Hopeful Signs

The following two-minute video highlights a program hosted by Ohio State University in which OSU students and Metro High School students are getting hands-on experience in growing vegetables organically. Produce from the farm is sold to campus dining facilities, at a local farmers market, and at a farmers market started by the students at Metro High School. It's amazing that such ventures qualify as "news." But in an era when a few large agri-corps produce most of the chemical-laden food the nation consumes, this venture (and others like it) are indeed good news. This venture is one of thousands of small, hopeful signs about how seriously people are beginning to think directly about the quality of food in America -- and indirectly about the quality of food and its impact on the quality of life. It's one thing for old folks to do these things but quite another for students -- especially high school students. It bodes well for the future. (Note: in the age of uber-videos, this small slide show will rate low on the Wow! scale. Look past the simplicity of the production to the hopeful hearts and hands of the students and those mentoring them.)