The Center for American Progress recently reported on the positive contributions of urban farming around the US! Check out their article on Will Allen, urban farming, the good things urban farming can do, and the good food movement @ http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2010/07/ebg072110.html

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

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

Volunteers needed!! On June 3, 2010, participating schools across the District of Columbia (including all of DCPS) will serve fresh, locally-grown strawberries and salad greens in their school lunches!  This will be part of a celebration called “Strawberries & Salad Greens” organized by the D.C. Farm to School Network.  Learn more about the event and how to get involved at dcfarmtoschool.org/strawberries.