[We apologize for the late arrival of our weekly update, as we were preparing for this morning's tour of the Montgomery County Public Schools' Central Kitchen and Food Warehouse - more on that next week!]
Montgomery Victory Gardens Weekly Update - March 11, 2010
In this update:
* MVG Makes the Washington Post!* New Report on School Food in Montgomery County* Support MVG with an Easy Facebook Message* Recommended Vegetable Cultivars for Maryland Gardens* "Resolving the Food Fight" - March 23 in Takoma Park
* Salmonella in Our Industrial Food System - AgainMVG Makes the Washington Post!
You will recall from last
week's update our report on vegetable gardens at Montgomery County Public
Schools, specifically Superintendent Jerry Weast's February 26 memo banning
such gardens at MCPS schools due to their alleged dangers (including
"pests" and "food allergies.")
We are delighted to report
this week that Jane Black, food writer for the Washington Post, has begun to
follow this controversial policy, and wrote about it for the Post's online
edition this week. The story also includes Montgomery Victory Gardens' role in
bringing this policy to light, noting that Montgomery County schools are
discouraging (or banning) the very activity that First Lady Michelle Obama
would like to see at schools across the country.
Click here to read Ms. Black's article, "Rats! MoCo schools discouraging food gardens"
As noted previously, this is not the end of the story, and we are currently working with parents, teachers and food advocates on a campaign that would bring the same wonderful, beneficial vegetable gardens to MC schools that are found in schools across the country - just the way Michelle Obama wants. Stay tuned to this page for updates!
New Report on School Food in Montgomery County
Moving from school gardens to school lunches, we have learned this week that County Councilmember George Leventhal's office will be producing a comprehensive report on the issue of food in Montgomery County schools.
The real driver behind this upcoming report is Carrie Witkop, a member of the North Chevy Chase PTA and a long time crusader for better food in our county schools. While Carrie has focused on the nutritional content of school food (including the elimination of corn syrup and other artificial sweeteners), she has also advocated for more food education and more local food, measures which are also outlined in the Jane Lawton Farm to School Bill passed by the Maryland legislature in 2008.
Imagine Carrie's surprise when she discovered cans of pineapple produced in China, of all places, being served to our school children. (Humorously, the labels identified the company as operating since 1936 - so good to know some multi-national fruit packers survived the Communist Revolution!)
Carrie and her colleagues took this and other information to Councilmember Leventhal, who agreed on the spot to produce the report. Thank you, Councilmember Leventhal, and thank you Carrie, for you intrepid advocacy for better food in our schools!
Support MVG with an Easy Facebook Message
I am pleased to let you know that I have, along with Montgomery Victory Gardens, been nominated as a "Green Hero" for a new grant program jointly administered by the Jane Goodall Institute and Clorox, makers of Green Works natural cleaners. Two winners will be selected in each of three categories, with small grants awarded to forward their work.
Do you enjoy the weekly MVG update, and use the personal gardening tips we provide? Do you support the new Congregational Community Garden Network we have started to donate produce to local food pantries, or our emerging campaign to get vegetable gardens in Montgomery County Schools? Well here's an easy way to show it - simply click here for the MVG entry in the Green Heroes Grant Program (on Facebook), and write a simple message saying why you support our work. Be as enthusiastic as you like! Finalists will be chosen next week, and the more supporter messages we can get, the better our chances are.
Want an even more direct way to support the programs listed above? Click here to make a 100% tax-deductible contribution to Montgomery Victory Gardens.
Recommended Vegetable Cultivars for Maryland Gardens
Wondering what type of pole beans grow best in our state? Or perhaps what type of eggplant, broccoli or beets are most likely to succeed in your home garden?
Well wonder no more! Jon Traunfeld, Extension Specialist of the Home and Garden Information Center and Coordinator of the State's Master Gardener Program, has just revised the HGIC publication "Recommended Vegetable Cultivars for Maryland Home Gardens." Complete with definitions, a list of seed distributors and even recommended cultivars for container gardening, this fact filled publication will tell you all you need to know about which veggie varieties you want to plant.
Click here to read "Recommended Vegetable Cultivars for Maryland Gardens"
And if you still have questions, call the HGIC hotline at 800-342-2507! (Also keep on the lookout for their updated planting schedule, to be posted next week.)
"Resolving the Food Fight" - March 23 in Takoma Park
On Tuesday evening, March 23 the Young Activist Club of Piney Branch Elementary School is hosting a community forum to discuss school food issues, with a particular focus on the use of polystyrene lunch trays. The event will be held in the All-Purpose Room of Piney Branch Elementary, 7510 Maple Ave. in Takoma Park, from 7 - 8:30pm
The young activists are delighted to let you know that State Senator Jamie Raskin and County Councilmember Valerie Ervin have agreed to speak and address the YAC's proposal to replace the trays with a pilot dishwasher project at PBES. There might even be performance of their new hit song, "Goodnight Styrene!"
For more information on the Young Activist Club and their Pilot Dishwasher Project, visit their website here.
Salmonella in Our Industrial Food System - Again
Hundreds of processed food products are currently being recalled due to salmonella contamination. The culprit this time is a flavoring agent called hydrolyzed vegetable protein, produced by Basic Food Flavors and sold to institutional users and food processors across the country.
The FDA conducted an investigation at the company's Las Vegas facility only after a food producer that bought the flavoring notified federal agents that it had found salmonella in it. FDA inspectors are now saying that the company knew that its plant was contaminated, yet continued to sell the product anyway. (Salmonella can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children and the elderly, as well as causing fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain in otherwise healthy adults.)
FDA officials openly state that they have no way of knowing to whom suppliers sell their food products, what those products are and where they're sold, and that they don't have the personnel or the needed regulations to handle the millions of shipments made within the food industry every week.
How big is this problem? As just one indicator, a new report from the Produce Safety Project at Georgetown University found that foodborne illnesses effect almost 82 million Americans each year, and take a $152 billion annual toll on our economy.
What's the answer? While more food inspectors would help, the real problem is the industrial food system itself. Mass production and national distribution virtually guarantee that foodborne illnesses, when they occur, will be spread far and wide, while mass centralization and corporate control apparently guarantee that a certain number of unscrupulous business people will sell contaminated food to maximize profits - you can read about other examples in past updates - knowing there is a good chance they will get away with it. Indeed, the FDA does not even have the legal authority to shut down plants with repeated violations. In contrast, local farmers and food producers selling contaminated food don't stay in business very long, for the simple reason that people stop buying.
If you are concerned about the safety of your food (not to mention its nutritional value and taste, or the impact on the environment), there is one way you can't go wrong: buy your food local, buy it whole (not processed), and when you can, grow it yourself!
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 building our local food system,Gordon Clark,
Project Director
Montgomery Victory Gardens 
