Tomorrow, May 5th, OLD CITY Green will be holding its first fundraising event for the new community garden, Wangari Gardens. Join us for a Cinco de Mayo themed pig roast, accompanied by vegetarian dishes and whatever people bring for the pot luck! There will be plenty of drinks, music and fun!

Please RSVP and purchase tickets through the event link here.

[Excerpted from an email from Duncan Hilchey sent out on the COMFOOD list serve.]

Training Needs Survey of Food System Professionals and Volunteers

We apologize for any cross-postings, but a high number of responses is critical to the value of this survey.Please share this message with your colleagues on listservs, blogs, Twitter, and other social media. The survey is open through May 31, 2012, and is open to practitioners throughout North America.

We are reaching out to folks involved with programs ranging from beginning farmers, farmland protection, food hubs, and food value chains to urban agriculture and community food security. American Farmland Trust, the Wallace Center at Winrock International, and the Michigan State U. Center for Regional Food Systems (formerly the C.S. Mott Group for Sustainable Food Systems) have teamed up with the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development (JAFSCD) to conduct a survey of food system development practitionersin North America. The survey objective is to identify the specific challenges and training needs of current and prospective food system development practitioners. This anonymous questionnaire is largely simple checkboxes and should not take more than 10 to 15 minutes to complete.

For the purposes of the survey, a ”food system development practitioner” is anyone who, as a significant portion of their work, uses community development strategies in working with farmers, business people, government agency staff, local residents, or other persons or entities to create or strengthen the viability, equity, and sustainability of food systems.

We believe that improving knowledge and skills of practitioners will lead to more effective and efficient programs, and ultimately to more viable and sustainable food systems.

Thank you for your participation and for sharing this link with others! If you have any questions, contact Duncan Hilchey at duncan@newleafnet.com.

To complete the food system practitioner survey GO HERE!

Duncan

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Duncan Hilchey

Editor in chief, Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development

This is an email I received from the Sustainable DC Food Working Group list serve:

Are you working to fix DC’s broken food system? Do you have a passion for fighting for food justice? Then come network with other individuals and organizations who share your passion at the DC Food Systems Organizing Workgroup New Member Orientation and Community Brainstorm Training. This conversation is for anyone who’s interested in organizing their communities around food justice, or who wants to better lead conversations about the food system with their neighbors, coworkers, or faith community.

New Member Orientation & Community Brainstorm Training
March 26, 2012 6:00-8:30pm
Center for Green Urbanism, 3938 Benning Road NE
RSVP to Angie Stackhouse, astackhouse@breadforthecity.org or 202-480-8916

The DC Food Systems Organizing Workgroup is a group of individuals and organizations who are working build a Food Policy Council in DC. See our previous blog post about what we’ve done over the past year. Right now we are reaching out to people that share the vision of creating a nourishing community in which all Washington, D.C. residents can enjoy a nutritious, safe, and culturally appropriate diet provided by a local sustainable food system that fosters health, equity, interdependence, and self-reliance.

The New Member Orientation and Community Brainstorm Training is part of this outreach effort.  The orientation is from 6:00 – 7:00, we’ll take a quick break, and then from 7:00 – 8:30 we’ll be doing a training on how to facilitate discussions about the food system in your own communities. Learn more about what the community brainstorms are here.

Please join us, and share the flyer (http://goo.gl/LYfNk) or this email with colleagues, friends, family, and neighbors you think might be interested.

Let’s get the conversation started and ignite a DC food revolution today!

FREE public screenings of IN ORGANIC WE TRUST (www.InOrganicWeTrust.org) at the Environmental Film Festival:

Friday, March 16, 8:00 pm

Carnegie Institution for Science, Elihu Root Auditorium

1530 P St. NW, DC 20005

Friday, March 23, 6:00 pm

Town Hall Education Arts & Recreation Campus (THEARC)

1901 Mississippi Ave. SE, DC 20020

Both screenings will be followed by a Q&A with director Kip Pastor, Bernie Prince of FRESHFARM Markets, and Jennifer Mampara of the FoodPrints program at Watkins Elementary School.

The film features DC organizations like Natural Resources Defense Council and the Center for Food Safety. Our goal is to inspire viewers to get involved with local organizations working on sustainable food solutions, and to take action at the community level.

Synopsis from Website: We can no longer stomach our food system. It’s killing more and more Americans and costing billions in healthcare. 73% of Americans eat organic food, because they think it’s healthier. But is organic really better for us or just a marketing scam? When corporations went into the business and “organic” became a brand, everything changed. The philosophy and the label grew apart. Can gummy bears or bananas flown halfway across the world truly be organic? 

This film looks beyond organic for practical solutions for me and you. Local farmer’s markets, school gardens, and urban farms are revolutionizing the way we eat. Change is happening from the soil up.

In Organic We Trust – Teaser #1 from Pasture Pictures on Vimeo.

Thank you to you all who participated in the photo booth at Rooting DC this year! Here is a look at the faces and reflections of those who participated! Please feel free to share the video with family and friends!

Rooting DC 2012 Photo Booth Video

Rooting DC 2012 was a success!

Thank you for sharing your energizing feelings of friendship, creativity, inspiration, connection, love, and support to make this event possible! Here is to a great kickoff for the 2012 season!! 

The Beet Street Gardens clan at Rooting DC 2012

Come party with Beet Street Gardens, this Saturday Evening, February 11th as we celebrate the end of our 2nd season and gear up for an exciting 3rd! This midwinter gathering will feature many local flavors —  nourishment for your belly, signature drinks for your spirit, along with garden photos and live tunes from a variety of local artists.

When: 7-11pm on 2/11/12

Location: the JamJar
1719  Lamont Street NW, DC

Metro: Columbia Heights + 10 min. walk
Bus: H3, H4 Crosstown / S2, S4 16th Street
Car: advised to park on 16th street & walk west 1.5 blocks
Bike: parking plenty

Beet Street is jazzed to focus this season’s local growing/eating around building edible forest gardens and an outdoor kitchen. Your donations will help make that possible! $10-20 suggested.

Questions: email annabeth@beetstreetgardens.org

Blooming echinacea at Sasha Bruce.

See you on the 11th!

Beet Street Gardens

fb invite here

www.beetstreetgardens.org

Just a reminder for everyone who is planning on coming to Rooting DC on February 18th to sign up via our registration portal on www.rootingdc.org!

Follow us! Pass the word along!

Twitter: @RootingDC

Facebook: www.facebook.com/rootingdc

Rooting DC 2012 Flyer