients in plant form through the body of an animal (ie, you really don't need animal manure, or any other animal inputs - like bone, or blood meal, etc to build excellent soil fertility!) 

cover crop seed and information for store patrons

     There were even bins of cover crop seeds available at this organic wholefoods grocery store for patrons to purchase. Portland is a vegan mecca and we can't wait to go back for another visit, which will be sure to include more plant-based food noshing (over 20 vegan restaurants in Portland…and lots of vegetarian ones!) 

     Thanks to the farmers and gardening enthusiasts there, and everywhere, who are helping raise awareness about vegan organic growing. Please Click here for a Beginners Guide to stock-free techniques!                           ……………

organic veggies available in the PFC in Portland

As a Canadian member of the Vegan Organic Network in the UK, I cannot emphasize highly enough how valuable a resource this organization is. Please check out their website for tons of fact sheets, and consider joining to lend your support. Members can subscribe to the quarterly journal, Growing Green International, which is always a fascinating and informative read for growers of all experience levels.

     The Veganic Agriculture Network based in Quebec, Canada, also has a fabulous website with lots of great info. Bookmark these two important sites, and visit the links list on the right hand side of this blog to see what else is going on out there in the revolution (including a list of great books)! If you have appropriate links to share, please get in touch and I'll add them to this site.

Fireweed and Mike at 2012 Veg Fest in Portland

There are multiple pages here on the DIVA blog, FYI. Also some great videos (including vintage footage of the late Robert Hart on the Forest Gardening page). Scroll back to earlier blog posts for more. Happy spring planting, everyone!

-Fireweed  (co-founder, DIVA)