Welcome to the third issue of our newsletter -- "News Today for a Sustainable Tomorrow." We strive to bring you important, timely information about urban agriculture, oil depletion, sustainability and regeneration, and other sustainable practices.

Over the years, as I've listened to petroleum geologists predict worldwide peak production of oil for this decade, I have realized that with less energy in our future, there will be less food since most of our food is produced with huge energy inputs. Better, more local ways of growing our food will be required.

The beauty of Troy Gardens, and our organization called Friends of Troy Gardens, is that we not only provide an opportunity for people to grow their own food locally in our community gardens or purchase locally produced food from our organic farm, but we also educate children and adults about how to grow food and eat nutritionally.

In this issue, we announce our new CD, Troy Gardens Journal. Order your copy for $15 and help support our programs. We also are featuring a 20% discount on all of our books just for our newsletter readers for a limited time. Read more below.

Also in this issue, you will find articles on designing for food; an award recently received by our Troy Gardens partner, the Madison Area Community Land Trust; the first commercial wave plant; reducing the risk of lung cancer through gardening; childhood obesity; and more.

Finally, our first article is a request for financial support. We truly depend upon you for our success. Please consider a membership or an individual or continuous monthly gift. Please read our special appeal letter to you. Our programs only exist, because of your generosity. So please give generously this holiday season.

For Our Future,

Bob Gragson, Editor
Executive Director
Friends of Troy Gardens

MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Your Support Is Important

While you are checking out our ecommerce website, please support our work and our vast array of programs with a one-time or monthly donation, a gift to our endowment fund, or by becoming a member. We continue to strive to provide an exemplary learning experience for you and others by promoting sustainable multi-purpose land use with a focus on local food production and food security in an urban environment.

Please read our special appeal letter to you and make a gift to Friends of Troy Gardens - an independent, educational tax-exempt nonprofit organization. You will be helping educate thousands of people each year with the skills necessary to make a sustainable future a reality.

It is your generosity that makes Friends of Troy Gardens work for all of us. Your gift will enable us to add more educational offerings, produce Savor the Summer in 2008, educate 600 school children at Troy Gardens and in public and private schools and expand our children's education program, provide sponsorships to low-income individuals and general support to our gardeners in our 330 community garden plots, continue restoration of five acres of prairie and forest, further develop and increase production at our organic farm and CSA with 110 household-members, and more.

Please give generously. Your gift is so very important for us to continue making more people aware of the critical importance of sustainable living, local community food production and security, and ecoagriculture for our survival and the health of our planet.

Please don't delay. Send your end-of-year contribution TODAY. You can make your contribution online, or mail it to Friends of Troy Gardens, 3601 Memorial Dr., Bldg. 14, Rm. 171, Madison, WI 53704. Thank you for your support.

NEW TROY GARDENS CD

Troy Gardens Journal CD Be Inspired, Support Our Programs

Troy Gardens inspires us. If we are writers, the gardens become our muse. If we are musicians, the land brings us new songs. The newly released CD, Troy Gardens Journal, contains spoken excerpts from our board member Marge Pitts' collection of essays by the same name, enhanced by six original songs written and performed by Maury Smith, who also produced the project.

The CD's 12 tracks mark the passage of the seasons at Troy Gardens, and cast a glance back to the project's organizational beginning. These stories and songs offer a nourishing taste of hope. In these times when "the big garden" that is our world seems to be bleak and getting bleaker, we celebrate the solace and strength found in relationships, in community, and in our "little gardens" at Troy.

The Troy Gardens Journal CD is available now. Proceeds will help support the work of Friends of Troy Gardens.

Note: Join Marge Pitts and Maury Smith on Sat., Jan. 12 for an evening of readings and musical performances from Troy Gardens Journal. The CD release celebration will take place at Cafe Zoma, 2326 Atwood Ave., Madison, Wisconsin, from 6-8 PM. CDs will be available for sale at the event.

Purchase your copy online today!

