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"Since its inception in 2009, Montgomery Victory Gardens has become a critical thread connecting our county's farms and garden communities
with issues, events and up-to-date information to help re-localize our
food system -
creating a healthier community in so many ways."
~ Woody Woodroof, Founder and Executive Director, Red Wiggler Farm
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Greetings!
A few of us attended the Maryland Food Policy Summit in Annapolis yesterday, and we're delighted to report there is a wide array of efforts underway in our state to provide access to more local, organic and sustainably grown food. We're also happy to report that the particular issues of Montgomery County were raised at the summit, and we secured several pledges of help for our battle to lift the school garden ban, as well as one to organize a local food summit for medical establishments (hospitals, health care centers and nursing homes) in our county in 2011.  As Montgomery Victory Gardens celebrates its first anniversary, this is the type of hands-on organizing that is connecting schools, congregations, gardeners, local food advocates, farmers and elected officials, keeping our name and issues in the media while building a healthier community. To successfully create social change, community organizations like ours must be sustainable over the long-term. As we celebrate this first anniversary, we ask all of you to join us in building our local food future. Please make a gift to Montgomery Victory Gardens today. Help ensure that our work will be sustainable...so that we may continue building a healthy community for us all. The Staff, Board and Volunteers of
Montgomery Victory GardensThank you to our readers who have already contributed!
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Montgomery Victory Gardens Weekly Update - September 23, 2010
In this update:
* Last Opportunity for a Better School Lunch? - Call Today
* Voter for Your Favorite Maryland Farm to School Video
* Agricultural History Farm Park Harvest Festival - Saturday, October 2
* Time To Start Thinking About Garlic
* Stephen Colbert in the Fields
* New York City School Garden Initiative [video] |
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Last Opportunity for a Better School Lunch? - Call
Today
The Child Nutrition Act, which would fund farm to
school programs, is in trouble. This is
from our friends at the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition:
"Time is running out for Congress to re-authorize
the Child Nutrition Act by September 30.
The House, unable to come to agreement on how to pay for their bill  is
now considering passing the version passed by the Senate in August, and they
could do so as early as today, Thursday September 23.
The Senate bill provides less support to the Farm to
School Program, and unfortunately uses cuts in food stamps to pay for the
improvements to school meal programs (such as increased reimbursements for
school lunches, and expanded eligibility), but this is likely our last and best
opportunity to win mandatory federal funding for the Farm to School program
this year. "
Not all organizations agree that this is the best bill
we can get, particularly because of the cuts to food stamps, but many of the
larger food groups are urging action on this.
It's simple - call your Representative's office through
the Congressional switchboard at 202-224-3121, ask to speak to the aid in
charge of child nutrition, and give them this message: "I am a constituent of Representative
___________ and I am calling to ask him/her to vote yes to reauthorize the
Child Nutrition Act that includes a strong Farm to School program. Please tell him/her that mandatory funding
for Farm to School programs is a wise investment in our children and our local
and regional farm economy."
Thanks for making this important call today. For the complete action alert and background, click here.
Vote for Your Favorite Maryland Farm to School Video!
Here's a happier farm to school story right here in
Maryland.
As part of the Jane Lawton Farm to School Program, established to bring more locally grown food
to Maryland schools and educate students on the important of local agriculture,
the Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA) organized a video contest asking
students to answer the question, "What does 'local food' mean to you?" And now you get to vote for
your favorite!
Click here to view the videos and vote!
Fifteen videos
were submitted for the inaugural contest, and the range of ideas and  creativity
on display is impressive. "Our goal is
to engage students about the origins of their food in a way that is both
meaningful and fun," said MD Agriculture Secretary Buddy Hance. "This contest
aims to educate students about where their food comes from and all of the
benefits of buying local. It's important to teach students that food does not
come from a grocery store - it comes from a farmer."
The Grand Prize winner(s) will receive an Apple iPod
Touch, a Maryland State Park Pass, and a school lunchtime visit from MDA Secretary
Buddy Hance, with Popular Prize winners selected as well.
The demand for locally-grown food is growing in our
state, and the farm to school program is an important way to build on that growth. But don't wait - the deadline for voting is
Monday, October 10! Click here to view the videos and pick your favorite today!
