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Welcome to the May edition DC Field to Fork Network Newsletter! Below you'll find announcements, updates and event information about urban agriculture and food security in DC. For updated information, check out the Events Calendar on our website or stay tuned to our blog. To contribute to next month's newsletter, email dcfieldtofork@gmail.com.
Events Good Food, Good Jobs: Turning Food Deserts into Jobs Oases: Wednesday, May 5, 5pm Foggy Bottom FreshFarm Market. Join the Progressive Policy Institute as we present Good Food, Good Jobs: Turning Food Deserts into Jobs Oases, a policy report by Joel Berg with very special guest Tom Colicchio, Chef, Head Judge of Bravo's Top Chef and Owner of Craft Restaurants. RSVP here. National Public Gardens Day: Friday, May 7, 10 am–5 pm, 100 Maryland Avenue SW. The US Botanic Garden will be commemorating the national day of celebration to raise awareness of America’s public gardens and their important role in promoting environmental stewardship, education, plant conservation and water conservation nationwide. The US Botanic Garden will feature an exhibit on public gardens, distribute free sunflower seed packets for visitors and provide a sneak peak look at the Garden’s new summer exhibit on potatoes - “Spuds Unearthed! The event is free and open to the public. For more information, please visit www.PublicGardens.org.
Neighborhood Farm Initiative Plant Sales: Every Saturday from 10-2 in May, Community Forklift, 4671 Tanglewood Dr, Edmonston, MD. NFI is selling organically grown basil, tomato and pepper seedlings to raise funds for our programs.
Compost Happens! Workshop at Common Good City Farm: Saturday, May 8th from 11am -1pm. Learn to use your garden, yard and kitchen waste to create rich soil. We will focus on methods easy and suitable for small yards and apartments. Teacher: Kaitlin Rienzo-Stack, Master Composter since '05. Register Now!
GardenMart Plant Sale Saturday, May 8, 9:00am-1:00pm, Brookside Gardens Wheaton MD. The Silver Spring Garden Club's 60th annual GardenMart Plant Sale features heirloom tomato seedlings, native plants, herbs, houseplants, and much, much more. Come early in the sale for best selection. Free event, open to the general public. Directions at http://www.brooksidegardens.org/
DC Food for All volunteer shift at DC Central Kitchen: Thursday, May 13, 5-8pm 425 Second Street NW. We'll kick things off with a short discussion about DCCK's efforts to source local produce from 5-5:30. Then we'll get to prepping! During co-op shifts, volunteers help prep fresh produce from local farms for use in the 4,500 meals that the Kitchen distributes each day to clients at shelters and other social-service areas. RSVP to dcfoodforall@gmail.com.
Building A Butterfly Garden: Monday, May 17, 7:30-9:30pm, Brookside Gardens, Wheaton, MD. The Silver Spring Garden Club invites you to this talk by Carol Allen on attracting "winged flowers" aka butterflies to your garden. Doors open at 7:30pm, speaker starts at 8pm. Free and open to the public. Directions at http://www.brooksidegardens.org/.
The Future of Local Gardening: Sunday May 23. Panel Discussion led by Kathy Jentz, Washington Gardener Magazine. Come join us for a slice of cake and cup of bubble to mark Washington Gardener Magazine’s 5th Anniversary in print. We will host a panel discussion on local garden trends and the future of urban gardening in the 21st. Local experts will share their views and we anticipate a lively discussion of where we’ve been and where we are headed next. The talk is free and open to the public. It is at the HSW-DC, directions at: http://www.historydc.org/
Sowing Seeds Here and Now!: A Chesapeake Area Urban Farming Summit: Friday, June 18th, 2010 at the Henry A. Wallace Beltsville Agricultural Research Center. Keynote speaker and inspiration is Will Allen, CEO of Growing Power in Milwaukee, WI. Will Allen is a pioneering urban farmer whose organization Growing Power does exemplary work and who was named a MacArthur “Genius” Fellow in 2008. Dr. Molly Jahn, Deputy Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics at the USDA is confirmed to attend the event. The goal of our one-day hands-on learning and strategizing event is to catalyze and support urban farming throughout our metropolitan area – Washington, DC, Prince George’s and other local counties, and Baltimore –which we call the Chesapeake area. Buy tickets here.
Announcements
Final Vote on the Healthy Schools Act tomorrow! The final DC Council vote on the Healthy Schools Act is scheduled for Tuesday, May 4. We can’t rest until the Act is passed and funded. Please take a moment today to show your support of the Act by calling or emailing the D.C. Council. Here’s a sample message: “Thank you for giving preliminary approval to the Healthy Schools Act. I am an enthusiastic supporter of the Act and hope that you will vote to pass the Act and fully fund it. The Healthy Schools Act will ensure that all children get healthy school meals so that they can learn, stay healthy, and ultimately thrive. The bill will help move us closer to achieving President Barack Obama’s goal to end childhood hunger by 2015 and the goals of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move Campaign. I hope that I can count on your continued support." Please call and/or email your ward representative, the at-large representatives, and the chairman. You can call (202) 724-8000 to be connected.
