Research Fuels Agriculture-Related Job Boom

Thinking of a career related to agriculture, food and the environment?

http://blogs.usda.gov/2014/11/18/nifa-grant-programs-help-fuel-ag-related-job-boom/

Food Tech: Got computer skills, and want to use them to solve real world food issues? Here's a free event this weekend in MD to go to...

Full details at... 

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/montgomery-county-food-data-jam-part-of-the-national-day-of-civic-hacking-tickets-11494435165

Discover a side of the DC region you never knew at the Food Data Jam!

What is a Food Data Jam? It’s a hackathon that will generate solutions to local food and farm challenges. Developers, students and non-profits will work together for 24 hours on three specific tasks. The team with the best solution gets $1,000! Second place gets $500! This event, organized as part of the National Day of Civic Hacking, will be held in Poolesville, the heart of the Agricultural Reserve in Montgomery County. Located just 30 minutes from the White House, the Agricultural Reserve provides 93,000 acres of specially zoned farm and open space, is home to 560 farms, employs 10,000 residents and generates $245M annually.

As a participant in this event you’ll work on a team addressing one of three challenges related to food and agriculture:

• Food Recovery: The County estimates that 19% of our local waste stream is food waste, which includes 28,769 tons from restaurants, 14,014 tons from supermarkets, and 5,301 tons from schools.  Participants in this challenge will build solutions that link supply (those with excess perishable food) to demand (shelters, food pantries, etc.).
• Farming and Agriculture:  You will be given access to a wealth of data from the Montgomery County Agriculture Services division and USDA. Your ideas will help our small and mid-sized farmers meet the growing demand for locally grown products, and will increase customers’ access to healthful food.
• School Food and Nutrition: Using real and sample data from the Montgomery County Public Schools Food and Nutrition Services Division, explore what applications can help educate parents and students about options for healthy eating and increase access and options to healthy food for students.

What does it mean to participate? As a participant of the Food Data Jam you’ll join or form a team to work on the challenge of your choice. You’ll brainstorm a solution and then build it! What you build can be as elaborate or advanced as your skills allow. You can build a functioning prototype or just mock-up a concept. You’ll have about 24 hours to do it with plenty of stimulating talks and breaks along the way with subject matter experts. On the second day your team will present your ideas and solutions to a panel of judges.

Who can participate? Everyone is welcome, whether you are a food system expert, an experienced developer, or a student. We are especially looking for participants with solid technical skills. We will be asking you to build something, so be ready for a marathon!

Never been out to Poolesville? Don’t have a car? No problem! Get on the bus! Poolesville is a short ride from DC and we’ve made special arrangements to bus folks from Bethesda to the Food Data Jam. For our technical particpants we'll even stop along the way to give you a tour of a working farm. Our general and student participants should join us for lunch at Poolesville High School at Noon!

How much does this cost? What else do I need to know? It’s free! Registered participants will get free meals courtesy of our sponsors. Just bring your laptop and get ready to roll up your sleeves. You’ll be able to stay in Poolesville High School overnight as your team works through the night. Do you have to stay overnight? No, but you're free to if you like!

To register for this free event:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/montgomery-county-food-data-jam-part-of-the-national-day-of-civic-hacking-tickets-11494435165

Growing Your Food Gardening and Health Program

Here's the presentation I gave today on Garden Adventures.
Garden Adventures is a ten-week spring and fall after-school food gardening program for elementary kids.
See slides for details and online resources.

Garden Adventures Grow Your Food Gardening and Health Program USGBC 2014 from MaryVanDyke

Here's my two-minute movie Herbs for Life: Parsley
The movie is the first in a series about herbs, their cultivation, health benefits and cuisine.

Click on the link to view:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOQT7rWmVVc&feature=youtu.be

I am presenting my proposal on a Herbs For Life TM project at next week's INOVA Health System BrainPower Symposium on the Future of Health.

The goals of the Herbs for Life project are to bring together multi-stakeholder partnerships: consumers, growers plus education and healthcare providers to increase individual and community access to herbs and promote the health and cultural benefits.

I'll post the link to the Herbs for Life presentation in a week or two.
In the meantime enjoy the video about Parsley - and the many flavors of the herbs you eat and their health benefits!