In this update:

* Agricultural Reserve Bike Tour, Saturday, October 3rd
* Harvest Festival, Saturday and Sunday, October 3rd & 4th
* 15 Ways to Eat More Local Food
* "FRESH" Premiere a Great Success - Plan a House Party of Your Own!
* Hope for Next Year's Tomato Crop


 
Agricultural Reserve Bike Tour, Saturday October 3rd

How often do any of us "down county" folk get up to the northern and western parts of Montgomery County, and specifically the Agricultural Reserve? Because let me tell you, it is downright g-o-r-g-e-o-u-s up there.

And what better way to see it than to ride  in the Montgomery Countryside Alliance's Agricultural Reserve Bike Tour on Saturday, October 3? (The tour begins in Poolesville, with staggered starts from 9:30 - 10:30am.)  With stops at local food destinations such as the Homestead Farm, Kingsbury's Orchard and Sugarloaf Mountain Vineyard, and the beautiful Agricultural Reserve for scenery, I can't think of a better way to spend a Saturday afternoon in the country - or to get to know the riches of the county we live in. 

That's why I'll be doing this bike ride - wanna  join? ?  For more details, click here.
 


Harvest Festival at the Agricultural History Farm Park, Saturday and Sunday, October 3rd & 4th

Situated along Rock Creek in Derwood (just a few miles north of Rockville), the Agricultural History Farm Park is a 410-acre complex with a farmhouse, barn, and assorted farm buildings, celebrating both past and present farming life and practices in Montgomery County. It is also home to the Montgomery County Master Gardener's Demo Garden.

The Harvest Festival, Saturday and Sunday October 3-4, from 11am - 4pm, is one of the Ag Farm's most popular events. In addition to tours of the extensive Demo Garden, and answers to all your growing questions from a certified Master Gardener, this is a real family event that features live music, a corn maze, tinsmithing demos, scarecrow making, antique farm equipment, live farm animals, and an assortment of activities and games including a potato scramble (no, I don't know what that is either, but doesn't it sound cool??).

Admission is $10 per car load, so pack the friends and kids in for a great day at our county's only Agricultural History Farm Park! Get more info here.


 
15 Ways to Eat More Local Food

Courtesy of The Daily Green, a quick, attractive slide show highlighting 15 ways you can eat more local food.

It includes many you probably do already, such as visiting our farmers markets, but also some other excellent  ideas you may not have thought of, such as freezing fresh food when it's in season, doubling your recipes when you cook, and having friends cook for you at local food pot lucks. (They also mention Food Independence Day; previously this has only been on July 4th, but I have an inside tip that there will be a Food Independence Day organized for Thanksgiving this year as well - stay tuned for updates!)

This is a good reminder of how to optimize your local food habits, and a great link to send to friends and colleagues just getting interested in local food and the new food revolution. Click here for 15 Ways to Eat More Local Food.


 
"FRESH" Premiere a Great Success - Plan a House Party or Screening of Your Own!

The area premiere of the independent food movie "FRESH," this past Sunday in Takoma Park, was a huge success. More than 100 people made it a standing room only evening, and the film got a great reception, with half the folks staying after to discuss how we can create a local food movement here in our area.

We have extra copies of "FRESH," and this is a movie that needs to be seen by as many people as possible. If you would like to host your own house party viewing, or a larger screening anywhere in the county, please get in touch with us at info@montgomeryvictorygardens.org - whatever the size, we'll help you create just as great an event as we had this past Sunday!

You can see trailers for this dazzling new independent food documentary here.


 
Hope for Next Year's Tomato Crop

Many of us on the East Coast got hit hard by late blight this year. (I, personally, lost every one of the 18 tomato plants I had so carefully tended - that hurt!) In addition to the heavy losses this year, there has been concern this might be a new or more virulent strain of the late blight that will "winter over" in the soil and attack tomatoes next year. 

Well, good news - a number of researches studying the problem are cautiously concluding that this does not appear to be happening, and that the strength (and early start) of the blight this year was the result of a "perfect storm" of conditions that allowed it to flourish and spread.

Read the full Baltimore Sun article here.



That's it! As always, don't forget to help Montgomery Victory Gardens grow - send us your feedback and suggestions! Let us know what's on your mind, and please send us any items, particularly about local food production, that MVG can promote. Email to info@montgomeryvictorygardens.org

Thanks!

Gordon Clark,
Project Director
Montgomery Victory Gardens