Gov. Beverly Perdue did a little digging in the dirt between meetings today, planting a few collards outside the Executive Mansion.

The greens will be donated to the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle, reports Lynn Bonner. Cabbage is also going into the freshly tilled soil at the corner of Person and Jones streets.

The early-morning gardening publicized a national "Plant a Row for the Hungry" campaign, which encourages gardeners to plant extra food for donation.
Perdue's husband, Bob Eaves, an apparent speed-gardener, got quite a few plants in the ground.

The campaign runs until the end of the month, and collards take about 60 days to mature. But the plants do fine in cool weather, and Jill Staton Bullard, food shuttle CEO, said they'll be happy to take them when they're ready.

U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge will tour food banks this week to promote part of the new farm bill, which he helped write in Congress.

Among the Lillington Democrat's stops will be the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle in Raleigh on Thursday, Barb Barrett reports.

The five-year bill includes billions of dollars for nutrition and food assistance programs, including $50 million this year alone to deal with emergency needs by food banks wrestling with increased food and gas prices.

President Bush vetoed the farm bill May 21, saying it did not do enough to reform subsidies to wealthy farmers. Congress now is working to override the veto.

Other stops on Etheridge’s tour include food banks and pantries in Clayton, Sanford and Olivia.