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(with apologies for the delay in this week's update - we were having some technical difficulties yesterday...)
Montgomery Victory Gardens Weekly Update - Jan. 21, 2010
In this update:
* Local Garden Expert Cindy Brown at Brookside - Saturday, Feb. 6
* A Few Plots Left at Chaney-Briggs Community Garden
* Meet the New Director of our County Schools Food Services!
* Helping the People - and Farmers - of Haiti
* Why Big Ag Won't Feed the World - An essay from Slow Foods USA
* Obama Appoints Monsanto Man as FDA Food Safety Czar
Local Garden Expert Cindy Brown at Brookside Gardens - Saturday, Feb. 6
In addition to the upcoming Community Garden Network Day on February 4, Brookside Gardens in Wheaton is hosting a series of FREE gardening lectures in the month of February, all of them excellent.
The first will be on Saturday, February 6, when local gardening expert Cindy Brown will give a presentation on "How Does Your Garden Grow?" and answer questions from 10 - 11:30am. Cindy is an amazing speaker in the DC region specializing on vegetable gardens, published in Washington Gardener magazine among other places, and she will talk about planting schedules, varieties, and how to grow from seeds in the mid-Atlantic area.
Seating is first come first served, and it is a sell out every time, so plan to arrive early! Click here for directions to Brookside Gardens, and keep your eyes peeled on the MVG update for announcements of free lectures to follow.
A Few Plots Left at Chaney-Briggs Community Garden
The Montgomery County Department of Parks is doing a bang-up job of creating new community food gardens in the county's parks, and they are still a few plots left at their newest one, the Briggs Chaney Community Garden located at 2161 Briggs Chaney Road in Silver Spring.
The Briggs Chaney Community Garden includes plots that are 625 square feet each in size. Interested community gardeners can rent a plot at Briggs Chaney for a fee of $70 per plot, annually. Notification of plot assignments will be emailed after February 15. "One of the most pleasant surprises from starting up these community gardens has been watching the way the gardens bring neighbors together," said Department of Parks Community Gardens Coordinator Ursula Sabia Sukinik. "A lot of the neighbors at Sligo Mill told us that they had never met before gardening together there."
These remaining plots will go fast, so if you want one don't hesitate! You can register online for a plot here; for more information, contact Ursula Sabia Sukinik at 301-650-2635.
Meet the New Director of our County Schools Food Services!
I am delighted to have just met the new Acting Director of Montgomery County Public Schools' Division of Nutrition and Food Services, Ms. Suzanne Wood, at last week's "Future Harvest" conference of the Chesapeake Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture. (Former Director Kathy Lazor has been promoted.)
Ms. Wood's presentation during the "Farms to Schools" workshop was illuminating, and her presence at the event was inspiring. For the many challenges the Montgomery County Public School system has in bringing more local food to our kids, it's great to know there is someone in charge who conbsiders it a priority. Ms. Wood even offered Montgomery Victory Gardens the opportunity to tour the county school's central kitchen and warehouse - we'll keep you informed about this great "local food field trip" as it develops.
In the meantime, please join Montgomery Victory Gardens in welcoming Ms. Wood to her new position. We look forward to working with her to bring ever more delicious and sustainable local food into the county's schools!
Helping the People - and Farmers - of Haiti
We are sure that you have had many, many suggestions of how to provide aid to the people of Haiti in the aftermath of the massive earthquake last week, and the unparalleled humanitarian disaster that has followed. If you would like to donate to organizations that focus on food, both the immediate need and the reconstruction of the Haitian food system, we'd like to offer the following:
The Institute for Food and Development Policy, also known as Food First, is a "people's" think tank, one of the most established food policy shops in the country, with a mission of ending the injustices that cause hunger, poverty and environmental degradation throughout the world. Here is a short list of organizations that Food First is confident can address both urgent medical needs and prevent a deepening hunger crisis.
In addition, with thanks to our friends at the Organic Consumers Association, we also encourage you to donate through the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund, a California-based relief effort which focuses resources on helping Haiti's grassroots organizers, including those involved in sustainable agriculture projects, to survive the crisis and rebuild. HERF has contributed much-needed funds to peasant cooperatives in various parts of Haiti, along with irrigation pumps, funds for seeds and tools, and other resources necessary for local, sustainable agricultural development and a long-term solution to the ongoing food crisis in Haiti.
You can donate by going to the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund here.
Why Big Ag Won't Feed the World
The current and growing food crisis - which is painfully evident around the world, as well as right here at overwhelmed food pantries around the U.S. - is producing the usual answers from the advocates of industrial agriculture. More oil-intensive production, more genetically modified seeds, etc. Projections of population growth have only added to their drive to expand current practices.
The call for more industrial farming methods to "feed the world," though, is wrong for two fundamental reasons. First, recent studies by the Rodale Institute and others show that modern organic and sustainable methods can produce as much industrial agriculture on a large scale, while small-scale sustainable farming (and gardening) beats the pants off industrial ag in terms of production per acre, not to mention variety of crops.
Second is this basic fact: we already produce, globally, about twice as many calories as the current world population needs. Think about that the next time you hear an agribusiness ad about solving world hunger. It turns out that feeding the world is not a matter of more technology, it's a matter of social justice. It's a matter of what crops are grown (commodity grain crops vs. fruits and vegetables), who grows them (independent farmers or agribusiness) what they are used for (feeding people vs. feeding cars and cows), and how they are priced and distributed. Producing enough rice for the world is of little value if millions can't afford the price, as is currently the case. It is curious that the giant food corporations claiming they want to feed the world are getting fabulously wealthy even while millions starve.
These issues are nicely summarized in a short Atlantic essay by Josh Viertel, President of Slow Food USA. Click here to read "Big Ag Won't Feed the World."
Obama Appoints Monsanto Man as FDA Food Safety Czar
We have reported in this space before about some of the troubling food and agriculture appointments by President Obama. Well, it happened again.
Last week, the Obama Administration named Michael Taylor as deputy commissioner for foods in charge of food safety. He is, as the Washington Post notes, a "familiar figure at the FDA." He's familiar is his stint at the FDA in the 1990s (when they approved Monsanto's bovine growth hormone and a controversial policy that milk from BGH-treated cows did not have to be labeled), as well as his work for agribusiness giant Monsanto, most recently as their Vice President for Public Policy.
Is this the person we want in charge of food safety?
Food safety was a major, major issue at last week's Future Harvest conference, and most of the farmers I spoke with were somewhere between wary and deeply apprehensive about the new rules being developed in Congress right now, and written by and for large industrial growers. More than one conference attendee described the simultaneous movements toward more local, sustainable food and more government food safety regs as being two trains on a collision course.
On a directly related issue, scientists in Canada have found evidence of the transgene present in genetically modified Roundup Ready corn in various soil-dwelling animals, pointing to "serious implications for environmental health and human safety." Are you surprised? Incredibly enough, I also learned at the conference that agribusiness corporations have the right to prevent any research on their GM seeds as part of their "intellectual property rights." Still surprised?
Clearly, much vigilance and action - including growing a lot of local food - will be required. Stick with Montgomery Victory Gardens to stay abreast of these critical issues.
That's it for this week! 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 in nutritious, delicious, sustainably grown local food,Gordon Clark,
Project Director
Montgomery Victory Gardens
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