Farmers take on the farm bill (audio)

MCA staff always enjoy attending the Future Harvest CASA (Chesapeake Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture) annual conference.  This year’s keynote, a conversation about the most recent Farm Bill and government support for sustainable ag, was broadcast on WEAA.  Be sure to listen for Frederick County farmer Will Morrow of Whitmore Farm, one of the panelists.

Science News: What’s happening to the bees?

What is happening to our honey bees?

Honeybee deaths linking to seed insecticide exposure…

How can we help?

Best plants for attracting bees…

The Xerces Society has some thoughts…

New Online Tools from Park and Planning

Montgomery County Park and Planning has added some neat tools to their site and we have in turn added them to our Government Links page.

Click the links below to check out the new tools.
Tree Canopy Explorer
Deer Hunting Park Closure Schedule
Historic Property Locator Tool
Forest Conservation Easement Tool

Star Gazing Farm on Perennial Plate (Video)

Perennial Palate, a fantastic road tripping local food web video series, stopped through town on their national tour and visited Farmer Anne  at Star Gazing Farm in the Reserve.  See the video here.
fyi- although the description says Virginia- this farm is very much in the MoCo Ag Reserve, a look at the satellite photos of the two states will tell you which side of the river a farm like this would be more likely to call home.
Want to watch more Perennial Palate? We can highly recommend the New Orleans episode.

Scenes from the Reserve: Building Soil at Grassential Farm (video)

From time to time, we like to bring the Reserve to you though videos and pictures. Here is Matt Rales from Grassential Farm discussing how he uses his farm animals to build soil and improve the health of the land. You can hear many of those animals in the background trying to steal the scene.

Scenes from the Reserve: Goats in the Winter Sun (video)

From time to time we like to bring you a look at the Reserve through pictures and videos. Watch goats doing their goat thing at Rocklands Farm (“locally known, sustainably grown”).

MD General Assembly 2012 Guide

Washington Post Local’s handy guide to the 2012 MD General Assembly can be found

Here.

MCA continues to press forward with MC right to farm initiatives and to guard against legislation that will provide for greater development density in the Reserve.

Farming Robots? Yes, with your help…

First Fruits Farm of Germantown is boldly going where few other farms have gone before. Mechanization of farming is old news but using robots to plant and harvest greenhouse crops is a novel concept. First Fruits is soliciting donations on Kickstarter.com, an online venture capital site where ordinary people can fund extraordinary projects.

From the Kickstarter profile:

“Remember R2D2 and the Skywalker ranch? We hope to make that vision of a small family farm of the future, a reality today.
By reducing labor and energy costs, we hope to bring affordable, organic, locally grown food to every neighborhood.
Help us change the world by developing a robot controlled DIY neighborhood farm which is powered entirely with free, local, sustainable, renewable energy sources like yard and food waste.
We are recycling motors, engines, and materials to develop a series of greenhouse robots that anyone can replicate with simple tools and access to their local dump, craigslist and freecycle.org.”

ECO-City Farm: The First Urban Farm in Prince George’s County

With only 2 years since it’s beginnings, ECO-City Farm, located in Prince George’s County, has seen great success in “growing great food, farms, and farmers.” The non-profit farm is well-known for growing and selling vegetables at the Riverdale Farmers Market, as well as hosting a farming summit, and engaging it’s community through a volunteer program. Interestingly enough, the farm is located specifically in an area where obesity and poverty are a familiar sight and healthy food is difficult to come by. It is exciting to see how these urban farms are sprouting up and succeeding throughout the country. We wonder, what positive ideas may come to fruition in our county in this new year?

Please read this encouraging Washington Informer interview with ECO-City Farm CEO Margaret Morgan-Hubbard here.

112th Audubon Christmas Bird Count

Each year the National Audubon Society gathers experienced and beginner birdwatchers for an annual bird count. This year marks the 112th season of the monitoring of bird health and conservation. Recently Ira Flatow of NPR, hosted a piece about the event on Science Friday. In case you missed it, click here for the link.

There are countless locations for the Christmas Bird Count throughout the country, including right here within the Agricultural Reserve. In fact, because of the variety of habitat, the Hughes Road Polo Fields are one of the most productive parcels of land, year after year, for counting birds. See the list of what was seen in Seneca, MD below, and grab your binoculars to observe for yourselves!

To learn more about the Audubon Christmas Bird Count and find ways to get involved, see their website here.

Next Page »