In the news: Morse High School garden, state legislation, and the growing San Diego consciousness for eating local

Garden teaches students about hard work and the food that they eat: UT profiles the Seeds of Leadership Youth Garden Program at Morse High School (a joint project of the school and San Diego Roots Sustainable Food Project) that offers paid internships to students. The students receive a $400 stipend for their eight weeks of work in the organic school garden. The garden’s produce is used in the school’s student-run restaurant, sold to teachers and school families, and eaten by the interns themselves.

Animal Measures Await Lawmakers: Two bits of legislation are working their way through the state legislature and could end up on the state’s November ballot. The first is a farm animal rights initiative. It will provide more space for confined, egg-laying hens, breeding pigs, and veal calves. You may have seen volunteers collecting signatures for this act at your farmers' market. The Californian for Humane Farms website provides more information. The second, AB 541,is a bill to require labeling of food produced from cloned animals. Head to Californians for GE-Free Agriculture for a thorough break-down of the bill.

HARDCORE PRODUCE: Don't just fantasize about a farmers market: An irreverent, but amusing, call to the farmers market by UT Street. La Milpa Organica receives a mention (and a picture)! 

'Eco-awakening' affects personal lifestyle choices: San Diego UT readers encouraged to buy locally grown produce on the basis that it "helps cut down on fossil fuels used to grow and transport the food."