Who knew the time bank could be so much fun? And filmy and foody? Last night, Chicken Corner had the pleasure to attend one of the Echo Park Time Bank's many delightful occasions. The subject: food. The venue: The Echo Park Film Center. The discussion/presentation involved establishing a food-buying program and the possibility of establishing a food-growing-or-producing plan. I think urban and suburban organic gardening is brilliant -- good for a community, and good for everything else as well -- so I was eager to be there. I loved the food entertainment, too -- food films like a "stalk-umentary" about asparagus growers in Michigan, and a funny-but-serious film about Senegalese groundnuts and the World Bank. From the stalk-umentary I learned that asparagus loves sandy, neglected soil, so maybe that crop would be happy putting down some roots here, in Echo Park. That is if it doesn't need much water. Meanwhile, Machine Project, whose headquarters are directly next door to the film center, could assemble some kind of magnificent asparagus-delivery robot made of old analog televisions.

Here's a loosely related link for thought.