There are so many ways you can help…with your time or donation. Just knowing that there are good people doing great things in your community can help inspire you.

This installment of my GroEdibles Blog was originally posted at the close of HGEL’s first year in 2009, during the Great Recession. Though our country’s economy continues to improve, our world faces much darkness. Hatred fed by fear threaten to overtake compassion and kindness. Don’t let it.

With dozens of places to get a fine cup ‘o joe on our block, you might think we’d be collecting the grounds by the truckload to use at The Cook’s Garden. But this is the time for restraint and information

Join us at 10:45 PST to watch HGEL on Bitesize TV’s live stream of Earth Day content! Our segment will air on Hollywood Today.

Ever since we were going through build-out at The Cook’s Garden by HGEL on Abbot Kinney here in Venice, CA, we have been approached by many residents in the neighborhood asking about opportunities to lease a box for themselves and their families. While we continue to talk to restaurants and chefs in the area, we have decided to open a limited number of boxes to home cooks in the neighborhood.

The Cook’s Garden by HGEL will support the growing food revolution by promoting HGEL’s approach to hyper-locavorism. At our first location, the HGEL urban growers at The Cook’s Garden will work with the best and brightest chefs and mixologists on the hot Abbot Kinney restaurant row in the heart of Venice, custom growing the rare culinary ingredients their craft demands…. all with a minimal carbon footprint and sustainable organic practice.

May your blessings outnumber the shamrocks that grow, And may trouble avoid you wherever you go.
~Irish Blessing

“It’s a no-brainer for organic sustainability gardeners but this graphic makes it so simple and clear for non-gardening folks. Treating the soil, soil food web, air, oceans and animals as one living being to be cared for and nourished is an idea that our agronomy forebearers had practiced for centuries.”

While enjoying this holiday, please take a moment to remember and honor our veterans’ sacrifice and prepare to help those returning vets through what may be their most difficult mission yet…coming home. Here’s one organization that holds special meaning for me… Farmers Veteran Coalition

Did you know….

– Fossil records show that the human use of plants as medicine dates back 60,000 years ago (solecki et al., 1975)
– Plants and their derivatives represent of 50% of all drugs in clinical use
– 3.5 – 4 BILLION of the global population rely on plants for drugs (Farnsworth, 1988)
– Nearly 95% of plants used in traditional medicines are collected from forests and other natural sources.
– Almost half of the 25 top selling pharmaceuticals were either natural product or their derivatives (O’Neill, 1993)