{"id":4022,"date":"2009-01-15T12:33:36","date_gmt":"2009-01-15T18:33:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress-367309-1145705.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=4022"},"modified":"2009-01-15T12:33:36","modified_gmt":"2009-01-15T18:33:36","slug":"freedom-gardens-and-the-100-foot-diet-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/freedom-gardens-and-the-100-foot-diet-challenge\/","title":{"rendered":"Freedom Gardens and the 100 Foot Diet Challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><a href=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/files\/2009\/01\/freedom-garden-poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-4053\" src=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/files\/2009\/01\/freedom-garden-poster.jpg\" alt=\"Promotional poster for Freedom Gardens\" width=\"180\" height=\"225\" \/><\/a>More and more people are taking the plunge into backyard gardening. Some are even planting fruits and veggies in their front yard and adopting the &#8220;no-mow&#8221; approach. Last year one website, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.freedomgardens.org\">Freedom Gardens<\/a>, used its social networking platform to coordinate the &#8220;100 Foot Diet Challenge.&#8221; Hundreds of gardeners throughout the country accepted the invitation by getting out their hoes and spades.<\/h3>\n<p>The &#8220;Freedom Garden&#8221; borrows its name from the <a href=\"http:\/\/ecolocalizer.com\/2008\/12\/17\/victory-garden-love-letter\/\">Victory Garden<\/a> movement (but dropped its the militaristic overtones). Victory Gardens were popular during World War II, during which many Americans ramped up local food production as a means to bolster the economy and support the war effort. (Hard to believe anyone ever considered gardening to be patriotic.)<!--more--><\/p>\n<h3>&#8220;Eat Your View&#8221;<\/h3>\n<p>The 100 Foot Diet tag was inspired by\u00a0 the &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/100milediet.org\/\">100 mile diet<\/a>,&#8221; a local-eating approach popularized by Alisa Smith and J. B. MacKinnon. Practitioners of the 100 Foot Diet Challenge expand the emphasis on reducing one&#8217;s carbon footprint by growing most of the food they consume.<\/p>\n<p>The challenge was the brainchild of the Dervaes family of Pasadena, urban homesteaders who have cultivated a bountiful farm on their estate, whose garden only takes up 1\/10 acre. Jules Dervaes and his three adult children, Anais, Justin, and Jordanne, document their advances in self-sufficiency on their <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pathtofreedom.com\">Path to Freedom<\/a> website.<\/p>\n<p>Anais says that there are several benefits to a Freedom Garden. Some of the more attractive include<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>More nutritious food<\/li>\n<li>Increased food security<\/li>\n<li>Reduction in the number of miles your food travels<\/li>\n<li>Greater participation in the local food economy (if you have a surplus that you can sell or trade)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Judging by the hundreds of people who signed up, the Dervaeses consider the challenge, which launched last January, a success. Anais believes that it struck a chord with people who were &#8220;fed up with food miles, foreign oil, and skyrocketing food prices and concerned about where their food comes from.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>A few months after the diet challenge, Freedom Gardens launched the &#8220;Harvest Keeper&#8221; challenge to preserve whatever bounty they produced through canning and storage methods. Such activities are all part of what has been dubbed the &#8220;homegrown revolution.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h4>More posts about &#8220;going local&#8221;:<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/2008\/12\/19\/fou-ways-to-help-your-local-economy-and-the-earth\/\">Locavores: Get to Know Your Local Farms<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/2008\/12\/19\/fou-ways-to-help-your-local-economy-and-the-earth\/\">Four Ways to Go Local and Live Green<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/2009\/01\/04\/book-review-small-is-possible\/\">Book Review: Small Is Possible<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Image Credit:<\/strong> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.freedomgardens.org\">Freedom Gardens<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>More and more people are taking the plunge into backyard gardening. Some are even planting fruits and veggies in their front yard and adopting the &#8220;no-mow&#8221; approach. Last year one&nbsp;[ &hellip; ]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":4053,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[2408,2409,2410,2411,1198,2412,2413],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Freedom Gardens and the 100 Foot Diet Challenge &#8226; Sustainablog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/freedom-gardens-and-the-100-foot-diet-challenge\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Freedom Gardens and the 100 Foot Diet Challenge &#8226; Sustainablog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"More and more people are taking the plunge into backyard gardening. Some are even planting fruits and veggies in their front yard and adopting the &#8220;no-mow&#8221; approach. Last year one&nbsp;[ &hellip; ]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/freedom-gardens-and-the-100-foot-diet-challenge\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sustainablog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-01-15T18:33:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"baughan77\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"baughan77\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/freedom-gardens-and-the-100-foot-diet-challenge\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/freedom-gardens-and-the-100-foot-diet-challenge\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"baughan77\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/499964ebd0062fea44a038877f04d201\"},\"headline\":\"Freedom