DC Public Schools has announced that it has selected DC Central Kitchen to provide made-from-scratch meals for 7 elementary schools as part of a pilot project to improve the quality and nutrition of its foodservices.

DC Central Kitchen has already been providing locally sourced, made-from scratch-meals at Washington Jesuit Academy and Next Step Public Charter School, and has led the way as a model of school food reform, while at the same time strengthening local producers and providing economic opportunities for local residents. For more information check out the website @ http://www.dccentralkitchen.org/

Ever wonder where Field to Fork got their amazing Rooting DC logo?

Check out local DC artist, Robert DuBois! His artwork can be found online at: http://cargocollective.com/rdubois.

Thanks for all the great work and artistic inspiration!

Continuing her efforts to fight the District’s obesity epidemic, Councilmember Cheh introduced the Food, Environmental, and Economic Development in the District of Columbia (”FEED DC”) Act of 2010 yesterday afternoon.  The goal of the FEED DC Act is to close the grocery gap by increasing access to healthy foods in low-income areas.  This legislation would establish a public/private partnership, modeled on successful initiatives in Pennsylvania, New York City, and other jurisdictions, to attract grocery stores to food deserts and to assist existing corner stores in selling fresh produce and other healthy foods. More information about FEED DC can be found at http://feeddc.marycheh.com

On May 6th Mayor Fenty named Christoph Tulou Director of the DC Department of the Environment (DDOE). On June 24th at noon, the DC Environmental Network and Earthjustice would like to invite you to a brown-bag luncheon to welcome Director Tulou to the District.

Although many of us have already met with the Director to talk about energy and clean water this informal brown-bag will be an opportunity to discuss more broadly the health and special needs of the District’s fragile urban environment. It would be great to have leaders who work on healthy food issues (farm to school, community gardens, etc.) participate in this discussion.

The event will feature a brief overview of some of the key environmental campaigns that local environmentalists are engaged in and will be followed by an opportunity for Director Tulou to tell us a little about himself and what he sees in DDOE’s future. Space is limited so RSVP Today!

Chris Weiss, Director, DC Environmental Network

Skilled volunteers needed!
We’re looking for a few good volunteers to help us out with some projects. If you or anyone you know has some special skills, send us an email: neighborhoodfarm@gmail.com. We’re looking for:

* A videographer with his/her own equipment: We’d like to document the progress of our summer youth crews, but we need someone to shoot the footage!
* A graphic designer: We’ve got some exciting events coming up and we’d love help designing a flyer to get the word out
* Chefs: We’ve already got some stellar cooking presentations lined up for our summer youth program, but we’d love some more!

Field Day!
We’re celebrating summer with a workshop/workday/potluck on July 10 from 10-2. NFI Intern and soil science extraordinaire Tommy Pyne will lead a compost Q&A, followed by an extra special compost sorting session. We’ll join the rest of the community garden in general garden cleanup, then we’ll potluck!

Wanna help out? We’re meeting on June 30 at 6:30pm. Email neighborhoodfarm@gmail.com for more details!

Save the Date: NFI Movie Screening and Dinner
We’ll host a screening of the short film Corner Plot and a very special harvest dinner on August 12 at Letelier Theater. More details to come, but mark your calendars now!

In connection with the Sowing Seeds Here and Now Summit, there will be  an event at the 14th Street Busboys and Poets on Thursday, June 17th from6-8pm featuring the summit keynote speaker, Will Allen of Growing Power. This is a unique opportunity to convene in an intimate setting with Will Allen, who is the father of the food justice movement, received the2008 MacArthur Genius Award, and was recently named one of TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People. Dialogue will revolve around working solutions to food inequities and public health epidemics in the Washington, DC region. The evening will feature complimentary hors d’oeuvres by Busboys and Poets, and by DC’s premier organic restaurant*Restaurant Nora*, along with a cash bar. Tickets are on sale now at *sowingseedshereandnow.com* for $25. All proceeds benefit urban farming projects in the Washington, DC region.

Please vote for NFI on justmeans.com and help them revitalize the garden at Fort Dupont!

Fort Dupont Community Garden is DC’s 2nd largest community garden (3.572 acres!). In recent years, this garden has seen underutilization of its plots with many lying fallow throughout the growing season. The garden has been largely comprised of seniors. NFI and Fort Dupont NPS are working in partnership to rejuvenate interest in the garden by offering educational programming and the justmeans.com grant would help them achieve this goal!

VOTE HERE: http://www.justmeans.com/contestidea?ideaid=NTc1