Capital Area Food Bank is gearing up for this season’s Grow A Row project! Grow A Row is a way for gardeners to Gardeners throughout the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area are encouraged to grow and donate produce to local community organizations that serve people in need. Whether you grow an extra row, dig up your entire yard, or organize a collective donation from your community garden, we appreciate your contribution! Contact us to participate and we will work with you to determine the best way to distribute your produce to the community. For more information or to participate, contact growarow@capitalareafoodbank.org.
Sign your group up for a summer visit to the Washington Youth Garden. We are now accepting applications for summer camps and other youth groups to participate in our SPROUT field trip program. WYG staff facilitates a ninety minute garden and nutrition based education program for all ages. We are located at the U.S. National Arboretum, 446 acres of green space perfect for additional exploring on a summer day. Please fill out and return this reservation form. Please note: this program is for schools and organizations, individuals and families can explore our public garden anytime.
City Blossoms seeks summer interns! City Blossoms is seeking dynamic, creative, garden-loving individuals to help lead programming and make greening the city exciting and kid-friendly. City Blossoms' programming includes regular weekly workshops at several locations in Washington , D.C., Takoma Park , and Baltimore, as well as family-oriented weekend events, volunteer days and various community events. Experience in education (schools, summer camps, out-of-school programs) is required and Spanish-speaking skills are a plus. Gardening and/or Arts knowledge/confidence is extremely helpful! The internship will begin in mid-May and end in mid-August, with potential to be hired into a part-time position. Applicants must have availability to work during the hours of 9am - 6pm at least 3 days a week, plus some Saturdays. A small stipend is provided for successful completion of this internship. Please send your resume along with a cover letter to Lola Bloom lola@cityblossoms. org or Rebecca Lemos Rebecca@cityblossom s.org
City Blossoms is looking for some volunteers who are interested in committing to helping at one or more of our OPEN TIMES at either Girard Children's Community Garden (Columbia Heights) or Marion Street Intergenerational Garden (Shaw). Volunteers would help with weekly maintenance tasks and impromptu workshops with our neighborhood kid gardeners. If interested in joining us contact Lola Bloom at lola@cityblossoms.org
The Neighborhood Farm Initiative seeks Volunteer Assistant Team Leaders to grow vegetables with teens! NFI is looking for Volunteer Assistant Team Leaders to work with the NFI Team Leader and our 12-person summer youth team. The Assistant Team Leaders will help monitor the space, provide instruction and supervision, build relationships with youth, and assist with general garden maintenance. We’re looking for volunteers who can commit to one day per week for 5 hours each week for the duration of the program, which runs Monday-Friday from June 28 through August 20 2010. Volunteer shifts will be between 8:30-1:30 on weekdays. Please send a note describing your interest and experience with organic gardening and/or working with youth, plus 2 professional or academic references to NFI Volunteer Coordinator Liz Whitehurst at NeighborhoodFarm@gmail.com by May 17.
The Neighborhood Farm Initiative Volunteer Workdays! NFI hosts volunteer workdays every Wednesday from 4:30-7 and every Saturday from 9-1. No experience necessary and no need to RSVP - just show up and get your hands dirty! We can also arrange other workdays with large groups. Our small urban farm is walking distance from the Fort Totten metro station. Email neighborhoodfarm@gmail.com to sign up for our email list!
Check out the new Master Gardener blog! Land grant university Extension Master Gardener (EMG) program coordinators are gearing up to launch the first national blog for EMG volunteers on Monday, May 3, 2010. Blog posts can be found directly at http://blogs.extension.org/mastergardener or through the new national Extension Master Gardener website at http://extension.org/mastergardener.
Common Good City Farm Open Hours and Volunteer Opportunities! 2010 FARM HOURS Mondays 3-7pm, Wednesdays 10am-1pm, Thursdays 3-7pm, Saturdays 10am-1pm. During Farm Hours, Common Good is open to all participants and the public. Staff, Green Tomorrows participants, pre-registered volunteers, and youth are engaged in farm work. Visitors are welcome to come have a look around. And Common Good is always in need of volunteer help, both on-farm during Farm Hours and behind the scenes. We require farm volunteers to attend a training to learn the basics of our operation. Please register online for one of these trainings, held on the first Saturday of the month. If the session is full, come out anyway to lend a hand after registering online for the shift through our Events page, but still please sign up for the next available training so your volunteer experience is most beneficial to you and to us. If you’d prefer to help with indoor tasks, such as grant writing, outreach or research, please email info@commongoodcityfarm.org for opportunities.
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