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Green Matters Symposium

The Green Matters Symposium concentrates attention on environmental issues with which we are currently faced and over which we have some control. Environmental stewardship is a core value of the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC), Brookside Gardens' parent organization. As such, we strive to provide timely information and viable solutions to environmental challenges, because we feel strongly that green does matter.

Held annually on the last Friday in February, Green Matters is meant to educate professional and amateur gardeners, community leaders, nursery and landscape professionals, garden designers, municipal, county, state parks personnel, environmental educators, extension agents, and others about the importance of sustainability to the green industry. Previous Green Matters have focused on topics such as invasive plants, water-wise landscapes, and sustainable landscapes.

Green Matters 2010: Food for Thought

Green Matters Symposium 2010: Food for Thought

This year’s Green Matters will focus attention on the importance of a local food economy and the impact locally- and sustainably-produced food can have on the environment, human health and well-being, and the surrounding community. Learn about the ecological and social benefits of sustainable food, resources for growing and cooking with high quality produce at home, incorporating edible plants into your ornamental garden, and organizations that are fostering community development through growing food.

To register, download the Registration Form (pdf 115k) or online through ParkPASS, course #97849. For more information about Green Matters, contact Mark Richardson, Adult Education Programs Manager, at 301-962-1470.

Schedule

8:30am
 Registration
8:45
 Welcome
9:00
 Eat the Sky: The Climate Crisis and our Plates
Anna Lappé, Author, Diet for a Hot Planet and Cofounder, Small Planet Institute
In 1971, Frances Moore Lappé’s Diet for a Small Planet sparked a revolution in how we think about food, alerting millions to the environmental cost and social impact of our food choices. Now, nearly four decades later, her daughter, Anna Lappé, picks up the conversation. In Diet for a Hot Planet, Anna Lappé exposes another hidden cost of our modern food system: the climate crisis. From seed to plate to landfill, the food system—including agriculture, food production, and land use changes—is responsible for as much as one-third of man-made greenhouse gas emissions. Livestock production alone is associated with 18 percent of global emissions, more than from all transportation combined. In this engaging session, Lappé helps us see that if we are serious about addressing climate change, we have to talk about food. She exposes the interests resisting this conversation and the spin-tactics employed to avoid it. Lappé also presents a vision of a future in which our food system is a key part of healing the planet—and the climate.
10:00
 Break
10:15
 Healthy Soil = Healthy Food = Happy People
Mark Highland, "The Organic Mechanic," Founder & President, Organic Mechanics Soil Company, LLC
It all begins with soil. Gardens emerge from the earth each year, but what really influences how healthy plants are or how big they get? Did you know the soil is alive? Referred to as the soil food web, this interconnected environment directly influences root growth, nutrient absorption, and overall plant health. Mark will discuss how to build soil food webs, why they work to make plants healthy, and what they mean for you, the gardener, and the food you pull from the earth.
11:00
 Learn, Grow, Network: University of Maryland Extension's Grow It Eat It Campaign
Jon Traunfeld, State Master Gardener Coordinator and Director of Grow It Eat It
The Grow It Eat It campaign was launched in 2009 to teach and promote food production, and to create an interactive network of food gardeners. Master Gardeners and the Home and Garden Information Center are the two University of Maryland Extension units driving the action. Classes, workshops, demonstration gardens, web site, and social media tools were all developed and used to teach, support, and engage the public. 2010 challenges are to increase web site content and network interaction, identify new partners and resources, and respond to 2009 survey results.
11:45
 Lunch
1:00pm
 Designing the New Kitchen Garden
Jennifer Bartley, Landscape Architect and Author, Designing the New Kitchen Garden: An American Potager Handbook
The outdoor kitchen garden, or potager, is the new hearth of the home where we linger with friends or enjoy the solace of working alone, but always have something to nibble on as we gather flowers for the table, basil for the pasta and heirloom greens for the salad. This is a practical and inspirational talk on how we can grow our own food… beautifully. Jennifer Bartley shares her vision for borrowing design ideas from the grand edible gardens of France with an American twist so you can create your own ornamental and useful kitchen garden right outside the back door or even in your front yard.
1:45
 Break
2:00
 Engaging Community Panel Discussion
Ann Mattingly, Community Gardens Manager, Delaware Center for Horticulture
David Vismara, Chief of Horticultural Services, Montgomery County Parks
and Woody Woodroof, Founder & Executive Director, Red Wiggler Community Farm
It might seem overwhelming to begin a new urban agriculture project or program; however, countless individuals and organizations across the country are taking projects successfully from concept to completion. Each success story can inspire, inform, and encourage others by shedding light on critical questions, like where to begin, how to avoid pitfalls, and most importantly, how to cultivate community support. In this panel discussion, learn about three very different urban agriculture programs, from a community farm that creates meaningful jobs for adults with developmental disabilities, to a new community garden program in Montgomery County, and a greening organization that runs a horticultural job skills training program in a women’s correctional institution in Wilmington, Delaware. Discover how these programs developed, learn from their achievements and frustrations, and find out how you might affect positive change in your community.
3:15
 Local and Organic? Yes, We Can
Nora Pouillon, Pioneer & Champion of Organic, Environmentally Conscious Cuisine & Chef/Owner, Restaurant Nora
Today, a dedication to organics is no longer an indulgence or a fashion trend – it is a sound business, environmental and health decision for both restaurants and individuals. It connects to a much larger aspiration to influence our lives and the lives of future generations for the good. Opening Restaurant Nora in 1979, Nora Pouillon decided to share her insights and realizations to create a venue that offers local, sustainable, organic food. In a long process to bring increased awareness and credibility to organic food, the challenge of becoming the first “certified organic” restaurant required standards and rules to be written specifically for Nora’s, as no guidelines previously existed. Losing farmers in this process due to personal philosophies, certification charges, and regional particularities, and in addition to trying to find cooks who supported the same philosophy that Nora’s embodies, certification proved to be a very challenging journey. However, Restaurant Nora is proof that both local and organic are possible.

