Keeping Your Garden Alive When the Water Stops
This past weekend
Montgomery County was under mandatory water restrictions as the Washington
Suburban Sanitary Commission fixed a 96 inch water main. Unfortunately these restrictions included no
outdoor use of water - and they came during yet another one of our recent heat
waves.
Community and food gardens
are not exempt from these rules - not yet, anyway! - but as MVGer Phyllida noted
when asking about it, there is a big difference between letting your lawn go
brown and watching your food source wither and die.
WSSC is not completely
unsympathetic, and posted this list of suggestions for keeping your plants happy during water restrictions. They
are good suggestions, and point out just how much perfectly good water we pour
down the drain every day. They are of
more limited use, of course, the larger your garden grows, and if you happen to
work in a community garden it makes it especially difficult to transport water
from your home.
That being said, this
recent water emergency is a good warning to us all to develop back up plans for
the next time our water system goes down - plans which could include rain barrels
or even larger cisterns at community gardens for water storage. A word to the wise...
County Farm Tour Days -
Sat. and Sun., July 24 & 25
We encourage everyone to
celebrate Montgomery County's agriculture heritage - and future - by joining us for the 21st Annual Farm Tour & Harvest Sale, sponsored by the Montgomery County Department of Economic
Services, Agricultural Services Division.
A total of 14 farms in our
county will be participating on one or both of the days, including MVG partners
such as the Red Wiggler Community Farm.
As someone who just spent a morning at Red Wiggler, I can assure you
there is nothing more pleasurable than some time on the farm. Come see where your food comes from, and pick
some yourself (or buy it freshly picked)!
Spend a day or two in the country petting farm animals or having lunch
by a scenic pond. It's a wonderful educational experience and a great family
outing!
Different farms have
different attractions, of course, so check out the different opportunities
before you set out. But by all means
plan to spend some time on the farm
with your family and friends this coming July 24 & 25!
Click here for more information on the 2010 Annual Farm Tour & Harvest Sale, including a list
of participating farms with directions.
Harvesting, Curing and
Storing Garlic
When you harvested your
garlic over the past few weeks, did you get some rotting bulbs?
If so, fear not, you
probably didn't do anything wrong. The likely cause is the heavy and prolonged snow pack we experienced from January to March this year, which
created extremely moist soil conditions in early spring - too moist, it
appears, for many of the slowly growing garlic bulbs, which succumbed to
diseases such as Viserium. Or in lay
terms, rotting bulbs.
Even so, I still got plenty of great heads of garlic, and if you did too you may be wondering how to store them. Like a few other issues, some experts will
disagree on this one, but here is an excellent (and amusing) video from Roger Doiron of Kitchen Gardeners International on "Harvesting, Curing and Storing Garlic."
May you enjoy their
wonderful flavors (and aromas) for months to come!
Disappearing Zucchini Orzo
There is a saying in more
than one rural part of the U.S. that when summer comes you need to lock your
car doors at church - to keep your friends and neighbors from leaving their
extra summer squash on your front seat.
My own zucchini plants these
past few years tend to either get some sort of bacterial wilt and die, or they
stay healthy and produce bumper crops.
But don't be overwhelmed by
your zucchini harvest! It is a delicious
vegetable that can be prepared a number of ways, as well as frozen for later
use in zucchini break. (Click here for freezing instructions from the National Center for Home Food Preservation.) My
own favorite recipe is "Disappearing Zucchini Orzo." Taken from Barbara Kingsolver's wonderful
book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, which recounts her year of trying to grow her
own food, this recipe is both delicious and incredibly simple, and most
importantly it's amazing just how much zucchini you can add to a pound of orzo
- and your kids won't even know they're eating vegetables! (As you might guess, the parmesan cheese
helps a lot.)
Whip this one up soon if
you've got an overflow of zucchini in your garden - I guarantee you'll love it!
Farm to School Moving Through Congress
According to this update from the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, the $8 billion
Child
Nutrition Bill, which this year includes $50 million in mandatory
funding for
the Farm to School competitive grants program. has begun to move through
Congress.
The Farm to School program
is an incredibly important one to jump start the process of getting fresh,
local food into our schools. No doubt
that is the reason it has been attacked by friends of agribusiness. We are happy to report though that the Farm
to School is getting strong, vocal support during the hearings, including from
Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack.
Again, $50 million is just a start in changing our food system, but it's
a critical one. We'll keep you posted on
its progress.
And in a significant
victory for sustainable agriculture, the House Agriculture Appropriations
Subcommittee recently adopted the USDA-requested level of $30 million for the
Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program, a 50 percent
increase over current year funding. SARE
provides funding for numerous sustainable agriculture programs throughout the
country, including our own program earlier this spring with sustainable ag
author Steve McFadden. It's wonderful to
know Congress sees the importance of this work, and is providing extra funding.
Stephen Colbert on
Farmworkers, Tonight! - Thursday, July 8
Don't forget - on tonight's program, comedy superstar Stephen Colbert will air a segment on his new joint campaign with the 