I know you all are waiting anxiously for the 5th Annual Rooting DC, which is still on its way in a couple of weeks, but in the meantime, come and celebrate the excitement with us this Thursday, February 2nd, 5 – 8 pm at The Looking Glass Lounge!

Check out the Facebook event for complete details: https://www.facebook.com/events/312966532075646/

Celebration!

Join us for some treats and good company to celebrate 5 years of Rooting DC! We will be asking for a $10 donation at the door, but this is a suggested donation, and no one will be turned away! There are also some excellent drink specials from Looking Glass Lounge: $2 off draft beers, $1 off rail drinks and special just for US a $4 Rooter Shooter!!!

Silent Auction Fundraiser!

We have some awesome prizes so please bring cash or a checkbook & come ready for bidding! Prizes include gift baskets, certificates to yummy local restaurants, and many more! All money raised from the silent auction will go directly towards offsetting the cost of the Rooting DC forum (to keep it free for all who attend!)

Hope you can make it on Thursday! If not, save the date for Rooting DC – February 18th, 2012 from 9:30-4. Registration details coming very soon!

Stay up to date with Rooting DC details on Facebook and on Twitter (Follow us @RootingDC and help spread the word with #RootingDC !!)

The NEW Montgomery County Food Council has officially launched, and is currently welcoming applications from interested individuals.  The deadline for applications is next Friday, January 13, so if you are interested don’t delay!

Click here for more information and to apply.

In case you haven’t heard, the Food Council aims to bring together a diverse representation of stakeholders in a public and private partnership to improve the environmental, economic, social and nutritional health of Montgomery County through the creation of a robust, local, sustainable food system.

The Council will be comprised of 13 – 17 diverse stakeholders including individual members, professionals, private businesses, government officials, community organizations, and educational institutions that represent and/or work on food issues in our county.  We would particularly love to see council members who represent urban/suburban agriculture and community food production, so if you are involved in any of these, please consider applying!

The first meeting of the Council will be on Wednesday, February 15, location to be announced; all meetings will be open to the public, with community involvement encouraged.

Again, Council member applications are being accepted through next Friday, January 13.  Click here for more information and to apply.

At Busboys & Poets

14th & V Street NW.

6:30 pm

(From the Busboys and Poets website about the film):

6:30 PM (Langston Room) – Following the screening, Marsha Weiner of Food Muse Media will moderate a panel discussion with filmmaker Cintia Cabib, Alice Kamps, curator of the National Archives exhibit “What’s Cooking, Uncle Sam?”, and several community gardeners. // FILM SYNOPSIS: Throughout Washington, D.C., people of all ages, backgrounds and nationalities are gardening side by side, growing vegetables, fruits and flowers in community gardens. Some are looking for basic sustenance, others for a way to remember their homelands, still others for a place to find a respite from their troubles. Through the voices of young people, senior citizens, immigrants, garden volunteers and educators, “A Community of Gardeners” explores the vital role of seven urban community gardens as sources of fresh, nutritious food, outdoor classrooms, places of healing, links to immigrants’ native countries, centers of social interaction, and oases of beauty and calm in inner-city neighborhoods. The film also looks back on the history of community gardens in the United States, from the potato patch farms of the late 19th century, to the victory gardens of World War II, to community gardening’s current renaissance. // FREE & OPEN TO ALL. http://communityofgardeners.com/

Vote to help us to share $65,000 from Nature’s Gate to benefit our youth education program, LEAF.

We’re up to 470 votes today and growing, but we still need your help to reach 3,500 votes to be a finalist in the national “Gardens for Good” contest to share $65,000 from Nature’s Path.  We have 3,000 subscribers on this list. So if each of you clicks today, we’ll reach 3,500 votes and be a finalist to share $65,000 in grant funding! (No Facebook or Twitter account necessary!) Our entry is listed under my name, “Helen Yuen.” Can you click on “Vote” here today with one click?

Last week, we entered a contest launched by Nature’s Path organic food company. Thank you for getting us to 470 votes. But it’s not over! We need to reach 3,500 votes to be a finalist to share $65,000. Can you keep us in the running?

Voting Takes Just a Second!

Can you click “yes” today to help us fund our farm education program for impoverished youth? This is a direct link, so you do not need Facebook or Twitter. Just click “vote” on this page.

Please don’t delay. It takes just a second to click and we can only be a finalist with your help. Voting ends next Friday September 30. Soon! Each day that passes, the gap widens between us and the top contenders.

We can’t do it without you.

The top 5 U.S. and top 5 Canadian vote-getters will be reviewed by Nature’s Path, and they will choose 3 nonprofits to split $65,000. Right now, the nonprofit in 5th place has 3,000 votes. We have 470, so if you and each subscriber on this list clicks, we’ll have nearly 3,500 votes and be a finalist. Can you click today?

Daily voting is ok until Sept 30. These are the last days so don’t forget to click once a day and spread the word to your friends!

Thank you for supporting us! 

Helen Yuen
Communications Fellow

P.S. If each of you on this subscription list clicks to vote, we’ll reach 3,500 votes and be a finalist to share $65,000 for our youth program! Click here today. Thank you for rooting for us!

Thursday: Urban Ag on the Move!

Our 3rd annual film screening fundraiser Urban Agriculture on The Move! A Film and Food Event is coming up on August 11th! We’re cooking up lots of local fare this week and are excited to share it with you.

Doors open and refreshments served at 6:30 pm. Film screening will start promptly at 7:30 pm, with discussion to follow. It’s at the Letelier Theater, located in the Georgetown neighborhood at 3251 Prospect Street, NW, Upper Courtyard.

