A reason to drink, lazy gardening and a taste of life on food-bank fare

--Did you know there was an Angostura Bitters shortage? I didn't either. But no need to panic. It's already over. Let's drink to that. [Huffington Post]

--8 great perennial vegetables almost anyone can grow. Penny-pinching blogger -- that's a compliment, people! -- Jeff Yeager makes a compelling argument that if you start now, you'll be able to follow his family's unusual tradition and pass heirloom seeds along to your children, and your children's children. Best of all: Unlike fruits, "there aren't too many vegetables that are perennials, many of the ones that do exist grow in a wide range of climates and, once established, are low-maintenance enough even for a lazy gardener like me." [The Daily Green]

--Could you survive on the food bank diet? We'll let Planet Green tell it: "The Stop Community Food Centre thinks people should know how hard it is to live on welfare and in poverty. Many have to rely on food banks to survive. As part of its "Do the Math" campaign to demonstrate that social assistance rates just don't provide enough to live a healthy, dignified life, they convinced a number of prominent people, who are used to eating well, to survive for a week on a typical food bank diet." [Planet Green]

--Rene Lynch
On Twitter @renelynch

Photo credit: David Karp / For the Times