On Thursday, August 18, the Montgomery County Food Council’s gardening subcommittee, a subcommittee of the Food Education working group, came together at the White Oak Recreation Youth Garden. This was the first in person meet up for the gardening group, and was marked with a bountiful harvest by young folks from the White Oak Recreation Center, including tomatoes, beans, peppers, radishes, beets, beet greens, and more! Thanks to the White Oak Recreation Center and their beautiful kitchen, Robin Hernandez prepared a salsa with cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers from the garden and it was a big hit! New and familiar faces joined the meet up. Sustainability was discussed and how we can translate the idea of sustainability to quality of life: appreciating fruits and vegetables is important for young folks, and moving that nature connection into life sustaining work through income generation; value added products from crops, workforce development to promote jobs in nature based industry; and increasing access to garden based programs across the county. There were 20 adults in attendance, and two groups of about 15 students visited the garden during the meeting, and the first group enjoyed all the tasty treats, which were all from MOCO made folks (Injera chips, Believe N Bread cranberry cookies, and hummus). Please enjoy some of the photos taken during the tour.
Written by: Robin Hernandez, Healthy Eating Program Manager from Crossroads Community Food Network and Gardening Sub-committee Co-chair