DESIGN FOR FOOD

Design for Food Thinking Outside the Green Building

Take some time to flip through this 46-page presentation in PDF format. You won't be disappointed at the ideas, designs, and pictures contained within it.

This presentation about putting food at the forefront of city planning is prepared by Janine de la Salle, Director of Food Systems Planning at Holland Barrs Planning Group, and is for planners, architects, developers, community members, and students. It outlines the benefits of designing for food and includes design principles and considerations, local examples, policies and guidelines, and more. (City Farmer, 2007)

Also, be sure to check out City Farmer's website which is loaded with excellent articles on urban agriculture, and be sure to subscribe to Michael Levenston's newsletter.

AWARD FOR TROY GARDENS

Award for Troy Gardens MACLT Wins AARP Award

On Nov. 27, AARP and the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) awarded the Madison Area Community Land Trust (MACLT) the groups' 2007 Livable Communities Award for "Winning Developer: Up to 250 Units" at the Troy Gardens site.

The Livable Communities Award is "for Builders, Remodelers, and Developers -- to recognize forward-looking companies that have constructed creative and unique homes and communities with accessible features that improve the daily comfort, ease of use, and safety, of all their residents, no matter what their ages or physical abilities." (AARP, 2007, ¶1)

AARP said, "This developer combined an environmental-preservation effort with 360-degree, ground-up, user-friendly design in housing. When Wisconsin decided to sell 31 acres of land, residents banded together to prevent overdevelopment. The result was an outstanding multi-use community with affordable housing (20 units are at affordable housing rates, permanently) and apartments built to meet the highest accessibility standards. Bonus: Residents can bike into town or take a bus that stops nearby (AARP, 2007, ¶12). . . . All units are wheelchair-ready and all primary pathways are wheelchair-accessible" (AARP, 2007, ¶13).

MACLT owns the 31 acres known as Troy Gardens. Friends of Troy Gardens leases 26 acres of this site for its programs: (a) a nationally recognized leadership program for teenagers and an award-winning children's garden, (b) community gardens with 330 family garden plots, (c) restoration and maintenance of a native tall grass prairie and maple woodlands, and a five-acre organic farm with CSA.

1st COMMERCIAL WAVE PLANT

First Commercial Wave Plant Buoys Generate Electricity

"The dream of generating electricity from the ocean's waves [took] a major step forward [Dec. 18] when Pacific Gas and Electric Co. announce[d] its support for plans to build the nation's first commercial wave power plant off the coast of Northern California, the latest step in the state's efforts to combat global warming.

"The plant will consist of eight buoys bobbing in the water 2½ miles offshore, each buoy generating electricity as it rises and falls with the waves. If all goes as planned, the 'wave park' will begin operating in 2012.

"The power it generates won't be much - enough to light 1,500 homes at most. But it represents another potential front in the fight against climate change. California has ordered utilities such as PG&E to buy more power from renewable sources that don't spew greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and heat the planet. The utilities are turning to the sun, the wind and now the ocean as a result." ("PG&E agrees," 2007)

Read the entire article. . . .

OUR INTERNET STORE

Books, DVDs, & CDs
Memberships & Gifts
Buy from Us
Support Our Programs

Our Internet store makes it easier for you to support our programs. Whether you are near or far, buying from our Internet store makes sense. With your purchases and donations, you help support a nationally-recognized model for local multi-use sustainable land development.

For a limited time, our newsletter readers can receive a 20% discount on all books in our bookstore. Simply enter the word BOOKS for the coupon code at checkout.

For more information about our program, be sure to read the end of this newsletter. Also, be sure to visit our informational website that describes our programs in detail and our Internet store which boasts an extensive list of resources for local community food production and food security.

Thanks for your interest, and thanks for your support!

Be sure to visit our Internet store. . . .

LOWER LUNG CANCER RISK

Lower Lung Cancer Risk Good Diet and Gardening

"By simply eating four or more servings of green salad a week and working in the garden once or twice a week, smokers and nonsmokers alike may be able to substantially reduce the risk of developing lung cancer, say researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.

