We are excited to announce our second Asset to the Planet, Jeff Lowenfels, author of the book Teaming with Microbes and garden columnist for the Anchorage Daily News. Jeff is not new to awards and accolades. One of only 21 writers in The Garden Writer’s Hall of Fame, Jeff has earned the title of Longest Running Garden Columnist (and perhaps any columnist) with his 36+ year run with the Anchorage Daily News.
When he wasn’t giving Alaskan gardeners tips, Jeff was busy as an energy lawyer and, more recently, as an advocate for America’s hungry. While on a business trip to Washington DC, Jeff encountered a homeless man begging for money to buy food. Despite the spare change in his pocket, Jeff walked by the man and returned to his hotel room. But the image of the poor man and the plight of the homeless continued to occupy his thoughts. In fact, the meeting was a turning point for Jeff, prompting him to start Plant a Row for the Hungry.
The program encourages gardeners to plant an extra row in their gardens to donate to a local soup kitchen or food bank. The first Plant a Row project raised produce for Bean’s Café, an Anchorage, Alaska soup kitchen. The program is now about to go international with more than 16 million pounds of fresh produce having been donated since 1994. For more information about how you can get involved with Plant a Row for the Hungry, visit the program’s webpage or call the toll-free hotline.
We are really honored to have Jeff Lowenfels join our Assets to the Planet. He embodies our ideal of making our planet a little bit better, or in Jeff’s case over 16 million pounds of fresh produce better.
If you know a person or organization who makes the world we live in just a little bit more inhabitable, nominate them to be the next Asset to the Planet! At the end of the year we’ll have our fans, followers, and readers vote for the year’s favorite Asset to the Planet.
