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 !!)

Please come! Rooting DC is an annual, FREE, community and urban gardening focused forum, with over 500 attendees! Come, attend sessions to learn and get information about what is going on in your communities and how you can get involved. Want to know how you start your own garden or how to compost? Come to Rooting DC 2012!

Please feel free to pass this information and flier along to others – Hope to see you all there!

Follow us on Twitter @RootingDC as well as on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/rootingdc

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/

From Kate Lee, the Farm Manager of Common Good City Farm:

Come see Common Good City Farm’s rain garden and learn how to design your own as an attractive way to prevent water run-off from polluting our watersheds. USGS scientist Dean Hively will talk about conservation planting and the relevance and importance of diverting water run-off.  This workshop is free, but we are suggesting a $25 donation if you earn more than minimum wage.

Saturday, October 22, 2-4pm at Common Good City Farm, V. St, NW between 2nd and 4th Sts.

Please visit our website to register.

Next week will mark the first Food Day celebration with events occurring across the United States. According to the website FoodDay.org, Food Day “seeks to bring together Americans from all walks of life—parents, teachers, and students; health professionals, community organizers, and local officials; chefs, school lunch providers, and eaters of all stripes—to push for healthy, affordable food produced in a sustainable, humane way.”

It is a “people-powered” movement that provides the avenue for celebration, education and access to food and nutrition-centered events, cooking demonstrations, volunteer (and eating) opportunities. There are numerous events planned, taking place all across the Washington Metropolitan Area for you and your family to be involved in Food Day 2011. Please ask your local church, school, farmers’ market or town hall for more information about what will be going on in your area.

Another great place to go for resources is the Food Day website, FoodDay.org. Here you can search for events near your neighborhood, whether you live in Washington DC or outside the beltway. There are also resources for you to get an event started if you want to do something yourself. Take a moment to check out the website and see what will be happening near you!

The purpose of Food Day is to promote six central principles:

1. Reduce diet-related disease by promoting safe, healthy foods

2. Support sustainable farms and limit subsidies to big agribusiness

3. Expand access to food and alleviate hunger

4. Protect the environment and animals by reforming factory farms

5. Promote health by curbing junk-food marketing to kids

6. Support fair conditions for food and farm workers

(for more information on the 6 Principles, please refer to Food Day – 6 Food Day Principles)

By conducting a quick search for the Washington, DC area, I was able to find almost an endless list of events that are planned including speakers, neighborhood garden open houses, food truck culinary appreciation, nutrition education, university sponsored events, and the list goes on! If you go to the FoodDay.org events page, enter your zip code or address to find something that is going on within your neighborhood. Among a few of my favorites include:

- Food Day Proclamation

- Food Day Food Truck Festival (13th-17th St and K St NW)

- Food Day Extravaganza

- Inaugural Bike Blender Smoothie Sale

- American University’s 3 Day Celebration also click here for more details: AU’s Food Day 2011 Celebration AUFood Day

And so many more!!

Check out the website, find what is going on in or around your neighborhood, and go celebrate Food Day 2011!

Strathmore Presents

MICHAEL POLLAN

IN DEFENSE OF FOOD: THE OMNIVORE’S SOLUTION

America’s Leading Voice on Food Industry Opens Strathmore’s 2011-12 Speaker Series

NORTH BETHESDA, MD – Acclaimed food writer, activist and “liberal foodie intellectual” (The New York Times) Michael Pollan takes aim at nutritionism as he explores food consumption and the industry that surrounds it in the first engagement of Strathmore’s 2011-2012 speaker series on Wednesday, October 26, 2011 at 8 p.m. in the Music Center. After the demolition of the Food Pyramid in favor the USDA’s new Food Plate and just in time for families to ditch their Halloween candy, Pollan explores the theory of nutritionism, its flawed science and its dire impact on Western health. In making a case for more basic, natural foods rather than “edible, food-like substances,” Pollan candidly reveals the industrialization of agriculture and highlights the growing national movement to renovate the food system.

For more information or to purchase tickets, call (301) 581-5100 or visit www.strathmore.org.

Full PDF Text of the Press Release from the Strathmore Music Center – Michael Pollan – Oct 26 2011

(This announcement was sent out via the COMFOOD listserve)

Check out the event that’s happening at Georgetown University TONIGHT Tuesday, October 4th, at 5:30! Gerardo Reyes and Greg Asbed of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers as well as “Tomatoland” author Barry Estabrook will be present for a presentation and then a wider popular education discussion afterwards. It would be great to have local food justice folks present to bring the local issues and happenings of D.C. to the table!

Click here or on the image below for more information about the event!!

What can you do to help make DC a more green, energy efficient and more enjoyable environment to live in? Read the news release that was recently put out by the sustainability campaign, “Sustainable DC” by Mayor Vincent Gray:

From green energy to bikeshare, the District is leading on many environmental fronts. Mayor Vincent Gray recently announced an ambitious initiative to create a comprehensive sustainability strategy for the District called “Sustainable DC.” The planning process for this unprecedented strategy is kicking off today with “Start in September,” a month-long intensive outreach campaign to hear how District residents envision a more sustainable future in the District.

We are excited to announce the launch of “Start in September” website www.sustainable.dc.gov — where you can discuss your vision for a greener, healthier, more livable DC, see what others are saying, and vote for your favorite ideas. Since a major goal for “Start in September” is to have dozens of community-led conversations gathering ideas and goals for a more sustainable DC, the website also offers resources to help you host your own “Start in September” community discussions. These resources include a community calendar, where you can request to have your event featured, a discussion guide to help facilitate your conversation, and the option to sign up for more updates throughout the planning process.

As a community leader, we need your help to reach as many people as possible! Your leadership in facilitating these conversations is the key to creating a sustainability strategy founded on the collective vision of all District residents. The District hopes to inspire dozens of community-led conversations gathering ideas and goals for a more Sustainable DC in the areas of energy, climate change, water, transportation, waste, food, the built environment, na­ture, and the green economy.

Finally, as the name implies, “Start in September” is just the beginning of this process. Over the next six months, we will continue to hear more of your and your community’s thoughts and ideas on how to make the District a more sustainable place to live, work, and play. Should you have any questions about “Start in September” or Sustainable DC in general, please don’t hesitate to contact us at sustainable.future@dc.gov or 202-281-3957.