"'This is the first risk prediction model to examine the effects of diet and physical activity on the possibility of developing lung cancer,' says Michele R. Forman, Ph.D., lead author of the study and a professor in M. D. Anderson's Department of Epidemiology.' . . .

"'This finding is exciting because not only is it applicable to everyone, but it also may have a positive impact on the 15 percent of non-smokers who develop lung cancer,' says Forman. The other risk factors include exposure to secondhand smoke and dust, family history of cancer and the patient's history of respiratory disease and smoking.

"Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death for men and women, with more than 213,000 estimated new cases diagnosed each year according to the American Cancer Society. Smoking tobacco accounts for more than eight of 10 lung cancer cases" ("Good diet," 2007).

Read the entire article . . .

CHILDHOOD OBESITY

Childhood Obesity Slow Progress

"One in five children is predicted to be obese by the end of the decade. But efforts to turn that tide are scattershot and underfunded, and the government killed one of the few programs proven to work, specialists said [last year]. . . .

"'Is this as important as stockpiling antibiotics or buying vaccines? I think it is,' said Dr. Jeffrey Koplan of Emory University. . . . 'This is a major health problem. It's of a different nature than acute infectious threats, but it needs to be taken just as seriously. . . .'

"[The] report spotlighted the government's VERB campaign, a program once touted as spurring a 30 percent increase in exercise among the preteens it reached. . . . VERB encouraged 9- to 13-year-olds to take part in physical activities, like bike riding or skateboarding. . . .

"The report cites other examples of promising federal programs that have yet to reach their potential. Kids gobbled fruits and vegetables in an Agriculture Department school snack program, but it only reaches 14 states. And the CDC's main anti-obesity initiative had enough money this year to fund just 28 states starting childhood nutrition and exercise programs" (Neergard, 2006).

Read the entire article. . . .

GOODSEARCH & GOODSHOP

1 Cent to Us for Each Browse

Did you know you can make a donation to Friends of Troy Gardens every time you browse or buy products online?

You may already be using the exciting new Internet search engine called GoodSearch. If you do, every time you search the Internet, Friends of Troy Gardens or other non-profit, school or charity of your choice earns a penny. Friends of Troy Gardens is already earning money through this innovative cost-free method of fundraising. If you are not already using GoodSearch, just go to www.GoodSearch.com to find out how.

And now you can also use GoodShop.com, a new online shopping mall which donates a percentage of each purchase to your favorite cause. Although here at Friends of Troy Gardens we don't recommend shopping as therapy or entertainment, we all need things from time to time, and often online shopping is more ecological than a trip to the store. So the next time you need something online, look for it first through the GoodShop.com mall.

More than 100 great stores offer travel, clothing, electronics and more through GoodShop, so that every time you place an order, you'll be supporting us. Target, Macy's, Travelocity, Best Buy, Nordstrom, Staples and over one hundred other retailers will donate a percentage of each purchase you make to Friends of Troy Gardens!

Just go to www.goodsearch.com and be sure to enter Friends of Troy Gardens as the charity you want to support.

PIERCE'S MARKET CARD

Pierce's Northside Market, Madison, WI Shop & Money Comes to Us

Friends of Troy Gardens is now listed as a charitable organization with the Pierce's Community Foundation. If you live in an area where there is a Pierce's Market, please sign up for a Pierce's Market Card selecting Friends of Troy Gardens as your "charity of choice." Use your card each time you visit a Pierce's Market and a portion of your purchase will come our way at no extra cost to you. In the third quarter of this year, an organization in Baraboo, Wisconsin, received about $2,000 from the foundation as a result of its supporters signing up and using the Pierce's Market Club card.

You can sign up by going to Pierce's Market Club Card Application page, completing the form, and selecting Friends of Troy Gardens (Charity Group Code #1275) in the "Choose a Charitable Group" section.

Pierce's Markets have been a long-time supporter of Friends of Troy Gardens. In 2005, they donated a large truck to us that is often used in support of our farm, community gardening, and education programs.