Gardens and the 100 Foot Diet Challenge\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-01-15T18:33:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2009-01-15T18:33:36+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/freedom-gardens-and-the-100-foot-diet-challenge\/\"},\"wordCount\":386,\"commentCount\":6,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"100-Foot Diet\",\"100-mile Diet\",\"food security\",\"Freedom Garden\",\"local food\",\"Path to Freedom\",\"Victory Garden\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Sustainability\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/freedom-gardens-and-the-100-foot-diet-challenge\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/freedom-gardens-and-the-100-foot-diet-challenge\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/freedom-gardens-and-the-100-foot-diet-challenge\/\",\"name\":\"Freedom Gardens and the 100 Foot Diet Challenge &#8226; Sustainablog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-01-15T18:33:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2009-01-15T18:33:36+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/freedom-gardens-and-the-100-foot-diet-challenge\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/freedom-gardens-and-the-100-foot-diet-challenge\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/freedom-gardens-and-the-100-foot-diet-challenge\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Freedom Gardens and the 100 Foot Diet Challenge\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/\",\"name\":\"Sustainablog\",\"description\":\"Since 2003, Sustainablog has been one of the pioneers of sustainability news online.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Sustainablog\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/cropped-sblog-logo_3b.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/cropped-sblog-logo_3b.jpg\",\"width\":200,\"height\":142,\"caption\":\"Sustainablog\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/499964ebd0062fea44a038877f04d201\",\"name\":\"baughan77\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b6f5a4886190f7928eb81d56ee7e3c28?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b6f5a4886190f7928eb81d56ee7e3c28?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"baughan77\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/author\/baughan77\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Freedom Gardens and the 100 Foot Diet Challenge &#8226; Sustainablog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/freedom-gardens-and-the-100-foot-diet-challenge\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Freedom Gardens and the 100 Foot Diet Challenge &#8226; Sustainablog","og_description":"More and more people are taking the plunge into backyard gardening. Some are even planting fruits and veggies in their front yard and adopting the &#8220;no-mow&#8221; approach. Last year one&nbsp;[ &hellip; ]","og_url":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/freedom-gardens-and-the-100-foot-diet-challenge\/","og_site_name":"Sustainablog","article_published_time":"2009-01-15T18:33:36+00:00","author":"baughan77","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"baughan77","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/freedom-gardens-and-the-100-foot-diet-challenge\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/freedom-gardens-and-the-100-foot-diet-challenge\/"},"author":{"name":"baughan77","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/499964ebd0062fea44a038877f04d201"},"headline":"Freedom Gardens and the 100 Foot Diet Challenge","datePublished":"2009-01-15T18:33:36+00:00","dateModified":"2009-01-15T18:33:36+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/freedom-gardens-and-the-100-foot-diet-challenge\/"},"wordCount":386,"commentCount":6,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#organization"},"keywords":["100-Foot Diet","100-mile Diet","food security","Freedom Garden","local food","Path to Freedom","Victory Garden"],"articleSection":["Sustainability"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/freedom-gardens-and-the-100-foot-diet-challenge\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/freedom-gardens-and-the-100-foot-diet-challenge\/","url":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/freedom-gardens-and-the-100-foot-diet-challenge\/","name":"Freedom Gardens and the 100 Foot Diet Challenge &#8226; Sustainablog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-01-15T18:33:36+00:00","dateModified":"2009-01-15T18:33:36+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/freedom-gardens-and-the-100-foot-diet-challenge\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/freedom-gardens-and-the-100-foot-diet-challenge\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/freedom-gardens-and-the-100-foot-diet-challenge\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Freedom Gardens and the 100 Foot Diet Challenge"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/","name":"Sustainablog","description":"Since 2003, Sustainablog has been one of the pioneers of sustainability news online.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#organization","name":"Sustainablog","url":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/cropped-sblog-logo_3b.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/cropped-sblog-logo_3b.jpg","width":200,"height":142,"caption":"Sustainablog"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/499964ebd0062fea44a038877f04d201","name":"baughan77","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b6f5a4886190f7928eb81d56ee7e3c28?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b6f5a4886190f7928eb81d56ee7e3c28?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"baughan77"},"url":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/author\/baughan77\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4022"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4022\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}