Marianne Krasny

Have you accessed all the materials on the American Community Gardening Association website?

Hi Joe, I am not sure I have an answer for your question as the book is more about how people take responsibility for restoring "broken places" like vacant lots. It doesn't specifically critique the government, but suggests that often when government neglects responsibilities for stewarding public spaces, people find another, often positive solution. Although the book focuses largely on urban areas, my co-author Keith Tidball is engaged in habitat restoration projects with Ducks Unlimited and veterans groups in agricultural and forested habitats. If you want to take a look at the book, it's now available through iTunes (although I think the hard copy is the same price as the eBook). Best of luck, Marianne

Civic Ecology is coming out as an eBook from MIT Press. I will check with them to see about the status.

As for school gardens, my expertise is not with what you actually plant. My Cornell colleague Marcia Eames-Sheavly wrote her Masters project thesis on involving the whole school in a school garden--you might be able to find this by searching her name and Cornell. My interest in school gardens would be how to involve parents and elders in the community in sharing their knowledge about gardening, plants, and the connection of plants to their cultural background with kids. This is what we did through the Garden Mosaics program, materials from which you can find on the American Community Gardening Association website. and here is a recent article. http://www.aspiremetro.com/garden-mosaics/ about Garden Mosaics in Long Island NY.

Marianne Krasny, Cornell University