So if you live in or near Madison, Baraboo, Muscoda, or Portage, Wisconsin, please sign up for your Pierce's Market Club Card and designate Friends of Troy Gardens (Charity Group Code #1275) today!

PEAK EVERYTHING

Peak Everything "Must Read" New Book by Richard Heinberg

Make a gift of $100 or more at our web store and receive this book FREE as our way of saying, "Thanks!"

Peak Everything: Waking Up to the Century of Declines by Richard Heinberg (2007)

The 20th century saw unprecedented growth in population, energy consumption and food production. As the population shifted from rural to urban, the impact of humans on the environment increased dramatically.

The 21st century ushered in an era of declines, in a number of crucial parameters: (a) global oil, natural gas and coal extraction, (b) annual grain harvests, (c) climate stability, (d) population, (e) economic growth, (f) fresh water, and (g) minerals and ores, such as copper and platinum.

To adapt to this profoundly different world, we must begin now to make radical changes to our attitudes, behaviors and expectations.

Peak Everything addresses many of the cultural, psychological and practical changes we will have to make as nature rapidly dictates our new limits. This latest book from Richard Heinberg, author of three of the most important books on Peak Oil, touches on the most important aspects of the human condition at this unique moment in time.

Purchase your copy today!

GREEN JOBS

Green Jobs Job Search Sites for You

For environmental positions throughout the world, the following are some good websites for your review:

PASS US FORWARD

Refer a Friend Send This Newsletter to a Friend
Encourage Them to Sign Up!

If you like our newsletter, please be sure to forward it far and wide to your friends and acquaintances. You can use the forward link at the bottom of this page.

Also, encourage those to whom you forward this to be sure and sign up for their own edition of our newsletter. In each newsletter is a signup link in the left column. It's quick and easy.

Thanks for spreading the word!

And your comments are always welcome. Send your comments to director@troygardens.org.

Friends of Troy Gardens, is a 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofit organization, in Madison, Wisconsin. On 26-acres of urban property, we integrate community gardens, an organic farm, and restored prairie and woodlands. (On an adjacent five acres is mixed-income green-built co-housing developed by the Madison Area Community Land Trust.) Altogether, Troy Gardens is a unique, nationally-recognized model for sustainable multi-purpose land use.

Friends of Troy Gardens' environmental education programs include a nationally recognized leadership program for teenagers and an award-winning children's garden. Local residents care for 330 family garden plots in our Community Gardens. Volunteer stewards restore and maintain native tall grass prairie and maple woodlands in the natural areas. Each growing season, 110 households pick up weekly bags of fresh organic vegetables from our Community Farm (CSA).

Be sure to visit the Friends of Troy Gardens Web Store.

References:

AARP. (2007). Understanding universal design: Design for living. Retrieved December 27, 2007, from http://www.aarp.org/families/home_design/universaldesign/design_for_living.html.

City Farmer. (2007). Design for food: Sustainable Saanich: Thinking outside the green building. Retrieved December 27, 2007, from http://www.cityfarmer.org/Design%20for%20Food.pdf.

Good diet and gardening linked to lower lung cancer risk, ScienceDaily (September 8, 2007). Retrieved December 19, 2007, from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/12/071207120806.htm.

Madison Area Community Land Trust. (2007). AARP and the National Association of Home Builders honor the Madison Area Community Land Trust with Livable Communities Award for Troy Gardens. Retrieved December 27, 2007, from http://www.affordablehome.org.

Neergaard, L. (2006). Progress slow in fighting childhood obesity. Wisconsin State Journal (September 14, 2006). Retrieved December 19, 2007, from http://www.madison.com/archives/read.php?ref=/wsj/2006/09/14/0609130608.php.

PG&E agrees to buy power from Canadian firm's proposed 'wave park', San Francisco Chronicle (December 18, 2007). Retrieved December 19, 2007, from http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/12/18/MNEKU05V9.DTL&type=printable.