Calling all early birds: Register now for Arcadia Farm Camp

Warmer months may seem far away, but we're already excited about a summer full of food, farming and fun: Registration for the 2013 season of Arcadia Farm Camp opens today! This year, we're even offering an Early Bird discount to campers who complete registration on or before March 15, so sign up now!

We're already busy planning a jam-packed schedule full of hands-on activities. There's tried and true activities, like building bug houses and making squish squash pasta, plus new ideas to try, like a food miles relay race and solar oven cooking. (101 Gardening Projects for Kids is one of our favorite resources for fun kids stuff.) We'll be working with our new Farm Director Stephen to find the right projects for young farmers and we're definitely recruiting chefs for some tasty seasonal cooking demos - email liz@arcadiafood.org if you know a chef who wants to stop by!

Plus, we're already accepting donations to the Arcadia Farm Camp Scholarship Fund. If you think it's important for all kids to have the opportunity to discover where their food comes from, head over to our scholarship fund page to learn more.

Welcome Stephen, new Arcadia Farm Director

Stephen Corrigan is Arcadia's new Farm Director! We're really glad to welcome him to the team. While there will surely be plenty of opportunities to meet him in person, read on to meet him virtually.

What experiences have prepared you for this position?
I’ve been growing and raising food for the better part of a decade now, working in a commercial setting for about 6 years, and as an educator for the last 4 years. Throughout that time, I’ve learned that in order to connect people with their food, we have to get them out there doing the work, seeing where their food is grown, and meeting the people who raise it. Once that curtain is lifted, it’s very difficult to see food as something that doesn’t matter. I’ve had the great fortune to have had thousands of these interactions with CSA members, chefs, students, fellow farmers, and random passers-by, and the experience of sharing what I’m doing and why I’m doing it, as well as delicious recipes, gardening advice, and, of course, beautiful, tasty food, has been an incredibly rewarding experience.

What is most exciting to you about your new job as Farm Director at Arcadia?
I feel fortunate to be joining a relatively new organization filled with bright, passionate, and motivated individuals and an inspiring line-up of programs. I’m also looking forward to being part of the future growth of this farm, which I hope can develop into a showpiece for the region.

I’m incredibly excited to be jumping into a new region, where the local food scene seems to have so much interest and steam building behind it. Having spent most of my time growing in New England, I’ve seen the passion that many have for local and sustainable food begin to taper off, which has made it difficult to be innovative or creative. While these are just first impressions, the market here seems to be clamoring for new products, ideas, and, overall, simply more farms and farmers to supply it.

I’m also eager to be a part of this historic piece of property and its rich agricultural and culinary traditions. I’m looking forward to scouring through the historical documents that are available to find out more about with kind of things have been raised here over time.

What challenges do you anticipate you'll face as the Farm Director?
Moving to a new piece of land is never an easy task, and I anticipate that it will take me a little while to figure out exactly what this piece of land can do and how best to improve it for the future. I’m fortunate to have Mo’s guiding hand a bit to hear more about what’s been done and what is possible for the future.

Getting to know the rhythms of a new region is also going to be a bit difficult and yet present me with a wealth of new opportunities. Farmers can easily fall into a rut of the same schedules (planting, harvesting, pests, etc.), but being here will allow me to work with crops and varieties that I’ve never had a chance to grow and a longer overall season, which will be a welcome challenge as I’m doing my planning and continue into next season.

What are some of your goals for the 2013 growing season?
I’m still working out which of these goals are feasible and which are harebrained, so perhaps I’ll keep my goals here on the modest side. I’d like to keep up the aggressive improvement of the soil quality through active management, cover cropping, and amending. As part of that, I’d like to really nail down a good larger scale composting system. We’ve got an excellent supply of raw materials (manure, food scraps, etc.) around, and I’d like to be making use of that much better. I’d also like to begin growing more beneficial plants on the farm not only for soil and plant nutrition, such as nettles, equisetum, and comfrey, but also for beneficial insects and bee forage.

As a model of what I want this farm to become, I want to be meticulous in the farm’s succession planting to ensure a consistent supply of what we grow and always having top-quality produce.

