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

Come party with Beet Street Gardens, 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, warm beverages for your spirit, along with garden photos and live tunes.

We are 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!

Questions: email info@beetstreetgardens.org

See you on the 11th!

Beet Street Gardens

www.beetstreetgardens.org

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.

Where: Madam’s Organ, 2461 18th St NW in Adams Morgan

What: Neighborhood Farm Initiative fundraiser to support Rooting DC 2012. Suggested donation of $15 includes entrance see and a Rooting DC t-shirt. Come to Madam’s Organ to eat, drink and enjoy the company of fellow RDC supporters. Madam’s Organ will graciously donate $1 per drink (including soda and juice) that is sold during happy hour, as well as 20% of all food sales! As always, seeds will be available from NFI!

We are seeking an energetic, creative individual with strong communication and social media skills to assist small staff with managing and advancing the organization’s communication systems.  The Communications/Media Intern will have the opportunity to work on a variety of communication projects involving website and blog maintenance, newsletter development and writing, coordinating presence on social media networks, communications database development and maintenance, writing articles and organizational communications, as well as assisting with programs and special events.

If you are interested please visit the Washington Youth Garden website for more information.

Arcadia is a new non-profit organization serving the Washington, DC area. Arcadia’s programs raise awareness about healthy food and its sources, and establish innovative connections between sustainable local farms and consumers.   We’re a small staff, so we truly rely on great interns and volunteers to make our programs run and our farm grow.

The deadline for applications is January 9, 2012.

Here is a great article for Thanksgiving reading and contemplating the way we cook and eat around this holiday, and how it can help improve our eating habits to make them more sustainable throughout the year: Written by Tamar Adler, an op-ed author for The New York Times, “Thanksgiving Thrift: The Holiday as a Model for Sustainable Cooking”

Communications for DC Advocates

On November 16th at 10:00 AM, join the DC Environmental Network for a special opportunity to polish your advocacy skills and learn about a new resource available to help guide your efforts to influence decision makers here in the District of Columbia.  Susie Cambria, a public policy consultant, will share more than 15 years of experience working on public policy and budget advocacy issues and talk about her new book, “Communications for DC Advocates: How-to’s and Lessons Learned Over 15 Years.”

RSVP Here & Learn More About Communications!

Background:

As environmental advocates in the District of Columbia it is often necessary to communicate our story and ideas to decision makers and the staff they work with. We communicate in many ways including through letters, meetings, fact sheets and briefings, to name a few. We often ask ourselves questions like (partial):

• What is the best way to write a letter to the Mayor or DC Council member?
• How do I prepare and deliver testimony and statements for the record?
• How do I create a fact sheet?
• What is the best structure for a meeting with an elected official or their staff?

Susie Cambria will share her insights and experiences that have made her one of the most effective advocates walking the halls of the John A. Wilson Building.  She will talk about the communications tools outlined in her new book, “Communications for DC Advocates” designed to give advocates a fundamental advantage when they walk into the legislative offices of our decision makers.

About Susie Cambria:

“The guide reflects the years of experience I have in advocacy and the many lessons learned doing public policy and budget advocacy work nationally, in Connecticut and most extensively in the District of Columbia.

I have more than 15 years of experience in DC Children’s policy and budget issues. In my work at DC Action for Children (1997-2008), I helped create a robust budget analysis and advocacy operation by establishing and maintaining relationships with elected and appointed officials and engaging the community in the work of protecting and nurturing children and youth across the District. I also created public education materials, trained others on effective budget and policy practices, and was (and remain, I am told) a respected advocate and analyst.”

RSVP Here & Learn More About Communications!

DC Environmental Network Training Opportunities: The DC Environmental Network has held many training opportunities over the years on grassroots organizing, working with the media and to educate about important environmental initiatives. In the last decade the number of environmental advocates roaming the halls of government in DC has increased ten fold. This is a special opportunity to meet with a very effective District advocate and to learn about communication practices that are easily transferable to our environmental advocacy efforts. It is strongly recommended that you take advantage of this opportunity. 

And currently this bill is being discussed in Congress behind closed doors and possibly will be enacted without any legislative debate.

So what are we, as consumers, supposed to do about this? First educate yourself. Know what the Farm Bill is (a challenging task, I know) but there are many resources and websites which have done a great job at unpacking the legislation into manageable bites of information. Second, write to your Congressman or Congresswoman. Already there has been a bipartisan group that has spoken out against this “secret” Farm Bill, but there needs to be more support. Third, continue to support your local farmers and urban growers. By supporting the local food system, we keep money in our communities as opposed to in the pockets of large multinational agribusiness corporations. As Wendell Berry is often quoted: “eating is an agricultural act.” It is true: where you choose to purchase your food is an agricultural choice as you are choosing to support a farmer and her/his agricultural practices. It is also a political one as well, as you can help to shape the kind of agriculture that U.S. policy supports and funds.

A few resources to help understand the Farm Bill:

Food and Water Watch’s Fair Farm Bill webpage.

Also the Facebook page Understanding the Farm Bill is an excellent wealth of news and information.

Understanding the Farm Bill Starts Here: All Our Articles in One Handy Place, May 25, 2011, by the Simple, Good and Tasty blog

An EXTENSIVE list of readings, articles, reports and explanations of the history of the Farm Bill, the programs within the omnibus bill, from the Community Alliance for Global Justice (CAGJ) out of Seattle, Washington. I would go here first for information.

Article on commodity subsidies (i.e. corn, soy, rice, milk) is a required read as well. By the Northwest Farm Bill Action Group.

and

An amazing website on the Declaration of the Youth Food Bill of Rights,  which was the product of this summer’s Rooted In Community (RIC) Leadership Summit. The Summit was hosted in Philadelphia, PA and attracted 37 different groups of youth gardeners, food justice advocates and urban gardeners from across the U.S. This raises the question of is our Farm Bill supporting the people’s right to food access and security? If not, then perhaps it needs to.

A few recent articles on the “Secret” Farm Bill. A quick search online will turn up many more.

Budget cuts could be recipe for change or disaster, October 24, 2011 & Digesting OWS: Why Food Lovers Need to Come to the Table, October 29, 2011, by Slow Food USA

27 Bipartisan Members of Congress Unite to Oppose “Secret Farm Bill”, November 3, 2011, by Oxfam America

Memo to Congress: No Secret Farm Bill, November 2, 2011, by The Nation‘s Mark Hertsgaard

And for some satire via political cartoon (thank you www.MisaSaburi.com and Slow Food USA):