Urban Gardening on the Third Floor

Kerry Trueman and Matt Rosenberg began by growing tomatoes on the roof of their third-floor walk-up in the West Village more than 20 years ago.

“We didn’t know anything — we used Miracle-Gro,” said Ms. Trueman, 54, who blogs about the politics of food for Civil Eats and writes about climate change for Moms Clean Air Force. “But it changed the way I viewed things in cities. Whenever I was on a high floor, looking down, I would see all this roof space and say: ‘Wow, you could grow so much. There are no woodchucks or deer, no Japanese beetles. And so many things grow so well in containers.’ ”

They used a ladder to climb through the roof hatch then. They built large planters for strawberries and 20 different kinds of roses. They grew blueberries and corn and hops. They had to dismantle the roof garden in 1998 during a legal battle to keep their building rent-stabilized. But by then, they were hooked. “Tomatoes are the gateway drug,” Ms. Trueman said.

The Piscivore’s Dilemma

The oceans are in serious trouble, creating a tough question for consumers: Should I eat wild fish, farmed fish, or no fish at all? The author, a longtime student of marine environments, dove into an amazing new world of ethical harvesters, renegade farmers, and problem-solving scientists. The result: your guide to sustainably enjoying nature’s finest source of protein.

So much food is wasted because it’s ugly

You Can’t Always Trust a Title – The Good News About E. Coli Food Poisoning

Fewer Americans are getting sick from a nasty germ sometimes found in undercooked hamburgers, the government reported Thursday.

The latest report card on food poisoning shows illnesses from a dangerous form of E. coli bacteria have fallen 20 percent in the last few years

Another major player makes it’s way into the BKLYN food scene

Wegmans to Open at Brooklyn Navy Yard

Egg Farms Hit Hard as Bird Flu Affects Millions of Hens

Yet again, another example of how they WAY in which we farm in the country exposes us to great risk.

Mr. Dean, a son of the founder of one of the country’s biggest egg producers, the Center Fresh Group, must kill and dispose of about 5.5 million laying hens housed in 26 metal barns that rise among the rolling corn and soybean fields here.

Deadly avian flu viruses have affected more than 33 million turkeys, chickens and ducks in more than a dozen states since December. The toll at Center Fresh farms alone accounts for nearly 17 percent of the nation’s poultry that has either been killed by bird flu or is being euthanized to prevent its spread.

The lasting and deepening of one company’s massive blunder

Blue Bell Creameries to Lay Off 1,450 Workers After Listeria Recall:

It’s easy to think that there is some big company lurking in the shadows getting in trouble for what they did and while that may or may not be true, what is real, is the lives of the people not only affected by the disease caused by the listeria outbreak, but also the lives of the workers that made the ice cream, who are now out of a job.

Blue Bell Creameries’ listeria crisis is bad news for ice cream lovers and for the company’s employees as well. Last month, Blue Bell voluntarily recalled all of its ice cream after it was found that some of the products contained Listeria, which resulted in ten illnesses and three deaths. Now, according to the USA Today, 1,450 of Blue Bell’s 3,900 person workforce will be laid off to help the company save money. 750 full-time employees will lose their jobs alongside 700 part-time workers. An additional 1,400 staff members will be furloughed.