Featured Speakers

Anna Lappé is a bestselling author and a founding principal of the Small Planet Institute and Small Planet Fund. She is the co-author of Hope’s Edge, with her mother Frances Moore Lappé and Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen with Bryant Terry. She can be seen as the host for MSN’s Practical Guide to Healthier Living and The Endless Feast, a 13-part series for public television about the connection between food, farming, and community. An active board member of Rainforest Action Network, Anna has been named one of Time’s “Eco” Who’s Who and has been featured in The New York Times, Gourmet, O-The Oprah Magazine, Food & Wine, and Vibe, among many other outlets. Anna’s third book, Diet for a Hot Planet: The Climate Crisis at the End of Our Fork will be published in April 2010 by Bloomsbury. Learn more at www.smallplanet.org and www.takeabite.cc.

Mark Highland, Founder and President of The Organic Mechanics Soil Company, L.L.C. pushed his first shovel into garden soil on a beautiful piece of his grandfather’s Illinois farmland. Mark earned a B.S. in Environmental Horticulture at the University of Florida, where he first developed the idea of starting an organic soil company. Later, as a student in the University of Delaware’s Longwood Graduate Program, he researched the possibility of using compost as a replacement for peat moss in soil-less media. After completing the graduate program, Mark continued his research for one year at Longwood Gardens as the Compost & Soil Specialist before launching his company in 2005. Mark frequently lectures at public gardens, industry conferences, and private events. In his free time, he works as a consultant for the Environmental Protection Agency, helping farmers compost food waste to reduce the amount of organic materials going to landfills in the Mid-Atlantic region.

Jon Traunfeld has over 30 years of agricultural and gardening experience. He started his career with University of Maryland Extension in 1989 in Baltimore City, where he helped develop community gardens and train Master Gardeners. Jon now serves as Director of the Home and Garden Information Center and State Master Gardener Coordinator. He is an Extension Specialist in Vegetables and Fruits with a focus on small-scale food production.

