Today in Organic: December 17, 2009

Radishes and lettuce from the White House garden / White House Flickr photosream

• In a new post on the White House blog, assistant chef Sam Kass (pictured above) explains how he's creating hoop houses to winterize the White House garden.

• We've been getting in the holiday spirit over at The Dirt on Green, weighing in on real vs. fake Christmas trees and the importance of choosing organic over conventional trees.

• In light of the DoJ's developing antitrust case against Monsanto Corp, Grist writer Tom Philpott examines the chemical giant's various crimes against humanity (and farmers).

• "Stop caring about your virtual farm and start caring about real ones," writes Peter Smith at GOOD.

• A bi-partisan group of congressional representatives have introduced a resolution (PDF) in support of a National Fresh Food Financing Initiative in an effort to give low-income neighborhoods around the country better access to healthy food. Read about it at Change.org. 

• Marion Nestle gives some updates on BPA at Food Politics and discovers that it "adversely affects the immunity of the digestive system and causes inflammation." The trouble with BPA is that it's so common that it's virtually unavoidable. Nestle offers a solution: Try glass.