If you were a vegetable, what would you be?
No question, garlic. It’s humble, definitely not the flashiest vegetable out there, but it’s indispensible to almost any method of cooking , incredibly versatile and got a spice that you won’t soon forget. I also like how it can provide a crop in several different ways, from scapes to green garlic to full-sized mature heads, providing different flavors for you throughout the season.

Local Food is Joelle's Job Description

You know she's serious about local food, with the title "Local Initiatives and Procurement Coordinator" at DC Central Kitchen.  Since DCCK is one of our best organizational partners, and since Joelle Johnson is their amazing leader of the local food movement here in DC, we decided to learn a bit more about what she does...

Joelle, what is your role at DC Central Kitchen?
Mainly I am responsible for sourcing and procuring locally grown products for all of our programs – nearly 10,000 meals a day. Most of what I purchase goes into to the meals we provide for DC Public Schools. But a good portion of it also goes into the meals we send out to local shelters and into the food we prepare for catering events every week. I aim to purchase from family owned farms that use sustainable growing practices, working with them on crop planning and setting fair prices. Last year we spent nearly $115,000 on local products.

Joelle gleaning for produce!

In addition to procuring local food, I also manage two programs - Truck Farm and Healthy Corners. Truck Farm (in partnership with the USDA People’s Garden) is a mobile educational farm planted in the bed of a pick -up truck designed to bring a rural experience to urban students. DCCK uses Truck Farm as a tool to enhance the summer-enrichment programs that we provide meals for through our already established Healthy Returns program.

Healthy Corners is a pilot program that began in the fall of 2011. Healthy Corners works with corner store owners in low-income DC neighborhoods, considered to be food deserts, supplying them with fresh, healthy foods. Currently we are working with 30 stores in wards 4, 5, 7, and 8 supplying 15 different types of fresh produce and healthy snacks.

What might a typical day look like?
I spend most of my days jumping back and forth between meetings with community partners and giving tours to visiting groups to taking product inventory, data tracking and placing orders. Some of our farmers really love to chat so that can take a surprising amount of my time! (I get really excited when I find a farmer who prefers email!) But generally summers are spent placing orders, scheduling pick-ups and taking inventory, whereas winters are spent visiting farms, compiling program reports, and attending conferences.

Joelle doing Truck Farm activities with students

What is the most inspiring part of your job?
The best part about my job is positive feedback. Sometimes it comes from farmers who tell me that they appreciate our business because we pay fair prices and that we have helped them reduce their product waste or expand their operation. Sometimes it comes from customers who thank us for bringing Healthy Corners to their neighborhood so they don’t have to travel so far to find fresh produce. Other times it comes from seeing kids’ faces light up when they harvest and eat a cucumber from the truck or hold a worm that they dug out of the soil. My job is pretty fun!

If you were a fruit or vegetable, what would you be?
Well, I’d like be something sweet like a strawberry or blueberry because everyone loves those things, but I’d probably end up being something that is cheap, fits the nutritional guidelines for DC public schools and is easy to source in bulk quantity like butternut squash….only because I appreciate the convenience of produce that fits all 3 categories!

What's your favorite winter veggie dish?
Shiitake mushroom bacon!

Farm to School Field Trip - Blue Ridge Produce!

I can't think of a better way to spend a weekday morning than travelling to the beautiful Shenandoah Valley to connect local growers with D.C. schools.  Earlier this week, eight of my favorite school food service providers and farm-to-school stakeholders from Washington, DC took a field trip out to Elkwood, VA to visit Blue Ridge Produce.  We got a first class tour of their new facility, which serves as a local food distribution "hub" for Northern Virginia and Washington, DC markets.

Jim and Mark, the co-founders of Blue Ridge, brought us up to speed with a history of the new organization and how it got started.  We began our tour in the huge warehouse and freezer space, which will be brimming with produce come spring for wholesale buyers around the region. 

We moved our way in to the (thankfully warmer) greenhouses, with thousands of square feet of space ready to grow hydroponic vegetables, herbs and greens.  The potential for the space is huge - Jim and Mark described plans for a commercial kitchen, demonstration compost operation, and sustainable farm in the works.

Many thanks to Jim, Mark, Craig and the Blue Ridge team for a wonderful and informative visit.  And thank you to Beatriz, Sofia, Lisa, Jaime, Benjamin, Jeff, and Whitney for coming on the trip.  I look forward to working with all of you to make more healthy, local food available to Washington, DC schoolkids!