During the month of June, Food Council Members, Working Group members, and staff had the opportunity to visit two gardens in Montgomery County. We first visited the White Oak Community Youth Garden and met several of the children and Master Gardeners who tend to the produce, herbs, and flowers growing right outside of the White Oak Community Recreation Center. Later in the month, we visited Love & Carrots Urban Garden at The Pearl in Silver Spring. This new urban garden was an intriguing model for possible urban garden development throughout the county.
At the White Oak Community Recreation Center, elementary-aged children enrolled in after school care
have the option to spend time in the Youth Garden, overseen by Montgomery County Master Gardeners. The produce that is picked from the garden, ranging from Thai basil to sweet potatoes, is sent home with the children, many of whom come from immigrant families or low income neighborhoods. The garden uses seed donations, and is largely funded by an Urban Youth Garden grant from the Department of Agriculture. The Master Gardeners volunteer their time to teach the children how to grow and maintain a garden, and the students are also exposed to some nutrition education by volunteers and staff who are trained in Food Supplement Nutrition Education. Our visit to the White Oak Community Youth Garden was inspiring, and we hope to encourage similar garden programs at locations throughout the county.
Similarly to the White Oak Community Youth Garden, Love & Carrots Urban Garden in Silver Spring strays from the norm of a sprawling, out-of-the way rural farm. This urban garden was built in the fall of 2017, and this spring yielded the first batch of crops for farmers Natalie and Meredith to harvest and distribute to residents of The Pearl Apartments. Love & Carrots is a DC-based gardening company that specializes in both residential and urban gardens, and was asked to create an urban garden on site by the property owners of The Pearl. Most of the produce, including collard greens, berries, kohlrabi, and figs, is distributed once per month to residents who pay a small monthly fee, and the rest is used in a monthly dinner open to all residents, prepared by the head chef at The Pearl. We learned about their on-farm composting process, and the benefits and challenges of urban farming. Our group was impressed by the variety and quantity of plants that could be grown in such a small space.
Thank you to the staff at White Oak Community Recreation Center, the Master Gardeners, and the Love & Carrots staff who made our visits so enjoyable and educational!