Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Detroit Metro Times Article

Detroit's free weekly is called the Metro Times, and every year they run a food issue. This year, I'm in it. The article is called "Food Fighters". It's a really well-written piece by a charming reporter named Michael Jackman. I was very pleased to meet his acquaintance. And what a fun interview.

16 comments:

d. moll, l.ac. said...

Cool, charismatic!!!! Too bad no pics of the bunnies, can't have everything.

Carolyn said...

Go You!

Anonymous said...

Coolness!

chaiselongue said...

Great publicity for your ideas! I'm amazed you get 400 pounds of tomatoes - we're lucky to get that much in our garden. Mark Covington's story is really inspiring too - it's good to see waste land being used to feed people.

Anonymous said...

Love the garden shot. What is the green coiled material in the teepee?

Anonymous said...

Sweeeeeet! So inspiring!

ilex said...

Annette, the coils are called Veggie Cages. http://www.tomato-cages.com/

Usually they are staked down the middle and directly into the ground, but since I have no ground to stake into, I decided to build frames for them. My frames aren't perfect, but the cages are great! They work well for vining curcubits, too. I use them in all my big pots now.

Irma said...

I enjoyed reading the whole article. What an inspiration! Just goes to show that each person can only make (seemingly)small changes, but together we are a force to be reckoned with.

Lisa Nelsen-Woods said...

Great article. Congrats on the publicity!

PJ said...

Ilex, I love seeing you live your ideals. You're an inspiration and when I grow up I want to be you. Well, gardening you.:~)

Donna said...

AHa! Nothing shameful about that!
Great article!

The BBQ Guy said...

Congratulations on this nice article. That's a lot of tomatoes from a balcony. I applaud your efforts.

RG said...

I'll bet you get your acre and more .... keep farming!

Tamra Stallings said...

Great article! I was surprised to hear you have been at this for only 4 years.

I am intrigued by your bamboo supports. Does each pot have 2 bamboo polls and one spiral stake tied together at the top? What is the advantage of the spiral?

ilex said...

Tamra, since I don't have any actual ground to stake into, I made external frames (bamboo) to support hanging tomato cages (veggiecage.com). I have two spirals per pot, one per tomato plant. It's not ideal, but it's the best I could come up with. Free with the purchase of every Grow Box comes one big, fat bummer- no (decent) external support for the really big tomato plants they grow.

Anonymous said...

Great article! Edible balcony! I'm inspired to get more containers going...and to get a pressure canner.