I visited the National Arboretum here in Washington DC last week. For those of you who don't know about it, it's a wonderful park located to the north east of the capitol along New York Ave, Rt. 50 and the Anacostia River.

Currently they have a display about bio-fuel crops covering everything from corn to Canola to saw grass. Considering that they had all of these different crops, about 30 or so, growing in our native soil, I thought about growing a few of them myself. Some of them made excellent ground cover, some were flowering and would look great added to a garden, and some were obviously a crop type plant.

It occurred to me that we, the whole of nation, are crying about the cost of fuel and the cost of food but are doing nothing about it. Then I remembered the Victory Gardens of WWII and thought perhaps if we all planted some of these crops as ground cover, flowers and a small plot garden, with a little direction from the Dept. of Agriculture, we might all together be part of a solution.

I suggested this to a worker there as an addition to the display and was dismissed out of hand. As a singular contributor I understand that I'd never grow enough to make an impact, but with a decent percentage of people encouraged to do so, and a local gathering area for the harvest, I really think we could have a significant impact along with conserving and exploring new technologies.

I'd appreciate your thoughts on the matter.