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Montgomery Victory Gardens Update - Food Independence Day Edition!
 
 
In this update:

* Celebrate Your Food Independence this July 4th!
* National Geographic on the Importance of Seed Saving   
* Greening Our Sanctuaries - Sunday, July 17
* Harvesting, Curing and Storing Garlic

* Stink Bug Update
* Best Tomato Stakes Ever?
* Montgomery County Farm Tour Days - Saturday and Sunday, July 23-24

 

And don't forget to check out our Facebook page - and "like" us while you're there!


 

Celebrate Your Food Independence this July 4th!

 
"If the people let government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny."  - Thomas Jefferson

food independence dayHow's that for a founder of our country, and the author of the Declaration of Independence, telling it like it is about food?  Fortunately, we all have more and more opportunities to declare our "food independence," thanks to the local food revolution, and we urge you to take advantage of those opportunities this weekend and celebrate with a truly local holiday feast.  (And for you meat lovers, don't forget that many if not most farmers markets now sell locally-sourced, pasture fed and humanely raised meats alongside their many vegetables and fruits.)

We also encourage you to check out this fun "Food Independence Day" event page, run by Kitchen Gardeners International.  If you're having a local food feast, let 'em know about it, and also take their quick survey on "Your Food Independence Goals" - a great prompt to help us all raise more of our own food!


National Geographic on the Critical Importance of Seed Saving


As we work locally to save Montgomery County's only organic seed producing farm (Nick's Organic Farm in Potomac), here is timely article on the critical importance of seed saving.

As most MVG readers know, the success of the "green revolution" and industrial agriculture now poses major threats to our planet, and the human population on it.  corn seedsEven putting aside the mounting environmental damage - no small thing to put aside - the focus on an increasingly tiny number of very high-producing crops and livestock animals has devastated the diversity that is our living heritage and the bedrock foundation of a resilient biological (not to mention agricultural) system.  

The reason this is so dangerous is that when disease or bad weather decimate a particular crop or strain of plant, as is happening increasingly frequently in our climate changing world, what is there to replace it? It is estimated that the United States alone has lost up to 90% of the vegetable, grain and livestock varieties once raised in this country. 

Fortunately many people are working to reverse this trend, including private organizations such as the Seed Savers Exchange, from which many of us buy seeds.  These efforts are vitally important, not just for our gardens but ultimately for the health of the planet and for human survival.  Read more about these efforts in this fascinating National Geographic article, "Food Ark."  (And thanks to MVGer Nick Maravell (yes, that Nick) for passing this one along!)


Greening Our Sanctuaries: A Workshop and Expo - Sunday, July 17


GWIPL.2MVG has worked with houses of worship around our county to help establish congregational based community gardens, and we have recently teamed up with Greater Washington Interfaith Power and Light to further advance this work.

As part of this collaboration, we are pleased to be participating in GW-IPL's "Greening Our Sanctuaries" workshop and expo on Sunday, July 17.  While the day will provide information, instruction and inspiration on a a range of green issues, including recycling, renewable energy, green procurement and groundskeeping, there will be a special emphasis on food gardening - starting with a tour of the vegetable garden at the location of the event (and one of the first congregational gardens in MVG's network), Adat Shalom in Bethesda.

This should be a great day, and we strongly encourage any and all of you working to make your congregations greener to plan on attending.  For more information on the July 17 "Greening Our Sanctuaries" workshop and expo, click here.
 


Harvesting, Curing and Storing Garlic


garlic headsIt's that time of year, and many of us are pulling up our long awaited garlic crop, planted last fall.

And exactly how do you harvest, cure and then store your garlic for optimal results? While there can be disagreement among the experts, here is an excellent video on the process, once again from our friends at Kitchen Gardeners International.  So go forth and harvest, and prepare for months of the best testing dishes this oh-so-special root can help produce!
 

Stink Bug Update


As the intense heat is returning to our region, so is a particularly nasty invasive bug that has become every food gardener's favorite bug to hate, the brown marmorated stink bug.

The brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) came to this county in the mid-90s from Asia, and has no natural enemies or predators.  It is also resistant to most insecticides, which stink bugare not recommended.  And it loves a host of foods, from agricultural crops like apples to garden favorites such as tomatoes, peppers and beans.

Scientists are working hard to come up with an answer, researching countermeasures such as predatory wasps, but no silver bullet is on the immediate horizon.  So for the moment, one method of control is to use floating row cover - although for crops that require pollination that only works until the flowers come out.  Fortunately these critters are slow moving and easy to catch, and can be brushed into cups of soapy water - although for this method both time and vigilance is required, because they can come back regularly.

For photos to tell the difference between the BMSB and the squash bug, click here. (And as the Master Gardeners advise, once you tell the difference, squish, stomp and kill them all!)  For complete information on the BMSB from the the University of Maryland's Home and Garden Information Center, click here.


Best Tomato Stakes Ever?


For those of you who might still be looking for alternatives to tomato cages (if your plants haven't turned into wild bushes already), and who are interesting in trying the method of staking tomatoes used by many commercial growers, hers's an idea.

tomato stakesThe commercial method, for those who don't know, means putting a stake every other tomato plant, and then tying cord or twine between the stakes (and on either side of the plants) to build a lattice work to support the plants, adding new strings as they grow.  And since tomato plants (the indeterminate ones, which is what most of us have), can grow as tall as 8 feet or higher, it helps to have stakes that are taller than 6 ft - since by the time you put them securely in the ground a 6 ft. stake can be no higher than 4 and 1/2 feet.

So I went searching.  I found professional 8 ft. plastic covered steel stakes for $9 each.  And then 8 ft. wooden stakes, with points, for $10 each.  Then I got the bright idea to head over to Home Depot, where I found 8 ft. wooden 2" x 2" stakes (non-pressure treated) for the ultra reasonable sum of $1.47 each.

They take a little more work - I needed to put a point on each with a circular saw, and then do some fancy garden maneuvering with a ladder to pound them in - but I saved over $100 by doing this, and now have the strongest, tallest, most windstorm-resistant tomato stakes I've seen in any garden. Best tomato stakes ever?  I'll keep you updated! 


Montgomery County Farm Tour Days - Saturday and Sunday, July 23 - 24


farm tourPersonal food gardening is an essential component of a healthy and sustainable local food system, but functioning, financially viable small farms are the bedrock upon which that local food system must rest.

While Montgomery County has lost a heartbreaking number of its farms over the past several decades, several of them have held on - and a small but increasing number of young farmers are trying to make a go of it here.  And there is no better way to support these farms than by visiting them on Montgomery County's Annual Farm Tour Days, happening this year on Saturday and Sunday, July 23 & 24.  

More than a dozen of our best and brightest farmers are participating this year (you can click here for more information), and as I can tell you from past experience, there are few activities more satisfying - or fun for kids - than visiting these working sources of our county's food, nutrition and environmental well-being.  We'll have more in an update later this month, but mark your calendar now and plan to visit some local farms on County Farm Tour Days, July 23 & 24!

 
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That's it for now, friends!  Please keep sending us your feedback, comments, and ideas for items we can post in the update - and have a fabulous, locavore 4th of July!

Yours in preserving (and expanding) our local food heritage,

Gordon Clark, Project Director
Montgomery Victory Gardens