In this update:

* "Getting Good Food to Our Tables" - Nov. 11 in Bethesda
* It's a Great Time to Start Composting!
* Food Gardens at Montgomery County Schools?
* The New York Times on Siddiqui
* Yet One More Reason to Eat Local - The Blueberry Children



"Getting Good Food to Our Tables" - Nov. 11 in Bethesda

Here's a great looking event from our friends at Bethesda Green.

"Getting Good Food to Our Tables," held from 7-9pm on Wednesday November 11 at the Bethesda Green Offices in downtown Bethesda (4825 Cordell Ave., Suite 200 - corner of Woodmont and Cordell), will be a presentation and discussion addressing many of our local food concerns.

The evening will feature three local experts: Woody Woodroof of Red Wiggler Farm, Tony Cohen of Button Farm, and Master Gardener and Master Composter (yes, there is such a thing!) Marney Bruce from Grow It, Eat It.  (Red Wiggler and Grow It, Eat It are both partners with Montgomery Victory Gardens.)

Check out "Getting Good Food to Our Tables" this coming Wednesday in Bethesda. For more information and to RSVP (requested), click here.

 

It's a Great Time to Start Composting!

Speaking of composting, as your leaves pile up this fall, why not use them to start that compost pile you've always been meaning to?

Composting is cheap and easy as can be - letting organic material decompose is about as effortless as it gets - and the rich, black earth you get as an end product is every gardener's dream. It helps to have some type of container (particularly in urban and suburban neighborhoods), but beyond that it's just a matter of dumping in roughly equal parts of green plant material (grass clippings, weeds, kitchen waste - just no meat products!) and dry plant material (autumn leaves, sawdust, straw, shredded newspaper, paper bags), keeping it evenly moist, and letting the bacteria do their job!

So here's an easy fall gardening project that will yield great results in the spring. Get going on your compost pile!

For additional information on composting Marney Bruce recommends Compost Guide.

Click here to get a free composting bin from Montgomery County.


 
Food Gardens at Montgomery County Schools?

As many of you know, the Montgomery County School system does not have the most enlightened policy on growing "edibles" (i.e. - food) on school property. In a nation where many schools are rushing to set up organic gardens, MCPS (Montgomery County Public Schools) has up until now forbid such gardens, for reasons that range from the reasonable (who will take care of them in the summer?) to the inane (we're not allowed to spray pesticides on school property, so how can we grow food there?).

Well, as a result of many devoted individuals hammering away on this, we are beginning to see some movement. MCPS is revisiting its policy, and offering, we are told, some compromise. MC Councilmember Valerie Ervin, who has been championing community gardens, will be reviewing these new proposals at a public work session of the Education and Planning, Housing and Economic Development Committees sometime in the next four weeks. (Before recess on December 8.)

You can monitor when this session will be scheduled by checking the Committee Agenda page of the  County Council website, and for those of you who care about this issue we recommend showing up if you can. We have inside word that the MCPS compromise might be a pretty weak one, and if so we'll need a public effort to strengthen it.  More on this hot issue to come!


 
The New York Times on Siddiqui

We reported in this space last week on President Obama's nomination for U.S. Chief Agriculture Negotiator, Islam Siddiqui, who is a Vice-President of Croplife America, an association of chemical pesticide and biotechnology interests  including Monsanto, DuPont and Syngenta. (Ironically, it was an arm of CropLife America that attacked First Lady Michelle Obama for growing an organic garden on the White House grounds. Talk about audacity!)

The New York Times has chimed in this week with editorial on the nomination, noting that Mr. Siddiqui's job "doesn't seem to square with the Obama administration's professed interest in more sustainable, less chemically dependent approaches to agriculture."

To read the full NY Times editorial, click here.

In a related commentary, click here to read "The Obama Administration and Food, One Year Later" by Civil Eats Managing Editor Paula Crossfield.
 


Yet One More Reason to Eat Local - The Blueberry Children

Last week ABC News aired a documentary showing children as young as five years old working in blueberry farms that supply WalMart and other large U.S. grocery store chains. Apparently child labor is a not uncommon practice in U.S. agriculture, where labor laws are loosely enforced, at best.

To watch "The Blueberry Children," click here.

[A tip of our hat to "The Growing Edge" for covering this and many other important food stories forwarded to Montgomery Victory Gardens supporters.]



That's it for this week, friends! Don't forget to send us your feedback, as well as ideas for stories or local food events we can promote, by emailing us at info@montgomeryvictorygardens.org.

Yours in delicious, sustainably grown local food,

Gordon Clark,
Project Director
Montgomery Victory Gardens