Snippets
Spotlight on … Gardening

When you consider all of the fuel used to produce our food, we eat an estimated 46,000 calories of energy every day.* Some Americans are growing "Liberty Gardens" to save energy and reduce our nation's dependence on foreign oil.

During World War II, approximately 20 million Americans grew "Victory Gardens" to free up food and fuel for the war effort. Victory Gardens yielded roughly 80 million pounds of food, or 40% of the nation's fresh vegetables.*

Gardening can help save money. For example, four tomato plants cost around $15 and yield about 60 pounds of tomatoes, or 25¢ per pound.** The average retail price of a pound of tomatoes is $1.77, or roughly seven times as much.***

Food that goes straight from your garden to your kitchen is generally fresher, healthier and tastier than food that must be transported a great distance.

*	Source: Liberty Gardens, www.libertygardens.com.
**	Source: Iowa State University Extension, www.extension.iastate.edu.
***	Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, www.bls.gov.

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