The Prince has turned his Château de la Bourdaisière in Touraine into a high-end destination with its National Conservatory of Tomatoes (650 varieties) and historical vegetable and medicinal gardens.

The Prince Gardener Louis Albert de Broglie
Monday, May 2 at 7pm, 2011
Part of a series “Art de Vivre: Gardens for Gourmets”
by the French Institute Alliance Francaise (FIAF)

Founder of the luxury garden brand Le Prince Jardinier and owner of the renowned natural science institution Deyrolle, de Broglie will discuss the rise of garden tourism and biodiversity in 21st-century gardens. He will appear in conversation with Roger Doiron, head of Kitchen Gardeners International and a lead activist behind Michelle Obama’s kitchen garden at the White House. FIAF Members, $20, Non-Members $25.

Excerpt about the Prince:

The recent story of Louis Albert de Broglie is very much linked with his interaction with the Château de la Bourdaisière that he bought with his brother in 1991.

[Read more →]

Erica Lemieux turns the soil in a garden she is creating in a neighbour’s backyard. The garden is one of eight she has obtained access to by handing out flyers in her neighbourhood (High Park and Parkdale). Photo by Tara Walton, Toronto Star.

“I want to show urban farming can be a for-profit business.”

By Catherine Porter
Toronto Star
Apr 6, 2011

Excerpt:

Erica Lemieux’s farm is in a High Park backyard. Eight of them, to be precise. Cobbled together, that makes for a quarter-acre.

“The backyards here are just asking to be farmed,” she says, leading me around to the back of a giant house on High Park Ave. and down its long yard, where she is double-digging beds for her first crop of vegetables.

[Read more →]

Minneapolis/St. Paul.

“Folks are realizing that this isn’t a Democratic or Republican issue.”

By Madeleine Baran,
Minnesota Public Radio
April 7, 2011

Excerpt:

Minneapolis, Minn. — Farmers looking for land to grow food to sell may have another option.

A plan to expand urban agriculture in Minneapolis passed the city’s zoning and planning committee on Thursday, opening the door for farmers to turn vacant lots into commercial farms.

Minneapolis is already home to community gardens and farmers markets, but the city lacked definitions or regulations of land used to grow and sell food. Urban agriculture supporters said that made it impossible to get approval for innovative farming projects.

[Read more →]