Those of you who live in major metropolitan areas may not know what it’s like to grow a tomato from a seed, or pick fresh basil to put in your soups. Heck, you may not even bother to make your own soups, preferring to nuke a can of Progresso (sans can, naturally).

There’s nothing wrong with that, of course, I stock several cans of soup in my pantry (I like the Italian Wedding Soup best), but I have been known to whip up a batch of some mean Southwestern Kickin’ Chicken Soup when the mood strikes, and there’s nothing better than to pick my own fresh peppers to put in it. I can’t prove it, but I’d swear my soups taste better with fresh ingredients.

You city slickers may lament that you have no sizable plot on which to plant; you live in a concrete jungle where there is precious little fresh greenery, and none of it’s edible. The locavores among you satisfy your need for ultra fresh veggies by shopping at area farmer’s markets that feature produce produced locally and, more often, organically. Yet there are others who have an innate desire to watch stuff grow, to clean rich black dirt from under their fingernails, and to taste foods so fresh that it was still on the vine only seconds ago.

Where there’s a will there’s a way, my grandma use to say, and one way to grow your own in the heart of of the city is to establish an urban garden. If you have space enough for a small box full of dirt then you too can resurrect your dormant green thumb and soon be enjoying the fruits (or veggies, as the case may be) of your labor.

Recent news reports of tainted foreign grown foods and skyrocketing market prices have awakened new interest in vegetable gardening, even for people who don’t have space for a traditional garden. Lucky for us plants care little for tradition, give them water, fertilizer, and sunshine and they will grow just about anywhere.

Nowadays you’re likely to find tomatoes on Toronto rooftops, parsnip in pots in downtown Pittsburgh, and melons in an empty lot in heart of Memphis.

Do I have an urban garden?

Nope. I get my veggies from a framer’s market, but you might have a little pot or lot that you tend and water with care, and if so then you might be interested City Farmer TV, a podcast available at the iTunes Store.

Mean Greens. City Farmer TV

City Farmer TV has been around for awhile and focuses its videos on the urban agricultural scene in Vancouver, but some of the tips and ideas transplant nicely regardless of your locale. There’s an associated Web site with more news and tips as well.

So, if you like getting your hands dirty, or just like to watch others get dirty, check out City Farmer TV. Your green acres awaits.

With the latest installment of the Indiana Jones franchise hitting the theaters this weekend I thought it might be nice to find a podcast that actually takes you to some of the places Dr. Jones might go digging about. What I came up with is a podcast called Ancient Places TV.

Don’t expect to find any crystal skulls, religious arks, or goose-stepping bad guys with machine guns and poor aim. What you will find is high definition videos of some of the most intriguing ancient wonders of the world.

The Pont du Gard (remnants of the Roman aqueduct system over the river Gard in southern France), Stonehenge, El Djem in Tunisia and a few more are available. Actually, there are only 6 episodes so far, but new ones are suppose to be released every Thursday and from what I’ve seen they are worth the wait.

The cinematography is breathtaking, and because it’s Hi-Def, the scenes are so real it makes you want to don a fedora and breakout your whip. Or whatever.

Ancient Places TV is definitely one for you Apple TV owners, but iPodders will still enjoy the view. Give it a whirl.

And now, something completely different: ThunderAnt.

Eh?

Very odd, very funny. ThunderAnt

Yeah, I know, that’s what I said when I saw the link in iTunes. There are only 2 episodes, but they are both so funny that I just had to tell you about it.

The tagline for ThunderAnt says it’s a "...celebration of cluelessness."

I believe that, but it’s cluelessness with a purpose. What purpose? I haven’t a clue.

Fred Armisen is from Saturday Night Live and Carrie Brownstein is a musician that hales from the shadow of Big Redmond. Together they’ve come up with some offbeat material that may not fly on SNL, but works in podcasts.

I’m hoping for more episodes and you will too after watching what’s available. Funny stuff.

OK, that a wrap for this week. Stop by next week for more Free on iTunes.

More freebies at the iTunes Store (with direct links):

Vern Seward is a writer who currently lives in Orlando, FL. He’s been a Mac fan since Atari Computers folded, but has worked with computers of nearly every type for 20 years.