In Old MacDonald Had an Apartment House , one of my favorite children’s books, Judi and Ron Barrett show us that no matter where you live, you can make a difference by growing some of your own food.   The book is a wonderful way to get kids excited about gardening and teach them valuable lessons about community, responsibility and self-reliance.   From suburban lawns to urban rooftops, people everywhere are beginning to realize that local food is both sustainable and delicious!

Lacking the rural landscape of his sing-along predecessor, this Old MacDonald decides to convert his apartment building (or house, if you will), into an urban farm.   As superintendent of the building, he eventually drives his tenants crazy with carrots, cucumbers and cows, forcing them to move.   He and his wife quickly expand their penthouse produce until they get a visit from the buildings owner who is rather unpleased with the rustic renovations.    Without giving away the ending, I will say that the book encourages people young and “Old” to see how colorful our world can be if each of us is willing to get our hands a little dirty.

Empty rooftops and chemically saturated lawns are beginning to seem as environmentally irresponsible as joy riding a gas-guzzling hummer. Grass has gone the way of gas.   At an age when our petroleum-dependent ways are ruining the planet and food shortages are threatening populations the world over, we need to seriously reconsider the extreme distances our food travels.   A great way to reconcile these issues is to grow your own.    Wherever you live there’s always room for some edible foliage.

takepart To learn more about how you can keep your food really local, check out the book, Food Not Lawns and find out if there is a community garden in your neighborhood.

And call your library and local bookstore and ask them to urge Simon and Schuster to put Old MacDonald Had an Apartment House back into print!

Danny Jensen is s gardener, actor, opera singer and blogger.
Originally posted on Intent.com