FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Event Friday, October 25th, 1:00pm – 2:50pm
Contact: Lorien MacAuley, PhD, Food Economy, Agriculture, and Sustainability Consultant, Montgomery County Food Council
(703) 789-7748, [email protected]
Ribbon Cutting for Compost Education Hub and MoCo Microhub
What: Ribbon Cutting for MoCo Microhub and new Compost Demonstration Site
When: 1:00 PM – 2:50 PM
Where: Agricultural History Farm Park, 18410 Muncaster Rd, Derwood, MD 20855
Come tour and explore two new exciting projects at Montgomery County’s Agricultural History Farm Park on Friday, October 25th, 2024 from 1:00 PM to 2:50 PM. The two projects, the Compost Education Hub and the MoCo Microhub, will help farmers and gardeners safely store fresh fruits and vegetables, and learn how to make food waste into compost to enrich the soil and lead to more harvests of healthy fresh foods. The event will feature remarks from the County Executive, Marc Elrich, officials from the Office of Food Systems Resilience, and members of Montgomery County Council to conduct the ribbon cutting.
The Composting Education Hub (CEH) was built in partnership with the University of Maryland Extension Montgomery County Master Gardeners and the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. The first in the county, the CEH is dedicated to training both county residents and farmers on food scrap composting and compost use. The objective is to demonstrate how to close the loop on organics while improving soil quality and reducing the need for fertilizer, thus contributing to the County’s goals for solid waste reduction and climate action. The ribbon cutting for the CEH will take place outdoors behind the Master Gardeners’ Demonstration Garden from 1:00 PM to 1:50 PM, rain or shine.
The MoCo Microhub, funded by Washington Gas through the Food for Montgomery Fund of The Community Foundation, is an outdoor shared-use refrigerated unit. Many local farmers experience a shortage of refrigeration space, leading to spoilage of their products. This facility will allow County farmers to use a shared cold storage space to store their products safely at one central location for delivery to food pantries, schools, and businesses. The Microhub intends to address the need for increased cold storage capacity for county farm products and thereby contribute to the County’s food system resiliency goals. The Microhub is a collaboration between the Montgomery County Office of Agriculture and the Montgomery County Food Council. The Montgomery County Food Council builds an equitable, resilient, and sustainable local food system through collaboration, transformation, and cultivation. The ribbon cutting for the Microhub will take place inside the Office of Agriculture building, Multipurpose Room, then proceed outdoors, from 2:00 PM to 2:50 PM, rain or shine.
The general public is invited to attend from 1:00 PM to 2:50 PM. All are welcome. We look forward to seeing you at these events. If you would like to attend, please fill out the RSVP form by Friday, October 18th. Please contact Natalia Salazar, [email protected], with questions about the ribbon cutting event. Please contact Lorien MacAuley, [email protected], with any questions about the MoCo Microhub.
