Local Food Project at DC Green Festival

The Local Food Project met a lot of new friends at the Washington, DC Green Festival October 10 and 11. At our booth in the enormous exhibit hall we shared information about LFP and Airlie Center, handed out over 1700 lettuce starts for folks to plant at home, and talked about the role local food can play in an institutional setting. The festival provided a great opportunity to expand our outreach to an extended community and talk about LFP’s work to promote the benefits of local food. See more photos.
If you picked up a lettuce seedling and want to identify your variety, check out the October 8 post below to view photos.

Planting Potatoes for Earth Day

The Local Food Project celebrated Earth Day by inviting Airlie Center staff to come visit the garden, enjoy the sultry warmth of the hoophouse, and join us for potato planting. Inside the hoophouse, we talked about the fast-growing Arugula we’re harvesting from the north bed and the soon to be transplanted Sun Gold cherry tomatoes that will thrive in the coming heat. Out in the field, a crew of energetic volunteers from Airlie’s housekeeping department planted an entire section (five 33-foot beds) of Russian Banana fingerling potatoes in only 20 minutes! We really enjoyed visiting with all of our Airlie colleagues and look forward to welcoming them back when the garden is in full bloom.