Agricultural History Farm Park Harvest Festival -
Saturday, Oct. 2
Come on out to Montgomery County's one and only
Agricultural History Farm Park for some down-home fun on the farm on Saturday,
October 2! The Ag History Farm Park, a
critical link to our county's agricultural past and also our future, will come
alive  at Harvest Festival: old-time crafts, activities, music and food will be
on-hand and plentiful all day long!
Here's just a taste of what you will find in this
family-friendly event: tinsmithing, pumpkin
painting, chestnut roasting, scarecrow making, antique farm equipment, an archaeological
dig, gardening talks and demos at the Master Gardeners Demonstration Garden, live
farm animals, games and food, live music, a potato scramble and much more!
Sound great? You
bet! So come on out from 11am to 6pm on
Saturday, October 2 to the Ag History Farm Park in Derwood (outside of
Gaithersburg). Admission is $10 per
car. Click here for more information, or
call 301-924-4141; on event day, please
call 301-721-0312.
Time to Start Thinking About Garlic
We are huge fans of growing this delightful member of
the onion family. The last thing to
plant in your garden each year, it is part vegetable, part herb, part medicine,
and used to flavor a thousand different dishes.
As the culinary proverb goes "Anything not benefiting from the
addition of chocolate will probably benefit from the addition of garlic."
 While you shouldn't start planting them until next
month, you might want to think ahead about where you'll get your bulbs from. Any garlic head you buy in a store should
sprout, but if you want to plant high quality or certified organic garlic you
might consider ordering it. This is
particularly the case this year because our large local purveyor of organic
seed garlic, Red Wiggler Community Farm, was hit hard by bulb rot from our very
wet winter/early spring (think snow pack), and won't have any for sale.
Johnny's Seeds is always a good source (and let's lay the
rumor to rest - they are NOT owned by Monsanto, they are an independent,
employee owned company), and another good one, also used by Red Wiggler, is
Peaceful Valley Farm.
Whichever way you go, it's time to start thinking about
garlic in the garden!
Stephen Colbert in the Fields
You may recall on Thursday, July 8, when comedy
superstar Stephen Colbert aired a segment on his new joint campaign with the
United Farmworkers Union entitled "Take Our Jobs." This campaign takes a critical and highly
unusual look at both our immigration and food systems, and is the perfect
antidote for those who like to  complain
about immigrants taking American jobs. Because
as the campaign points out, what American doesn't want a back-breaking, hot,
dangerous job with no health benefits, paid vacation, or even a living wage?
Since widespread exploitation of undocumented workers
underlies our our current industrial food system - three quarters of all U.S. farm
workers were born outside the country - no reform of our food system is likely
without real immigration reform as well.
To make this point, the "Take Our Jobs"
campaign has challenged Americans to work a day in the fields as an immigrant
worker would - and Stephen Colbert accepted!
The segment of Stephen Colbert working in the fields
airs tonight, Thursday, September 23 at 11:30 on Comedy Central. Call your friends, and get together for what
should be a hilarious and thought-provoking
show! (And just in case you miss
it, you can always watch it the next day on The Colbert Report website.)
New York City School Garden Initiative [video]
Did you know that sixth graders who participate in food
gardening programs eat 2.5 times more servings of fresh fruit and vegetables a
day - more than double what they normally eat?
And that in one gardening/cooking program, 95% of the students involved
say they know enjoy cooking more at home?
This statistics are just a couple of the reasons
that NYC initiated its school garden program this past spring. And now, just a few months
later, they are reaping the benefits.
 Check out in this great video promoting the NYC School Garden program. (The resolution is poor,
but the content rocks - thanks to MVGer Ursula for forwarding it!) It's so refreshing to hear elected officials (such
as NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, at right tending the garden with school kids) and school officials (including the NYC
Chancellor of Schools) speak such plain common sense about the importance of school
gardens, and then do something about
it. Dr. Weast and the MC Board of
Education - are you hearing this??
# # #
That's all for this week! Don't forget to keep sending us those ideas for local food stories. events and issues to cover!
For the Montgomery Victory Gardens team,
Gordon Clark, Project Director
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