Sustainable Agriculture and Family Farms Under Assault - Your Calls Still Needed  

This issue is so important we are highlighting it one more week for those who missed it in last week's update or on our Facebook page.

The newly elected House of Representatives has passed a stopgap federal spending bill that would make drastic cuts in almost every area of family farming and sustainable agriculture - without cutting a penny from industrial commodity crop farming.  According to the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, the bill "unfairly targets programs that serve sustainable and organic farmers... makes steep cuts in agricultural research, extension, farm credit [and in] funding provided in the 2008 Farm Bill for conservation and... programs that serve beginning and minority farmers without making any cuts to commodity or crop insurance funding."  

It is estimated that these cuts will mean a loss of over $325,000 for the University of Maryland Extension program, which operates (among other things) the Master Gardener program, 4-H, and Integrated Pest Management (which provides farmers with alternatives to synthetic pesticides).  The Extension programs, which have been with us since 1914, have already taken serious budget hits, and soon their very existence could be imperiled.

If you haven't done it already, please take a couple moments on Friday to call our U.S. Senators and tell them to stop this madness.

Click here to read the NSAC alert with a suggested message for your calls (it's easy, you just call the Capitol Hotline at 202-224-3121)

Click here to see the Master Gardeners "Grow It Eat It" alert, with additional ways to contact your Senators, including links to their Facebook pages.

MCPS Environmental Education Center Threatened by Budget Cuts

We are sorry to have to bring you alerts like this, but the budget crisis on all levels of government is seriously impacting the programs we have come to depend on - and those of us who care about these issues have got to speak up to defend what must be saved.

Under imminent threat of closure is the Smith Environmental Education Center and the our county school system's Outdoor Ed program.

According to MVGer Sue Katz Miller, a former PTA president and school activist who started this "Save Outdoor Ed" Facebook page, "The countywide 6th grade overnight trip to cabins in the woods may be the only time in their lives that many public school students experience the great outdoors. The trip is part of state-mandated environmental education, and includes orienteering, stream studies, etc. The trip is essential to social cohesion and mixing of racial, socioeconomic, and magnet/non-magnet groups. 6th grade Outdoor Ed is on the list of possible budget cuts. Students need more, not less, environmental education."

And you know what else might be harmed if the Outdoor Ed program is taken down? Our fledgling school vegetable garden program, guidelines for which currently exist on the Smith Center website.  And as with food gardening, studies show that students who attend Outdoor Ed as have better self-esteem, conflict resolution, relationship with peers, problem solving, motivation to learn, and behavior in class.  So this is what we want to get rid of?

We know this is two actions in one update, but they are both critically important.  We urge you to take a moment to join the "Save Outdoor Ed" Facebook page, get a little more information, and then contact the Montgomery County Board of Education by email at boe@mcpsmd.org.  Let them know you want this important program preserved! 

Have You Started Your Seeds Indoors Yet?

I have just started my seeds indoors this week, and there is plenty of time for you to do it too!  Why would you?

To quote our friends and colleagues at the Master Gardeners' Grow It Eat It program "Starting seeds indoors is about as much fun as a food gardener can have in late winter! The idea is to grow baby plants (a.k.a. transplants or starts) for 2-8 weeks (depending on the vegetable and rate of plant growth) and then plant outdoors where the crops will mature and be harvested. With a small investment and bit of space you can grow hundreds of healthy transplants... and all of the supplies you need can be found at home or purchased locally from hardware stores and garden centers."

Take it from me: starting your plants indoors can cut 1 -2 months off the time it takes to get a harvest from your garden - and who wouldn't want that??  (And here's one more hint: if you are starting them in cold area, like your basement, putting a heating pad underneath your babies will greatly enhance their growth rate.)

Click here for other useful tips.

Click here for excellent seed starting videos.

Click here for helpful photo galleries.

Suburban Gardener Intensive Vegetable Gardening Class - Saturday, March 12

From our friends at Montgomery County College comes this great looking class:

"Looking for new ways to increase your garden yields and grow more food in a limited space? Learn about space- and money-saving strategies for suburban gardens including intensive techniques, container gardening, and tricks for extending the growing season. Suitable for both beginning and intermediate gardeners. The goal of intensive gardening is to maximize yields using minimal space. Discover simple ways to optimize your garden's output through good soil preparation, succession sowing, companion planting, and vertical gardening methods. Attend this hands-on class and take home some newly sown seeds for your garden."

This class is the first in a series of gardening classes this month at the MCC Germantown Campus, and it will be held on Saturday March 12 from 9:30 AM-12:00 PM.  To register, click here and then type in the keyword "gardening."  If you have any questions about registration, please contact the Continuing Ed Division at 240-567-5188.  

MVG Brings the Good Food Revolution to Brookside Gardens

Of the many speaking engagements MVG has been afforded recently, I was most proud to be invited to speak at the annual Green Matters Symposium at Brookside Gardens, the crown jewel of the County Park system and a tremendous advocate for local food.  In fact, they are in the middle of a three year focus on local food in their adult education programs, which include the Green Matters Symposium.

The theme of the conference was "The Real Food Renaissance," and my talk was entitled "From Renaissance to Revolution: Why Growing Our Own Food is Essential for Freedom."  It combined a discussion of industrial agriculture and the work of MVG with an exploration of the connection between food self-sufficiency and freedom, touching on the thoughts of local food giants such as Michael Pollan, Wendell Berry, Sharon Astyk, Thomas Jefferson and Mahatma Gandhi.  (Yes, that's right, Thomas Jefferson and Gandhi!)

We are delighted that the talk was picked up by a reporter for the online news service Patch.  You can read "Montgomery Victory Gardens Brings Local Food to Brookside Gardens" here.

We hope to have video from the speech up soon, but in the meantime, why not go for the real thing, and invite MVG to come address your civic or community organization?

Localization is the Economics of Happiness

Did you know that the number of Americans who say they are happy with their life peaked in 1956... and that it has been going slowly but steadily downhill ever since?

As we face environmental and economic crises, we are also being confronted with a crisis of the spirit. This documentary, directed by Helena Norberg-Hodge, Steven Gorelick, and John Page, shows us how focusing on consumer culture, globalization, and GDP measurements keeps happiness just out of reach-and how embracing our local communities can help change it.

So here's one more piece of evidence, from a fascinating perspective. You wanna be happy? Then start growing some food, and hang out with your friends and neighbors that do!

Click here for the Yes! magazine interview with director Helena Norberg-Hodge on why she believes localization is the economics of happiness, and for trailers to the film.

Join the Great American Meatout!

What is the Meatout?  On (or around) March 20, thousands of caring people in all 50 U.S. states and two dozen other countries will get active to host educational events - the world's largest grassroots diet education campaign. Activists distribute free food, educate their communities, and ask their friends, families, and neighbors to "kick the meat habit" and explore a wholesome, compassionate diet of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.

While MVG believes that meat can be raised both sustainably and humanely, there is no question that Americans need to eat a lot less meat, and a lot more vegetables - for our sake, the animals sake, and the planet's.  And here's one way to help make that happen - join the Farm Animal Rights Movement's Great American Meatout!