Maryland Day: Saturday April 28th

Visit the Public Health Garden on Maryland Day 2012 to check out all the amazing progress we've made in a single year (and all the other exciting, free, educational, agricultural, conservationist, delicious, etc - things happening on campus). We hope you will still be able to stop by and celebrate the success of this project with us!

The university has a great Plan Your Day feature on the Maryland Day website that you can visit in order to narrow down which activities you don't want to miss and print out your own itinerary. The Public Health Garden is listed under the football icon "Sports and Rec Row."

Parking is free anywhere on campus all day and events run from 10:00am - 4:00pm. And remember, the earlier you come, the better chance you have at snagging one of our plant giveaways :-)

Chesapeake Bay Week on MPT

Did you know that the Chesapeake Bay estuary, the largest in the United States, was created by a meteor impact? Can you identify which aquatic life is native, invasive, protected and depleted? Want to know how you and your community contribute to the well-being of the Bay? Lucky for you, this week is Chesapeake Bay Week on Maryland Public Television! Programming throughout April 15-22 2012 will be highlighting some hot topics around the watershed  including several brand new programs:

• Menhaden: The Most Important Fish in the Bay - Exploration of how the harvesting of Menhaden from the Chesapeake Bay is affecting its water quality (Monday April 16th 10:00pm, Tuesday April 17th 2:00am)
• The Maryland Harvest: A Guide to Seasonal Eating - The food-to-table movement in Maryland and its impact on Maryland restaurants, chefs, farmers and consumers (Tuesday April 19th 9:00pm, Wednesday April 18th 2:00am)
• Restoring the Bay: New Solutions for Old Problems - Riverkeeper Fred Kelley faces challenges to help clean up the Severn River (Tuesday April 19th 10:30pm, Wednesday April 18th 3:30am)

These are just a few of the new and returning programs so be sure and check the website for the full programming lineup and set those DVRs! The week wraps up with a live music broadcast in affiliation with all the amazing folks at WTMD 89.7 too. More info on the Concert for the Chesapeake Bay here. Want more facts? Visit: Chesapeake Bay Journal..

The Accokeek Foundation and CSAs

The 200 acres of Piscataway National Park that Accokeek stewards was established in 1957 as one of the nation's first land trusts. Originally founded to protect the glorious view accross the Potomac River from Mount Vernon, the property now offers a network of trails winding through wetlands, a native tree arboretum, an outdoor living history museum, an award-winning forest restoration project, an organic Ecosystem Farm emphasizing the future of agriculture, and perhaps most importantly, it serves as a teaching facility where farmers come to learn the tools of a new trade and practice sustainable use of natural resources. Did I mention they have a great blog too?

Last week, I had the pleasure of attending Accokeek's seminar "Successful CSAs: How to Start and Manage a Community Supported Agriculture Program" with my newest partner-in-learning, Allison Lilly. A panel of farmers who operate CSAs ranging from two-acre, 26-share, leased properties to hundred-acre, 1900-share farms, spoke about land-planning, seed-saving and the overall pros and cons of the biz. While I learned quite a few valubale lessons for my future farming endeavors, I imagine our readers are more likely to purchase a share in a CSA than try and start one up so I've decided to share a few tips for anyone interested in supporting community agriculture. Here goes:

• Understand your investment. Purchasing a share in community agriculture means fresh, local produce on a weekly basis for a reasonable price. Your farmer will collect your investment at planting time and you will receive the invaluable peace of mind of knowing exactly where your produce (and sometimes eggs) comes from for 20-24 weeks out of the year. Remember, you are putting your faith in the farmer and eating in-season with respect to the weather so... have reasonable expectations. You may not get strawberries every week but you will be exposed to new flavors (and probably plenty of kale).

• Find the best fit. If you want to bring your kids to pick their own berries, be sure your farmer offers that service. Some CSAs serve larger volumes and farm on hundreds of acres. This means dangerous machinery, busy business and a tight schedule - which isn't neccessarily conducive to drop-in visitors and volunteers. Smaller farms may offer a price break in exchange for weekly or monthly volunteer hours. To search your local listings visit LocalHarvest.org.

• Consider your shopping habits and expectations. Just as scale will vary between farms, so will the product you take. Some CSAs offer a certain number of products in a pick-and-choose manner. Members can come and take two-shares of tomatoes and skip the chard, or several watermelons instead of something less tantilizing to their taste. Others offer a box with equal amounts of each weekly harvest and perhaps a recipe for the lesser-known veggie they grew for your cooking adventures.

• (Maybe) Negotiate (during the last hour) at the Farmers Market, not the CSA. The price per share is carefully calculated based on size, soil capability, labor, climate and everything else that any business has to account for. Asking a farmer to lower it, or to go through the added complications of half-shares, can be disrespectful. Not to mention, a lot of sweat equity goes into farming. Just because massive distribution systems allow the big grocers to sell certain foods very cheap, doesn't mean a farmer can afford to offer such price breaks.

Additional infomation about Community Supported Agriculture can be found on the Local Harvest website. Additional information about educational opportunities at the Accokeek Foundation can be found on their website. Additional pictures and information from our recent adventure out to Accokeek can be found on Adventures in Container Gardening.

Spring March of the Stink Bugs!

