"Working With Young People in the Garden" - Saturday, Feb. 12

The local food movement is growing in Montgomery County, with the Parks Department building several new community gardens a year and the Montgomery County Public School system about to release new guidelines for school vegetable gardens. 

What a perfect time for MVG's upcoming program, "Building Intergenerational Community: Working with Young People in the Garden" on Saturday, February 12.  Any successful local food movement must involve young people, and we are delighted to offer a lineup of highly experienced, fascinating speakers to discuss working with young people of differing ages and abilities in a variety of food growing formats.

Speakers include Woody Woodroof, Executive Director and Founder of Red Wiggler Community Farm; Pertula George, Executive Director of Common Good City Farm; and Chrissa Carlson, Director of the Food for Life program at Hampstead Hill Academy and author of the Growing Healthy Habits food gardening and education curriculum.  We'll also have a panel of local experts, including members of MVG's Congregational Community Garden Network.

The program will be held from 12 Noon to 4pm at beautiful Brookside Gardens in Wheaton; cost is $15, or $10 for seniors, students, and limited income.  Click here for more information, speaker bios, and directions.  (Please note - these will be speaker presentations; there will be no specific programming for young children at the event.)

This is gonna be a fantastic workshop, MVG's first not-to-be-missed event of the year - come join us!

MCPS Superintendent Search - Tell 'Em What's Important to You

Issues such as whether or not vegetable gardens are allowed in Montgomery County Schools (our campaign for the past year), or whether fresh, local food is served for lunch are critically important not only to the health and well-being of the school system's 140,000+ students, but to the well-being and future of our whole community.

That's why it's so important that as our public school system searches for a new Superintendent to replace Dr. Jerry Weast, they look for someone who is not only open to but actively enthusiastic about the good food movement in schools.  We've had our differences with Dr. Weast, (he even identified Montgomery Victory Gardens by name in one of his memos as a group that was "spreading rumors" about the ban on vegetable gardens!), and it sure would be nice to  see a new Superintendent who actively supports good food initiatives in our schools.

We know that some of you were at the public forums this past week to express your support for such "good food" criteria for any new Superintendent.  Thank you!  Now here are two other ways you can do it:  go directly to the MCPS site and fill out their very simple survey.  (Note:  TODAY,  2/4, is the last day to do this - sorry again about the dealy - so do it right now; it'll take you less than five minutes!)  

Also, the president of the firm running the search, Hank Gmitro of Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates, was kind enough to hand out his email address at the recent forums to gather additional comments.  You can email him directly with your input at hgmitro [at] hyasearch.com

Either way, make sure to tell 'em we need a new Superintendent who truly values the learning provided by school gardens, and who will work to bring more fresh local food into our schools!

U.S. Late to the Party on School Lunch Makeovers

And speaking of school food... as this recent post from NPR noted, "While First Lady Michelle Obama and lawmakers have been patting themselves on the back for passing a child nutrition bill aimed at improving U.S. school lunches recently, other nations have been revamping their school food programs with more nutritious, sustainable food for the better part of the past decade."

 

It's also worth noting that even while Congress passed legislation to improve the standards for school food, it didn't allocate the funding needed to help cash-strapped schools pay for the improvements.  Hmm.

For an idea of what other countries manage to serve their school children (artichokes and mussles?!?) check out this NPR slideshow, "U.S. Late to the Party on School Lunch Makeovers."   And thanks to MVGer Sue for forwarding this fun and informative piece!

Monsanto's GE Alfalfa Gets Green Light

Despite a series of strong hints that he would do otherwise, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack decided last week to allow the sale and planting of Monsanto's genetically engineered alfalfa, without any restrictions whatsoever.

This stunning decision, which some claim was the result of pressure from the White House, has been greeted by deep disappointment and anger from both conventional and organic farmers, as well as seed producers, beekeepers, exporters, and numerous food and farming groups, retailers and organic food manufacturers.  Alfalfa is the fourth most widely grown crop in the U.S.; it's a fundamental source of livestock forage for dairy and beef farmers, and there is serious concern that this genetically manipulated open-pollinated legume will contaminate conventional and organic agriculture around it, ultimately contaminating organic meat production as well.

And then there is the fact that the genetic manipulation is for resistance to Monsanto's Roundup - which means that even more herbicides will be sprayed when this crop is planted.

We urge you to contact the White House to let President Obama know how you feel about this, as well as signing this online petition.  (With thanks to The Cornucopia Institute and Food Democracy Now for their work on this.)  The ability to grow organic food in the U.S. is in dire jeopardy if Monsanto is allowed to have its way whenever it produces a new GE crop.  Let's stand up for farmers and citizen's right to grow and consume organically grown food!

Sign up for a Community Garden Plot!

As noted above, one of the real bright spots in our county's good food movement has been the work of the Parks Department.  With the leadership of County Councilmember Valerie Ervin and Parks director Mary Bradford, and under the expert direction of Chief of Horticulture David Vismara and Community Garden Coordinator Ursula Sabia-Sukinik, their Community Garden program has virtually overnight developed into one of the best in the nation, as they have built hundreds of new plots in just two years.

Sign up for plots began on February 1, and you can go to the Parks website to do it, as well as to put your name in the lottery for plots at their brand new Fenton St. Urban Garden near downtown Silver Spring.   These fill up fast, so don't delay!

With our thanks again for the Parks Department's oh-so-wonderful Community Garden program - keep it up, guys!

Beekeeping Classes

Many of us who grow food move naturally toward beekeeping, once we realize the intimate and fundamental, yet often overlooked, relationship between our food and these gentle, honey-making pollinators.  Honeybees are responsible for pollinating between 1/4 and 1/3 of all our food in this country.  This is why the still undiagnosed Colony Collapse Disorder, which has killed nearly 30% of U.S. honey bees since 2006, is so potentially catastrophic - and why it's so important for more of us to keep bees in our gardens and yards.

Needless to say, the benefits of honeybees to the garden are amazing - and did we mention the honey??   

We're happy to report that the Montgomery County Beekeeper Association's 2011 class, scheduled for later this month, is already filled up.  But if you are interested, we encourage you to sign on to their waiting list - both for the chance to get in this class, and to be notified of other upcoming classes.

 And here's another important action you can take, this time to help protect the bees.  Clothianidin, a pesticide toxin known to be harmful to bees, was recently approved by the EPA.   We urge you to take a moment to sign Food Democracy Now's online petition demanding that the EPA immediately ban the sale and use of clothianidin until proper tests can be conducted.

Taco Bell's "Beef" Taco Fiasco

Encroyable.  For another example of the #!$?! we allow ourselves to be fed by the industrial food system, consider the Taco Bell "beef" taco.  Taco Bell is being sued in a class action suit that alleges their "beef" taco actually contains only 36% percent beef - along with the a heaping helping of non-beef fillers such as modified corn starch, sodium phosphate and silicon dioxide - or as we more commonly call it, sand.  Secret seasoning indeed!

The suit isn't asking for money, it is simply demanding that Taco Bell stop calling their tacos "beef."  Actually, it's not clear that they can even legally be called meat - USDA standards require at least 40% beef in anything called "meat."  Double encroyable.

For an appropriate level of outrage at this outrageous story, check out comedian Lewis Black's take on it, aired this past week on the Daily Show.