Want to Improve Your Diet? Plant a Fruit Tree.

Want to Improve Your Diet? Plant a Fruit Tree.

One of the simplest ways to improve your family’s diet? Plant a fruit tree. Or plant several. The last time I was fortunate enough to have a yard, I planted four of them. Unfortunately, I broke up with my then-boyfriend and moved out right about the time all...
A Healthy Way to Build Communities

A Healthy Way to Build Communities

Mark Winne, an author and anti-hunger activist, often says that the most important word in “community garden” isn’t “garden.” I saw this firsthand not long ago. Standing in the sun between several small garden plots all morning, it may not have looked like much...
‘Leave’ Them Alone

‘Leave’ Them Alone

This time of year, your trees are sending you a message. Although I grew up in the Midwest, I’m experiencing it anew. After spending eight blissful years in California, I’ve returned to a state where people wear hats shaped like cheese and where leaves...
Some Serious Potty Talk

Some Serious Potty Talk

There’s a photo-word montage on the Internet in which a little boy, presumably from Africa, looks skeptically at a woman who is apparently from somewhere else. The boy asks, “You mean to tell me you have so much clean water, that you (poop) in it?”...
The Leaf Blower Divide

The Leaf Blower Divide

When new neighbors moved in next door, I didn’t hold off long before broaching the Big Question. Even though we live in Washington, D.C., this had nothing to do with politics. For me, neighborly harmony hinges on where folks stand on this divide: leaf blower vs....