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News

Breweries and Wineries in Rural MoCo

11/11/2016

 
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Fall is a time of harvest, but also to prepare the den for hibernation and a slower pace. Here are local spots to catch the last of the leaves color over a pint or glass and bring some home for those longer winter evenings to come. 

Wineries
Rocklands Farm and Vineyard
Sugarloaf Mountain Vineyard
Windridge Vineyard
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Breweries
​Brookeville Beer Farm
Waredaca Brewing
​Landmade Brewing

Eating Local All Year Round

11/8/2016

 
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Local food is not just tomatoes in the peak of summer. There are lots of ways to eat local even in the dead of winter. 
​Montgomery County is home to a few great year round markets.  Or if you are living farther afield check out Local Harvest
There are also some great resturaunts and retail outlets that sell local produce and products. 
And don't forget to drink local as well- rural Montgomery County is home to some great breweries and wineries. 
A great read on the topic of eating local all year is Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable Miracle: A Year of Food Life. The website also features some great late winter recipies. 

Southern Maryland Stuffed Ham Recipe

11/7/2016

 
Amanda Cather - farmer at Plow and Stars Farm shared this family recipe for Ernie Woodall's Stuffed Ham. Amanda says this was her first introduction to kale and that Ernie always said that when you were mixing the stuffing and stuffing the ham, your hands should burn.  Apparently he liked it spicy!  We've transcribed it below from the lovingly stained recipe card Amanda provided. 
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1 12-14lb Corned Ham
2 large heads of cabbage
3lbs Kale
3lbs Onions
1 bunch celery 
1 box of mustard seed (2 3/8 oz) 
1 box celery seed (13/4oz)
7 rounded tablespoon red pepper
10 rounded tablespoon salt
3 rounded teaspoon crushed red pepper

Chop all greens then add seasonings. Mix well. Put into old pillowcase and pre-cook for 20 minutes. Drain and let cool.Bone ham, cut off shank. Cut holes into ham 2 inches long, as many as possible top and bottom. Stuff with dressings. Place leftover dressings on top of ham and cover all with heavy duty foil. Place in pan put in oven. Bake at 350 for 4.5 hours. Let cool put in refrigerator overnight before slicing. 

Success! Poplar Hill Rd To Remain Unpaved- for now...Take Action!

11/6/2016

 
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Poplar Hill Road, one of 98 Rustic Roads in the County (Map it here) will be paved tomorrow morning. 

Update!
 

 Thanks to the many timely emails (also Marc Elrich, Dale Tibbitts, Roger Berliner) a stop work order was issued while this is properly sorted out.
However, DOT continues to assert that this paving is a must for safety. We trust that minds can be opened to a better- effective, ecological and economical solution - as proposed by Rustic Roads Advisory Committee.
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Now a new request- please write to County Exec Leggett to use Poplar Hill Road as a model of gravel road maintenance techniques per the recommendation in the letter from RRAC. Tell Ike Leggett- Rustic Roads Matter!

Write: [email protected]
Cc: [email protected]

Bcc: [email protected]

Read on for the original post...

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Great Emails on Rustic Roads

11/6/2016

 
Some great correspondence went to County Executive Leggett's office to express concerns about the paving of rustic Poplar Hill Rd in Darnestown. Leggett put in the asked for stop-work order and now we have the opportunity to push for this historic road to be the test case for gravel road best management practices at the Rustic Roads Advisory Committee has asked for.
Take Action!
And with good reason- keeping gravel roads unpaved will keep less runoff from sensitive streams, keep roads workable for recreation of bikes, horses, hikers and cars at the same time, keep speed low on twisty roads with low visibility and keep maintenance costs lower. 

Here are some choice excerpts from emails to the County Exec on Rustic Roads: ​
It may be useful to remember why the concept of rustic roads was introduced before altering the Poplar Hill Road, one of the 98 Rustic Roads in the County. The concerns raised by RRAC point to a serious breech of the forward-looking promise of the County Council to safeguard the gravel roads as a continuing legacy of the agricultural reserve. A stop work order for work on Poplar Hill Road is urgent until the RRAC concerns have been addressed.

I must say that I am appalled that the County with your apparent blessing now intends to pave over Poplar Hill Road, in direct contradiction to the advice and recommendation of the Montgomery County Rustic Roads Advisory Committee.

I am doubly disappointed that the Montgomery County Department of Transportation intends to undertake this travesty in the name of "maintenance."  
The November 4, 2016 letter from the Advisory Committee sets out the many salient reasons why paving Poplar Hill Road -- and other County Rustic Roads -- is a terrible idea.  But the Advisory Committee is not alone in its view.  The National Institutes of Health has recognized that turning permeable into impermeable surfaces seriously threatens for the environment.  See Paving Paradise: the Peril of Impervious Surfaces,  www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1257665.


The 1.1-million-acre Chesapeake Bay watershed, one of the most diverse and delicate ecosystems in the world, is now being impacted by the 400,000 acres of impervious surfaces in Maryland. ​

The Reserve's Animal Residents

11/2/2016

 
With one week to go in a very contentious election season, it can seem like we are divided on everything, there is no common ground. In this time of great division, we think we've found something folks can come together on - cute farm animals. Please enjoy and remember to vote. 
No matter the outcomes on Tuesday, we at MCA will still be protecting farms on metro's edge and safeguarding the region's water supply. Please consider becoming a new member or renewing with your gift today.

 

Rustic Roads

11/2/2016

 
"Country Road...Take Me Home.." you know the rest. The author of the song, Bill Danoff had never been to West Virginia before writing the song but instead got inspired by the winding roads of rural Maryland. The Reserve is not just farms and open space, but the arteries between them that make it a cohesive whole.  The 98 Rustic and Exceptionally Rustic Roads preserve a sense of place and are protected under the Rustic Roads program. 

Report on 20 years of Rustic Roads
​
Rustic Roads in the Media: Potomac Almanac
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ABOUT US
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Montgomery Countryside Alliance
P.O Box 24, Poolesville, MD  20837
301-461-9831  •  ​[email protected]
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MCA is proud to announce that we have been recognized for a third time as one of the best small charities in the D.C. region by Catalogue for Philanthropy: Greater Washington. A panel of 110 expert reviewers from area foundations, corporate giving programs, and peer non-profit organizations evaluated 270 applications.

​MCA is known as an effective and innovative non-profit whose efforts to preserve and promote Montgomery County’s nationally recognized 93,000 acre Ag Reserve have brought increased public and governmental support of local food production and farmland and open space preservation. Most importantly, MCA’s efforts are putting more farmers on the ground and keeping them there.
COPYRIGHT © MONTGOMERY COUNTRYSIDE ALLIANCE 2008