These last few days of warm weather have been lovely, but for many Marylanders the warm sunshine has brought an increase in brown marmorated stink bug sightings along with it. And the more we see, the stranger the places they tend to pop up. My sister came upon one resting confidently under the shampoo cap during a morning shower. I've heard stories of 'em hitchhiking on vehicles for hours, crawling into beds, and surviving spin cycles - but perhaps the most heebie-jeebie inducing is mentioned in a recent baltimoresun.com post by Frank Roylance, aptly titled "they're baaaack." Breakfast, anyone?

Turkey, Tofu or Pheasant?

Okay, folks. We better get down to the meat of this holiday before everyone runs out to purchase (or hunt) their turkey or turkey alternative. Let me start by reminding you guys that turkeys themselves are a fairly new addition to the Thanksgiving holiday. The birds on the first Thanksgiving tables were pheasants and ducks, a far cry from the six-eight legged super NFL turkey.

Heritage Turkeys: For Food Activists and Slow Food Friends

These gobblers are the ancestors of the common Broad-breasted White industrial breed of turkey you will find in most grocery bins and their breeds (including the Standard Bronze, Bourbon Red, Narragansett, Jersey Buff, Slate, Black Spanish, White Holland, Royal Palm, White Midget and Beltsville Small White) have been preserved alongside their quality of life. Raising heritage breeds is more costly and time consuming for the farmer but better for biodiversity, the turkey and the consumer. Supermarket turkeys grow to an average of 32 pounds over 18 weeks. Often times they can't even walk and their narrow genetic base leaves them highly susceptible to disease. Heritage birds, on the other hand, take 24-30 weeks to reach their market weight and live their lives with far more dignity. Read more about Heritage turkeys here. And click here to browse the Maryland Department of Agriculture's Turkey Farm listings.

Pheasant and Small Game Fowl: For the Hunters

Those of you who stay basic and dine on self-caught meat like the Pilgrims get the award for being the most sustainable. John Manikowski, the creator of the Wild Fish & Game Cookbook, wrote a wonderful essay for the Global Gourmet back in 1996 that is a great how-to as well as why-to for those of you plan to dine on pheasant or another kind of small game fowl.


Tofurky: For the Vegetarians

Having spent quite a few Thanksgiving holidays as a vegetarian, I think it is safe to say that even a conventional store-bought feast offers more than enough for a great "side item sampler." But of course I realize that our vegetarian hosts out there may want to have that main dish in the center of the table so in comes the notorious Tofurky. Kudos for the fact that no animals were harmed in the making of your meat-substitute, but please remember that the Tofurky, like the common Broad-breasted white turkey found on the shelf nearby, is probably not the most sustainable choice.

Turducken: For Heaven's Sake, How Are You On This Blog?!

Visited Wikipedia for this one. Their definition is as follows: "A turducken is a dish consisting of a de-boned chicken stuffed into a de-boned duck, which itself is stuffed into a de-boned turkey. The word turducken is a portmanteau of turkey, duck, and chicken or hen. The thoracic cavity of the chicken/game hen and the rest of the gaps are stuffed, sometimes with a highly seasoned breadcrumb mixture or sausage meat, although some versions have a different stuffing for each bird. The result is a fairly solid layered poultry dish, suitable for cooking by braising, roasting, grilling, or barbecuing."

Our definition: A gluttonous dish consisting of several factory-farmed meats shoved into one another (likely by machine) that may have some historical and traditional relevance to the very wealthiest of 18th century diners but now caters mainly to the growing obesity epidemic in America (not to mention heart disease and many other health problems associated with a western diet).

Commercial Wind Turbine Developments on the Maryland Coast

Timothy B. Wheeler for The Baltimore Sun reports:

"The federal government on Monday invited bids from wind power developers to place turbines off Maryland's coast, taking the first step toward what could be the nation's largest offshore commercial wind project to date.

The Department of Interior identified a 277 nautical-square-mile area off the state's 31-mile coast for possible leasing, largely accepting the recommendations of a state task force that has been studying offshore wind prospects since early this year. The turbines nearest to shore could be placed 10 nautical miles off Ocean City and 20 nautical miles off Assateague National Seashore."

And while we're on the subject of wind, I'd like to remind everyone to check out the incredible ideas born from the GE Ecomagination Challenge. Winners and new partners will be announced on the official site on Tuesday November 16th, 2010.

This just in. And essential.

The Howard County Economic Development Authority just announced the release of From My Backyard to Our Bay, a residential guide to help citizens in Howard and Montgomery counties improve our local environment and watersheds.

The guide, available for download here, offers tips for "living in harmony with the Chesapeake Bay. It provides ideas for how you can contribute to the health of your local watershed, maintain an environmentally friendly lawn, and manage storm-water runoff, wells, and septic systems--all in ways that will reduce the flow of nutrients and sediment into the bay."

As many of you are aware, excess nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment encourage the growth of algae that can be toxic to marine life - think Dead Zones - so it is essential that we learn how to care for and manage agricultural practices in our own communities and backyards as to not effect the water quality in the Chesapeake Bay. It's as simple as proper waste disposal, cleaning up after pets, controlling weeds, and managing your water and energy use.

This guide, although focused on the Chesapeake Bay region, is applicable far beyond the borders of these two counties. Pages and pages of valuable information in here, folks.

(Thnx, Singleton. Big time. This is fantastic.)

Go Tigers!

Just learned that my alma mater Towson University made The Princeton Review's Guide to Green Colleges, for having demonstrated an above-average commitment to sustainability in terms of campus infrastructure, activities and initiatives. Eight colleges in Maryland made it into the list of 286. Learn more about the Green Campus Campaign here and check out the Guide to see if your own institute of higher education made the cut.