In this update:

* Teleconference on Congregational Community Gardens - Tuesday, March 2
* Do Walmart's Veggies Beat Whole Foods'?
* Future Harvest Listening Session - Monday, Feb. 22
* Reminder - Three Great Programs this Weekend
* Michelle Obama Takes on Childhood Obesity
* Johnny's Seeds and Monsanto - You're Okay
* Check out the NEW MVG Bumpersticker!



Teleconference on Congregational Community Gardens - Tuesday, March 2

Montgomery Victory Gardens, in collaboration with the County Office of Community Partnerships and the Master Gardeners of Montgomery County, will host a teleconference briefing for those interested in starting a community garden at their house of worship. The teleconference will be on Tuesday evening, March 2, from 8-9pm.

Food gardening is especially relevant in faith-based communities, where it addresses many of the ministries that faith-based communities most actively pursue, including education, ecology, and social justice. (Which is all the more critical in these challenging economic times.)

The teleconference will feature short presentations by leaders of the Master Gardeners' "Grow It Eat It" program and coordinators of several current faith-based community gardens in Montgomery County. There will be ample time for questions, as well as expert support provided post conference.

For more information and to RSVP, please contact Gordon Clark at gordon@montgomeryvictorygardens.org , or at 301-801-3406. Please also contact us if you are already growing a community garden at your house of worship - we'd love to hear about it!



Do Walmart's Veggies Beat Whole Foods'?

Corby Kummer, Senior Editor at the Atlantic went on a mission: to check out the fresh produce now available at Walmart, and to see how it compared to a high end supermarket like Whole Foods. He was surprised by what he found.

Walmart has made a commitment to stock fresh and organic produce in all their stores, one which many observers, even critical ones, believe the company is taking seriously. And while much of it is shipped in from long distances, the words "sustainable" and "local" are also beginning to creep into Walmart's vocabulary, and practices. Putting aside the company's other vices, it is certifiably true that Walmarts carry a large range of affordable fresh fruits and vegetables, and serve many "food deserts" in large cities and rural areas. And the produce, as Kummer found out, is often as fresh and tasty as Whole Foods'.

Kummer concludes in his article, "I'm not sure I'm convinced that the world's largest retailer is set on rebuilding local economies it had a hand in destroying, if not literally, then in effect. But I'm convinced that if it wants to, a ruthlessly well-run mechanism can bring fruits and vegetables back to land where they once flourished, and deliver them to the people who need them most." Or as an activist interviewed for the piece said, "It's getting harder and harder to hate Walmart."

To read "The Great Grocery Store Smackdown," click here.



Future Harvest/Chesapeake Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture Listening Session - Monday, Feb. 22

Future Harvest/Chesapeake Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture (CASA), was founded 15 years ago to promote profitable, environmentally sound and socially acceptable food and farming systems that work to sustain communities. It is a network of farmers, agricultural professionals, landowners, consumers and local food advocates who live and work in the Chesapeake region.  

Interest in the mission of Future Harvest/CASA has exploded recently, and the purpose of this listening session in Bethesda (one of a series being held around the region) is to help determine the direction for Future Harvest/CASA for the next 3-5 years. It is open to those who participate in the local food economy, who help preserve farmland and open space, who advocate for sustainable food and agriculture and whose concerns range from educating consumers to school lunches and school gardens. In other words, you!

The listening session will be held at the offices of Bethesda Green, on Monday, Feb. 22 from 7 pm to 8:30 pm (For directions, click here.)RSVP is requested, either by calling 410-549-7878, or emailing futureharvestcasa@gmail.com.

For a list of questions to consider before the session, go the CASA website here.



Three Great Programs This Weekend

If you haven't figured out what you're doing this weekend, don't forget about these three great local food/gardening events:

"Common Pests and Controls for the Vegetable Gardener," Saturday Feb. 20 - Mike Raupp from the University of Maryland will give a talk focusing on identification and organic controls of common pests in the vegetable garden. To be held at Brookside Gardens in Wheaton from 10-11:30am. For directions and more information, click here.

Rooting DC Urban Agriculture Conference, Saturday, Feb. 20 - Held at the Historical Society of Washington, and FREE to the public, this day long program includes interactive workshops (including some in Spanish), cooking and preserving demonstrations, a film about DC community gardens, and panel discussions featuring leaders of the local food justice and urban agriculture movement.

For more information and to register, click here. (If any of our readers are going, please let us know, we'd love to share any information resulting from this conference.)

Sacred Gardening Workshop, Sunday, Feb. 21 - Led by professional gardener, author and speaker Mare Cromwell, the workshop teaches Native American practices and worldviews that will encourage deeper gardening practices honoring natures energies, garden health and planetary healing.

The workshop will be held at 4541 Windsor Lane in Bethesda, with a fee on a sliding scale. For more information and to register for this powerful event, contact MC Master Gardener Marney Bruce at 301 652-0492

[Note - there is also a fourth great event this weekend, the Master Gardeners' "Ready, Set Grow!" program on Saturday, but it's sold out. We'll let you know if they decide to do another!]



Michelle Obama Takes on Childhood Obesity

As Washington Post food writer Jane Black observes, first ladies' initiatives are rarely controversial, and Michelle Obama's recently announced campaign, "Let's Move," is no different.

But equally rarely are the initiatives of such profound importance. We currently spend $150 billion a year  - about 10% of total health care costs - dealing with obesity, and that's projected to go up to $300 billion in 10 years. One out of three American children will develop diabetes - one out of two in minority communities. 

As First Lady Obama noted during a press conference, "Our kids didn't do this to themselves. Our kids don't decide what's served to them at school or whether there's time for gym class or recess. Our kids don't choose to make food products with tons of sugar and sodium in super-sized portions, and then have those products marketed to them everywhere they turn.... We're in charge. We make these decisions."

"Let's Move" has a number of significant priorities, including the elimination of "food deserts" (underserved areas without access to supermarkets or fresh food), and expanding the amount of school children receiving fresh and local food. These goals will play out in the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act this spring - we'll follow its progress in this space. Ms. Obama also unveiled the USDA Food Environment Atlas, a tremendous resource for tracking the food environment and health issues at the county level.

We applaud this critically important effort. To read "Michelle Obama on Obesity: Time for a wake-up call," click here.


Johnny's Seeds and Monsanto - You're Okay

Several of you have asked about the connection between Johnny's Seeds, which we have listed here as a good source of seeds, and Monsanto. Here is a quick response from MVG Advisory Board member and Coordinator Emeritus of the Master Gardeners' "Grow It Eat It" program, Erica Smith:

"Johnny's is not owned by Monsanto; they buy a few of their seeds from a company that is owned by Monsanto, but say they'll try to replace those varieties.  (Read here and here for more information.) Johnny's has prominently displayed the Safe Seed Pledge in their catalog for quite a while now.  I definitely consider them one of the good guys."

If you are concerned about Monsanto's current penchant for buying up seed companies, though, you have every reason for that concern. Check out this update on Monsanto's actions, with thanks again to Tom Alexander of The Growing Edge.



Check Our The NEW MVG Bumpersticker!

We are delighted to present the new Montgomery Victory Garden bumper sticker:

Pretty cool, huh?!

While these will be available for $1 wherever MVG tables this spring and fall, we will mail one free of charge to anyone who contributes $20 or more to Montgomery Victory Gardens. So please help MVG move the agenda of fresh local foods and food gardening in our schools and communities, and be the first on your block with what will soon be the hippest bumpersticker in the county! Click here to make your 100% tax-deductible contribution and get your free bumpersticker today!

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