The Bounty of Summer by Joyce Bailey
 
As I walked through my vegetable garden this morning, surrounded by tomatoes ripening on the vine, green beans growing longer and fatter by the day, and lots of leeks in need of harvest and a good home, I was reminded of how lucky we are to live in this area, where vegetables and fruits grow with such abundance.  In gratitude for such abundance, many of us want to share this extra produce with those who are currently experiencing food scarcity.
To make that easier, we now have drop off spots for our extra produce seven days a week.
 
Monday-Friday: drop off your produce at WUMCO (17550 W. Willard Rd, Poolesville, MD) from 9am to noon.  As a community we have been doing this for two years now and WUMCO is delighted to have fresh fruits and vegetables to share with others.
 
Saturday and Sunday:  drop off your produce at Locals newly opened community cold shed from 8 am to 3 pm. 
 
The community cold shed is located at Locals (19929 Fisher Ave, Poolesville MD) behind Poolesville Townhall.  Park on the side of the building where you will see a sign for the donation shed.  Once inside, you will see a notebook to sign your name and indicate what you brought.  Then continue through the insulated door to the cold part of the shed and place your donation in the crates on the left-hand side marked “Plant an Extra Row” and “Produce donations”.  Please make sure that you close the insulated door tightly when you leave the cold storage section of the shed.  Detailed directions are posted inside the shed as well.  Jenny Freeman will be stopping by to pick up the produce and get it to WUMCO and other area food bank groups.  Feel free to contact her at (301) 377-4267 with additional questions about the cold shed
 
So, the next time you walk through your garden, if you have too many squash or tomatoes, or any other fruits and vegetables, bring them to WUMCO or the cold storage shed at Locals.  It has never been easier, and no donation is too small.  If you are receiving a CSA share and can’t eat everything, please consider passing that along as well.  Some people are even purchasing extra produce at our local farm markets and donating that.  Together we can each make a difference and help to improve the quality of life for everyone in our little corner of the world. 
 

Lady Farmer is a Slow Living Community and Marketplace based in the Ag Reserve. Mother and Daughter team Emma and Mary focus on slow fashion, zero waste living and wellness. They have added to their offerings with a podcast called The Good Dirt. Our own executive Director Caroline Taylor joined them to discuss the promise of the Ag Reserve as a local food supply and regenerative climate solution. 
Listen to the episode here. 

MCA testified in a public hearing at the Council in support of Bill 16-21 that establishes Building Efficiency Performance Standards (BEPS).  The bill would compel existing buildings of over 25,00 square feet to cut their carbon emissions through a number of avenues from weatherization to installing onsite renewable energy. 

While the county, like many others across the country, has enacted efficiency requirements for new construction - this bill would make it the first county to enact requirements for existing buildings. Energy use in buildings makes up half of the County's total emissions - so to achieve the ambitious (but necessary) carbon reduction goals set forth by the county Climate Action Plan this bill is a logical step. 

MCA joined with Takoma Park Mobilization and many other groups in support of this bill. Video of our testimony below. 
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Post Coverage


-> Could you use help reducing the emissions of your own existing building? We hosted an informative webinar with the MoCo Green Bank about how residents and businesses can install solar of geothermal - and funding opportunities to help make it happen. 

The Thrive 2050 Plan is a sweeping update to the County's master plan that will guide growth, transportation and land use for the coming decades. In other words - a highly consequential document. (Scroll back through our many, many posts on this)

The plan seems to be speeding toward approval - with the record closing on 7/9. You would be forgiven for having just heard of this process - we have all had  a lot on our minds recently. Unfortunately, the draft that is up for a vote at the Council is woefully lacking. Not only it is a missed opportunity to meet our moment by laying out plans for climate resilience, forest protection and equity - it pales in comparison to the Thrive 2050 draft  that residents provided comment on in the public hearing. In fact, many of the specific action items from the earlier document were deleted or relegated to the appendix of the final plan - this includes forest and water protections, climate resiliency measures and strong support for the Ag Reserve. 
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(Ready to write to the council with our letter tool?)

A side by side comparison is instructive. Here is the Public Hearing Draft and the Current Final Draft. Because you likely don't have time to read through many hundreds of pages, we have done a word search for key terms that a plan guiding our county for the next decades should have.  (Important to note that both plans have the same number of pages)