In this update:

* Fall Veggie Starts Arrive at Behnke's, Other County Locations
* Inaugural Fermentation Festival in Takoma Park - Saturday, Sept 5th
* Support Red Wiggler's Fall Harvest Supper
* Here We Go Again - Salmonella Tainted Green Onions and Melons
* New World Record Cabbage!
 

Fall Veggie Starts Arrive at Behnke's, Other County Locations

No, it's not too late to put in a crop of fall vegetables - certainly not according to Behnke's Nurseries, which just started selling cool weather starts this past week!

Go to either their Beltsville or Potomac locations and you will find spinach, cabbage, broccoli, lettuce, kale, collards and other seedlings ready to transplant. New shipments have also just arrived at Johnson's  Florist and Garden Centers, with one in Olney (closer to Gaithersberg) and one in Kensington, and we've been informed they still have some starters left at Sharp Farm in Brookeville (10 minutes north of Olney just over the Howard County border).
 
If you haven't done so already, make the Labor Day weekend a time to pick up those veggies you've been meaning to, and start the fall crop!

 
Inaugural Fermentation Festival in Takoma Park - Saturday, September 5th

Did you ever wonder how sauerkraut was made? How about pickled beets, beer or goat's milk kefir? If so, come to find out at the Inaugural Backyard Fermentation Festival in Takoma Park this Saturday, September 5th!

The festival is from 3-5pm, rain or shine (but there will be lots of sunshine!) at 403 Elm Ave. in Takoma Park. There will be a full demonstration of traditional sauerkraut making, with likely sake and unpasteurized beer making demonstrations - with fermented items such as pickled beets, turnips, carrots, and beverages such as kombucha, goat's milk kefir, and coconut milk kefir available for sampling.

Initiated by local fermenting enthusiasts, this event will also be very much a product of those who attend it, and it is totally noncommercial. Recipe, method and resource list sharing is encouraged!

If you would like to join, please RSVP to TakomaFermFest@gmail.com (so they know how many to expect).

 
Support Red Wiggler's Fall Harvest Supper

We were going to use this space to encourage you to go to Red Wiggler Community Farm's annual Fall Harvest Supper on September 12, but something unprecedented has happened - all 200 spaces have already been taken!

You can get on the waiting list by emailing them at auction@redwiggler.org, and you can participate in the Harvest Supper online auction by clicking here.

As you may know, Red Wiggler Community Farm in Clarksburg is a true treasure in our county - a farm which runs a CSA, contributes produce to local food banks, provides Service Learning programs for youth and creates meaningful jobs for adults with developmental disabilities - all by growing and selling high quality vegetables, herbs and flowers using sustainable methods.

So please consider contributing to Red Wiggler through their auction, and put yourself on the Harvest Supper waiting list - and we promise we'll tell you earlier next fall!

 
Here We Go Again - Salmonella Tainted Green Onions and Melons

To quote Tom Alexander from The Growing Edge, "how many times does this have to happen before government and consumers realize industrial agriculture is the source of the problem and nowhere near the solution? Do we ever hear about salmonella tainted veggies from a local grower?"

The latest victims are green onions and melons, and while the produce in question did not make it to Maryland, it did have to be recalled from California, Massachusetts, Texas, Indiana, New York, Michigan, Ohio, Missouri, Kansas and Arizona. No one knows the cause for sure, but in the case of the green onions it may just have something to do with the overcrowded industrial pig farm next door....

Need any more reasons to grow your own food?

 

The Alaska State Fair has just produced a new world record cabbage of over 125 pounds - how's that for inspiring??

And the winning grower actually hails from Wasilla, home to a certain recent Vice-Presidential candidate. So let it never be said they can't produce good heads in Wasilla!
 


Have a great Labor Day Weekend!


Gordon Clark,
Project Director
Montgomery Victory Gardens