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One solution: This clever hanging gutter solution, which makes excellent use of vertical wall space to grow lettuce and other yummy veggies.

Then I went to Paris.

For Fall/Winter 2009, Garcia draws inspiration from Queen Victoria and socialite Daphne Guinness, conjuring up obsidian Nuno-felted silk gowns, asymmetric vests and tunics in cutwork chiffon, and knit jackets with detachable batwing sleeves.

Congo's Rainforest

January: Turnips & Parsnips

Where they came from: My year starts with these root vegetables from the local winter farmers' market, which I feel lucky to have. It's open every other Saturday, rather than every week during the summer, so it requires a little extra stocking up. Good thing these root veggies are grown to last...

Ideas for preparing and eating them: Kelly's awesome-looking parsnip soup is a good start, and, if you aren't a fan of Robert Burns enough to celebrate with bashed neeps, just about any root vegetable are good candidates for roasting with a little olive oil and salt and pepper.

Sadly, bees are also disappearing. Colony collapse disorder is something we've seen evidence of for a number of years now, with no clear cause in sight. With a nod to yesterday's Tweehive event on Twitter, here's a closer look at the fascinating world of bees.

"The goal of the Wild Image Project is to raise awareness of the fragile and complex beauty of our planet and the necessity of living harmoniously with nature and preserving it for future generations."

Carbon Sequestration

It All Started With a Vision

It all started with a vision. On May 25, 1961, Kennedy said: "I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth."

Click through to see what it's like to build one for yourself, and how the garden grows inside once you're done.

Even in one of the globe's most expensive cities, the classiest metro in the world remains one of the cheapest to ride. But with financing coming from the state, money has never been an object. (Indeed, some suspect the Kremlin of having built another, defense-oriented shadow metro underneath the regular metro.) The Metro continues to expand across Moscow like an octopus, and is the world's second most heavily used rapid-transit system after Tokyo's. Even the city's stray dogs have come to rely on it. Since its opening in 1935, the government has also lavished upon many Metro stations ornate, socialist realist designs, like the kind seen at Komsomolskaya, pictured.

January: Pomegranates (nar)

In Istanbul, the beginning of the year is often your last chance until the following fall to get fresh pomegranates and street vendors all over the city are happy to squeeze out a tangy cup of nar suyu (pomegranate juice) for just a few Turkish Liras. The fruit plays an especially important role in Southeastern Turkish cuisine, where both its seeds and a concentrated pomegranate sauce feature in salads and kebabs. The Turkish foodie behind the Cafe Fernando blog recommends preserving them as pomegranate jam to enjoy this bright taste of winter all year long.

Why eat them? Pomegranates are a good source of vitamins A, C, and E, as well as iron and antioxidants

1: Car Hoods Reborn as Artful Coffee Tables

There was a golden age when the expansive hood of the American automobile could double as a picnic table. Thankfully, engine compartments have conformed to smaller motors and superior aerodynamics, but why give up the pleasure of dining (or making out) on the hood of an American classic just because you drive a Honda Fit? Joel Hester, in his Dallas-based Weld House, is scrounging the scrap yards of Texas and turning grizzled steel into tables, beds, armoires, and more.

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Root veggies can be intimidating and a bit bland. But in Scandinavia quite a few organic chefs have taken up the government's efforts with climate-friendly foods as a crusade, and have tried to bring back roasted root veggies and root soups on daily menus. Here are the three big Scandinavian "white" root stars - rutabaga on the right, parsnip below, and celery root (makes a good salad if painstakingly cut into julienned strips) at upper left.

Click on each map detail to pop out a full-size version. For more on the underground, check out a slideshow of the world's 7 greatest subways.