In this update:

* Time to Start Ordering Your Seeds!
* 5th Annual Washington Gardener Seed Exchange - Saturday. Jan. 30
* Community Gardens Networking Day -Thursday, Feb. 4
* Germantown Happenings: New Community Garden Meeting - Jan. 19,  Plus  Screening of FRESH - Jan. 16
* What's Hot in Restaurants in 2010? Local, local and more local food!

Time to Start Ordering Your Seeds!

There really is no "off-season" when you're growing food: if you're not preparing the earth, planting, weeding, harvesting or winterizing your garden, than you need to be planning. That's what winter is for, and we encourage you all to start thinking about and ordering your seeds for the coming year.

With thanks to Jon Traunfeld, Director of the Home and Garden Information Center and Maryland's State Master Gardener Coordinator, here is a list of reliable East Coast seed companies

Landreth Seed Co.

Johnny's Selected Seeds

Southern Exposure Seed Exchange

Meyer Seed-

FEDCO

Pinetree Garden Seeds

The three most local of these are Meyer (Baltimore), Southern Exposure (Virginia), and Landreth (Pennsylvania), but all seed companies have their virtures and drawbacks. Check out this excellent blog posting on "What to look for in a seed catalog" by our own Erica Smith, Coordinator Emeritus of the Montgomery County Mater Gardener's "Grow It Eat It" program and MVG Advisory Board member.

Word to the wise - we've heard that seed harvests were somewhat short last year, due to the same weather problems that gave us minor agricultural disasters such as late blight (my tomatoes!), so order your seeds sooner rather than later - or you might not be able to get what you want.

Of course, ordering from catalogs or online isn't the only way to get seeds. Exchanges are another great way to build your garden, by using the perfectly viable leftovers from last season. So why not go to one of the best seed exchanges  in the region...

Washington Gardener Seed Exchange - Saturday. Jan. 30

The Fifth Annual Washington Gardener Seed Exchange, hosted by Washington Gardener Magazine will take place at Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, MD. (Get used to that location, a lot of great events are happening there in the coming two months!) Taking place from 12:30 to 4:00pm on Saturday, January, 30, (which just happens to be National Seed Swap Day!), the seed exchange includes not only swapping of all kinds of seeds (herbs, edibles, annuals, perennials and woodies) and the equally important exchange of planting tips, but also door prizes, expert speakers, and goody bags full of gardening treats. Who would not love such a goody bag?

Subscribers to Washington Gardener Magazine receive a $5 discount off the $15 admission to the Washington Gardener Seed Exchange. The event is limited to 125 attendees and usually sells out.  Click her for more information and to register.

And don't forget, even if you are a beginning gardener, it's tremendously easy to get together with a few friends to hold a neighborhood seed swap. More on that in updates to come...

 

Community Gardens Networking Day, Thursday, Feb. 4

Community gardens are springing up all over the Washington D.C. Metropolitan area.  In Montgomery  County the Parks Depatment opened a new community garden at Sligo Mill Overlook last year, and is currently considering six additional locations.

These gardens are all run differently, and the opportunity to learn from each other is immense. For this purpose, the Montgomery County Parks Department is hosting a Community Gardens Networking Day, Thursday, February 4, 2010 from 9:00 am - 3:00 pm at Brookside Gardens, 1800 Glenallan Avenue in Wheaton, Maryland.  With coffee, networking and on-site check-in beginning at 9:00 am, the day's general sessions will run from 10:00 am through 3:00 pm and include a opening speaker Livia Marques, Director of the People's Garden Initiative, sessions to share information and resources, lunch and a host of information and display tables for a number of local gardening organizations... including Montgomery Victory Gardens!

The cost of this event is $25, which includeslunch and a take home flash drive with information from the various community gardens and organizations represented.

Please join us for this great day or community garden learning networking! You can register online here. Or for more information, contact Community Gardens Coordinator Ursula Sabia Sukinik at 301-650-2635. We look forward to seeing you there!

Germantown Happenings: New Community Garden Meeting - Jan. 19,  Plus Screening of FRESH - Jan. 16

Food gardening fever is happening in the northern reaches of our county as well, with these two important events in the coming week.

On Tuesday, January 19, there will be a discussion of the proposed Community Garden at South Germantown Recreational Park. The meeting will be held from 7:30-8:30pm at the Germantown Indoor Swim Center, 18000 Central Park Circle in Boyds, MD 20841. Montgomery County Parks is seeking input form the community on establishing this garden; please join them for this short presentation and a question and answer session next Tuesday. Questions? Email Ursula.SabiaSukinik@montgomeryparks.org  or call the Department of Parks Community Gardens Information Line at 301-650-2635

Also, on Saturday, January 16, at 7pm MVG member Heather Felsen will be hosting a home screening of the dazzling independent food movie, FRESH, which bestselling food authore Michael Pollan calls "a bracing, even exhilarating look at the whole range of efforts underway to renovate the way we grow food and feed ourselves."  This is a fantasticly uplifting and can'do movie about the new food revolution that has thrilled audiences every time we've shown it - here's your chance to see it upcounty!

For more information and to RSVP, contact Heather at hfelsen3@hotmail.com

 

What's Hot in Restaurants in 2010? Local, local and more local food!

One great way to know what people are thinking about food is to know what's hot in restaurants. And the recently released National Restaurant Associate survey of professional chefs leaves no doubt what that is.

In their "Top 20 Trends" for 2010, the top five are, in order

1 Locally grown produce
2 Locally sourced meats and seafood
3 Sustainability
4 Bite-size/mini desserts  [okay, it is dessert!]
5 Locally-produced wine and beer

Is that great or what?! (You can read the entire survey here. Thanks to alert MVGer Emily for passing this on!))

We heartily encourage you to patronage restaurants in Montgomery County that support local farms and farmers, as well as to ask for local foods to be served in your favorite restaurants. We told you last year about Ricciuti's in Olney - we hope you'll find your way there soon, if you haven't already - and please let us know whenever you find other Montgomery County restaurants specializing in local food. These are folks we must support in 2010 to build our local food economy and community!

So that's it for our first installment of 2010  - a lot going on already, huh?! As always, 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 for a bountiful, local 2010,

Gordon Clark,
Project Director
Montgomery Victory Gardens