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" Here&amp;#039;s a little more about those fabulous farm-to-table chefs helping with this project: Frank Stitt, James Beard award-winning chef and restaurateur, has changed the culinary landscape of Birmingham, Alabama. After spending time in Berkeley, California, gracing the kitchens of icons like Alice Waters and others, Chef Stitt expanded his palate and repertoire in London and then the South of France. In 1982, he returned to his Alabama roots and opened Highlands Bar and Grill. Bottega Restaurant and Cafe followed, and then in 2000, he opened Chez Fonfon. This video contains his plea for us to &amp;quot;Get up off the couch and fight for sustainable, organic farming,&amp;quot; as he prepares a mouthwatering dish of grilled figs and country ham. I suspect that if he used this dish as his weapon in the fight for organic farming, winning would be a piece of cake (or a grilled fig). Recently, Chef Stitt partnered with University of Alabama Hospital to update dishes for their meal service to patients. The themes of caring for others with food and nurturing people with healthy ingredients ring true in all of his work.  Rosa Bianca eggplant was one of many vegetables on Chef Stitt&amp;#039;s list. Peter Hoffman, chef and owner of Manhattan restaurants Savoy and The Back Forty, doesn&amp;#039;t want his customers to get excited about what he can do to a tomato. Rather, he wants them to be excited by the tomato itself. Combining local, sustainable ingredients with no-nonsense preparation and presentation has been Hoffman&amp;#039;s signature style since he began transforming the New York restaurant scene decades ago.  Watch this video and listen to the Zen-like manner he has while preparing an heirloom tomato salad. I guarantee your appetite will grow. (My advice: stop watching before the garlic custard recipe if tummy grumbles become uncontrollable.) Chef Hoffman is also a familiar face at New York&amp;#039;s Union Square Greenmarket. In fact, he does cooking demos there, and he serves on its board. Oh, and he&amp;#039;s easy to spot: he&amp;#039;s the guy pedaling a custom-built bicycle-cum-shopping cart, calling out to the farmers by name. Hoffman&amp;#039;s advice to greenmarket shoppers: &amp;quot;Taste. A bean is not a bean is not a bean.&amp;quot; In addition to all that, Chef Hoffman keeps bees on the roof of his apartment building in the city. Is that cool or what? Though it&amp;#039;s been too wet to till and plant our greenhouse treasures, here are a few shots of some busy bees at the UK Arboretum.   "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.countryliving.com/gardening/a3694/kitchen-garden-60311/>