Tons of tomatoes and loads of hope

There are hundreds of reasons why I have been lacking in new posts and here are a few of them.  The garden is coming in heavily and everything is rushing to beat the first frost.  With my first tomato harvest out of my own garden in so many years of waiting, I have no intention of wasting it.  Tonight I will cook down the tomatoes here in my big stock pot and get some sauce on the shelves for winter.  I am so lucky to have the space to grow my own food and even luckier to live in a neighborhood I don't have to put a dog out at night to watch it for me.
Urban farmers are on the rise and even my city has allowed the temporary trial of backyard hens to see how it goes over the first year.  My job takes me into some of the grittier areas of town and I find small vegetable patches in so many back yards and on patios in pots.  The biggest threat many of these gardeners face is theft.  Some of it goes into hungry bellies (which makes it easier to swallow), but it is the smashed tomatoes and pumpkins that really upset these urban farmers.  Young kids who are more into pulling pranks than being neighbors are high on the list of many of the people I talk to in back alleys these days.  There are just not enough positive role models for so many kids.  Many of them are sent out of their neighborhoods for school which may bring them better school choices, but it has also eliminated the neighborhood accountability factor.  There is not the regular routine of people that are seen on a regular basis who know them and their parents.  When we were growing up, albeit in a small town, there was several sets of eyes on us during the day, and if we tried to pull something off, we were usually caught.
There is a positive influence in the body of a man called Will Allen in our city.  He has gained a national reputation for his urban farming techniques and his ability to reach out to his neighborhood.  Check out his brain child Growing Power on the web at http://www.growingpower.org/ .  I also recommend his face book page for regular updates.  I will leave you here and let you click over to Will's page.  I hope it inspires you to be a positive force in your own community.