Buy your tickets now and then let us know you’re coming on Facebook.

We’re still looking for a couple of last-minute volunteers – please reply here in an email if you’re interested!

And many thanks to our sponsors, including: Silver Spring Farmer’s Market, Mount Pleasant Farmer’s Market, Wegmans, Trader Joe’s, Harris Teeter, GLUT Food Coop, Whole Foods, Barrel Oak Winery, and St. Stephen’s and the Incarnation Episcopal Church.

Happy Earth Day 2011, everyone!!

If you are looking for a way that you can be involved in Earth Day activities in and around the Washington DC area for today, this week and beyond, you can first definitely come to one of the community garden events (please see our events calendar for more information).

If you are looking for something else than volunteering for the community gardens, then please check out the brief list of volunteer/Earth Day 2011 events listed below. You can find more opportunities by checking out the Earth Day Network website as well as local listings online.

- Earth Day Cleanup @ the National Zoo (4/22/11) 8 am – 10 am. Help staff and other visitors pick up litter, food wrappers, and other garbage that litter the zoo grounds. Converse the with Zoo’s “Green Team” about sustainability initiatives of the zoo, as well as with other representatives of organizations about what you and your families can do to help build solutions to global environmental issues.

- United States Botanical Garden (4/22/11) 10 am – 2 pm.  At the National Mall, Washington DC. Several programs will be available to help lend gardening advice. Learn about the “Landscape for Life” program, as well as some “fresh ideas” for food, health and life. Several demonstrations will also be available.

- Alexandria Earth Day (4/30/11) 10 am – 2 pm. At Ben Brenman Park. A focus on eco-friendly and sustainable transportation as well as demonstrations on composting, recycling, live music, Arbor Day tree planting, live performances, as well as the launch of the Eco-City Action Plan Phase II.

And for a few more events in the Washington DC area, please visit this link: Washington DC Events registered with Earth Day Network

An Irresistible Fleet of Young Agrarians to Cycle Through DC

“The Greenhorns” Documentary Film Premieres in the Nation’s Capital

The Greenhorns, a national nonprofit organization led by a raucous posse of America’s next generation of sustainable farmers, will host a tour of urban farms and gardens in Washington, DC on Saturday, April 16. A broad spectrum of farmers, gardeners, cyclists, and citizen supporters from throughout the DC Metro area will be in attendance.

The Greenhorns DC Urban Farm Bike Tour is a grassroots-organized, multi-purpose event for networking and knowledge sharing among growers and eaters, both rural and urban. Over the course of the ride, participants will attend a series of workshops and skill-shares in farming, food, and activism. Activities begin at the Mamie D. Lee Community Garden, followed by the Washington Youth Garden and Common Good Community Farm. Session topics will include beekeeping, rain gardens, preparation of ‘seed bombs,’ and how to start a community garden. Up to 90 attendees will later gather at the Letelier Theater for the Washington DC premiere of “The Greenhorns” documentary film about America’s young farmer movement. A courtyard reception will follow with local, farm-fresh food and live music by The Second String Band.

Greenhorns events for young and aspiring farmers are crucial in a nation where the average age of farmers is 57. The overall numbers of new entrants in agriculture is steadily declining while the general population of eaters continues to rise. Young, aspiring, and early career farmers need and deserve support as they boldly step forward to serve their country food. There is good reason to be hopeful for their success, particularly in the District, where Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack recently called for 100,000 new farmers. USDA statistics show that while the nation’s farmers are indeed aging overall, the number of all farmers under 25 grew between 2002 and 2007. Events such as the Greenhorns DC Urban Farm Bike Tour demonstrate that the crises of aging and attrition in American agriculture are being met by a movement of tenacious newcomers. This is a party with purpose.

Event partners include the Arcadia Center for Sustainable Food & Agriculture, D.C. Guerilla Gardeners, City Blossoms, Common Good City Farm, the Washington Youth Garden, Neighborhood Farm Initiative, Beet Street Gardens, Mt. Rainier Bike Coop, and the Letelier Theater. Sponsors include the Neighborhood Restaurant Group, GLUT Food Coop, The Takoma Park Food Co-op, Metro Green Markets, Whole Foods, Flying Dog Brewery, and EcoFriendly Foods. The two local organizers are greenhorns Maureen Moody (farm director) and Ibti Vincent (mobile market manager) of theArcadia Center for Sustainable Food & Agriculture.

WHO: The Greenhorns (http://www.thegreenhorns.net/) and YOU

WHAT: Washington DC Urban Farm Bike Tour

WHEN: Saturday, April 16th, 2011
 (Bike tour/workshops from 1:00-6:00pm
; Film screening and reception from 6:30-9:00pm)

WHERE: Meet at Mamie D. Lee Community Garden, 100 Gallatin St., NE (Fort Totten)

Screening at the Letelier Theater, 3251 Prospect Street, NW, Upper Courtyard (Georgetown)

CONTACT:

Greenhorns: Patrick Kiley, Greenhorns Outreach Director (517) 242-5684,film@thegreenhorns.net

DC urban farm information: Maureen Moodie, Arcadia Center Farm Directormaureen@arcadiafood.org

DC urban farm bike tour: Ibti Vincent, Arcadia Center Mobile Market Manager,ibti@arcadiafood.org

ABOUT THE GREENHORNS: The Greenhorns is a farm-based, grassroots national nonprofit group founded in 2007, with the mission to recruit, promote and support America’s young farmers. Visit www.thegreenhorns.net for more information