Jennifer Bartley is a registered landscape architect who holds a master’s degree in landscape architecture from The Ohio State University, where she has served as an adjunct professor. She is founder of the design firm, American Potager LLC and is passionate about creating outdoor garden spaces that are well designed, functional and beautiful - gardens that feed the soul as well as the stomach. She is committed to choosing the right plant for the right place and is an expert in creating seasonal, edible and sustainable gardens. Jennifer spent the last year planting, growing, harvesting, eating and then photographing great food for her new book, The Homegrown Table: Gardening, Harvesting, and Cooking with the Seasons, to be released in fall of 2010. She is the author, watercolor illustrator and photographer of the book Designing the New Kitchen Garden: An American Potager Handbook also published by Timber Press.

Ann Mattingly is the Community Gardens Manager at Delaware Center for Horticulture, a nonprofit, community greening organization in Wilmington, Delaware, where she supports new and existing urban agricultural projects in and around the city. Ann leads the Urban Farm Coalition, a group of partnering organizations and individuals she founded to support urban agricultural projects in Delaware. In spring 2009, the Coalition worked closely with an east Wilmington community to implement the city’s first urban farm. In addition to her urban agricultural projects, Ann leads a horticulture job skills training program in Baylor Women’s Correctional Institute, the only women’s prison in Delaware. Over the past five years, Ann has grown the program substantially. In 2010, she is looking forward to further development of the program thanks to a generous grant that will facilitate partnership with regional landscape industry professionals.

David Vismara, Chief of the Horticultural Services Division for Montgomery County Parks, has more than 30 years of experience working in public garden and park management. After graduating from the University of Missouri with a B.S. in Horticulture, he began his public horticulture career at the Missouri Botanical Garden, before continuing on to Powell Gardens, and the Chicago Botanic Garden. David previously served as Director of Brookside Gardens before taking on his new role with Montgomery County Parks in 2008. As Chief of Horticultural Services, David continues to play a leadership role with Brookside Gardens and oversees the Park’s arboriculture and horticulture programs. He also has the unique opportunity to lead the continuing development of the Parks Community Garden Program and to coordinate the No Child Left Inside initiative.

Woody Woodroof studied photography under landscape photographer Kent Bowser at Denison University where, in 1988, he received a BFA in Photography. For several years, Woody continued his photographic education and exploration by working as a freelance photographer in the southwestern United States. In the mid-1990’s, Woody found himself in a part-time job working with adults with developmental disabilities, an experience that led him to found the nonprofit Red Wiggler Community Farm. At Red Wiggler, Woody implemented a creative approach to the employment needs of adults with developmental disabilities through organic farming. Today, the Red Wiggler Community Farm’s mission is to “create fertile ground to nourish a healthy and inclusive community” through its unique job training and employment opportunities, service learning programs for area youth, environmental stewardship and a vibrant Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program.

Nora Pouillon is a pioneer and champion of organic, environmentally conscious cuisine who promotes and embodies healthy, sustainable living. She is the chef and owner of Restaurant Nora, the first certified organic restaurant in the United States which opened in 1979. Nora presently sits on the board of directors for numerous organizations including the Amazon Conservation Team, the Environmental Film Festival, Fresh Farm Markets, Earth Day Network, Sea Web and Wholesome Wave. Most recently Nora celebrated the release of the documentary Nora!, which premiered at the 2009 Environmental Film Festival. The film reflects upon Nora’s achievements beginning as a cooking instructor and evolving into a chef and restaurant owner as well as an advocate for the organic and sustainable food movement. In 2009, Nora received the WCR Genesis Award, the Culinary Professional Award from Santé, and the Mayor’s Environmental Excellence Award. In addition, she and her partners also founded Changing Seas, a sustainable aquaculture business.

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