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Ag Reserve Guide

We've got the best places to pick and sip and ride and paddle and learn and EXPLORE.....

View the Guide
 

Support Local

We all know how delicious freshly picked produce tastes, whether from your own garden or the farmer’s up the road. But eating locally grown food offers more than just an extra burst of flavor at your dinner table. 
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On average, food purchased in conventional grocery stores travels nearly 1500 miles before reaching your kitchen.  Opting for locally grown products, typically grown within 100 miles or less, requires significantly less fuel for transit.  The food is also less dependent on chemicals and preservatives to keep it “fresh” and is usually picked once ripe, making it fresher, more flavorful, and richer in color, and of course, healthier.  Purchasing from local growers also supports sustainable local economies and builds a healthy connection between farm and consumer.  Less money is spent on transport, preservatives, advertising and packaging of the products, and less waste is created as products move more directly from farm to table. ​

There are many ways to increase the amount of locally grown food in your diet.  See below for local food sources serving the greater Montgomery County area. 
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Truffula Farm
Where to get what when? A guide to local food all year round

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Hilary Schwab

Local Food Connection

Here are some great organizations and programs connecting local people with local food and farms. 
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Lee Langstaff

Community Supported Agriculture

The best way to support your local farmer- buying a "share" of the harvest and getting a box of the season's best each week. Like Christmas- but more tomatoes. 

Restaurants & Retail

These great dining establishments make an effort to use locally grown food, which everyone knows is the freshest, best tasting food around.
Find Local Food
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Truffula Farm

Artists of the Reserve

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Tina Thieme Brown "Waiting for Josh"
The Reserve inspires wonder and no where is this more visible than in the artists that call the Reserve home. Visitors can find furniture, metalwork, painting, fiber arts, pottery and more.
Countryside Artisans is a collection of cottage artists in rural Montgomery and Frederick Counties which runs seasonal self guided open studio tours. Check out their website for upcoming events.​
Learn More
ABOUT US
What We Do
A Brief History
Board & AC
Staff & Volunteers
Contact
​​Buy MCA Gear
ABOUT Ag RESERVE
History of the Ag
Benefits of the Ag
Farm Facts
Threats to the Ag
​A Place with Purpose
NEWS
EVENTS
Local Events
Ride for the Reserve
Royce Hanson Award
SUPPORT LOCAL
Ag Guide
Local Food Connection
Community Supported Agriculture
Restaurants & Retail
​Artists of the Reserve
COMMUNITY RESOURCES
​Land Link
Producer's Resources
Directory of Services
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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