Past Green Matters Symposia
- 2011: Real Food Renaissance
- 2010: Food for Thought
- 2009: Water-Wise Landscapes
- 2008: Sustainable Landscapes
- 2007: Trees: Urban Re-Leaf
- 2006: After the Rain
Green Matters: Real Food Renaissance
Brookside Gardens held the 6th annual Green Matters Symposium on Friday, February 25, 2011. The theme, Real Food Renaissance, focused on the growing number of local, regional and national grassroots efforts to encourage Americans to eat “Real Food.” From public gardens to local government and nonprofit groups advancing change in our local food systems to high profile chefs committed to changing the way we eat and think about where our food comes from, we're experiencing a culinary renaissance.
Green Matters Videos
Enjoy these segments of video from the 2011Real Food Renaissance symposium. Select from the thumbnail images of videos to the right side of the player below and press the "play" button to watch a particular video. To view all of our video content, visit our YouTube channel.
Schedule of the Day
| 8:30am | Registration & Refreshments |
|---|---|
| 9:00 | Welcome & Introductions |
| 9:15 | The Real Food Renaissance and Public Horticulture Mark Richardson, Brookside Gardens Staff Brookside Gardens chose in 2008 to devote three years of horticultural displays and programming to FOOD, admittedly a huge departure from past programmatic themes. Historically, public gardens have all but kept edible gardening at arm's length, preferring instead to focus efforts on ornamental gardening. However, Brookside Gardens' food-focus reflects a strong national trend toward edible landscaping and renewed public interest in vegetable gardening. Today's speakers will shed light on this trend from various perspectives, but let's first take a brief look at how other public gardens are addressing this trend. |
| 9:45 | How Did Our Gardens Grow? Phil Normandy, Brookside Gardens Staff Brookside Gardens' first attempt last year at a garden-wide emphasis on edible plants was by most accounts a huge success. Some things (Red Okra and Cardoons) worked extremely well; others (Eggplant and Brussels sprouts) succumbed to pest damage; still others (flowering Bananas!) really surprised us. Overall, we were thrilled with the display and our visitors' responses. See some of the highlights from last season's display and hear what we have planned for the upcoming season. |
| 10:30 | Break |
| 10:45 | The Food Not Eaten Jonathan Bloom, Author, American Wasteland Americans waste a full 40% of the food we produce. That means every day we squander enough food to fill the Rose Bowl. From farms to wholesalers and supermarkets, restaurants to our homes, Americans make decisions every day that doom edible items to the landfill. And, the vast majority of the food not consumed ends up just there—in a hole in the ground. How did we get to this point? Why does it matter? What can we do to reverse this trend? National food waste expert and author Jonathan Bloom will answer those questions and more as he addresses the intricacies of our national food waste habit. He'll detail how American abundance, superficiality and demand for cheap food drive so much waste. Bloom will address the significant environmental, economic and ethical costs of our squandering and discuss ways we can reduce what we waste and recycle the inevitable remainder. |
| 11:45 | Lunch |
| 1:15pm | Renaissance and Revolution: Why Growing Our Own Food Is Essential to Freedom Gordon Clark, Project Director, Montgomery Victory Gardens Montgomery Victory Gardens is a new non-profit project (founded in 2009) devoted to building an ethos and practice of personal and community food production in Montgomery County, Maryland. MVG puts out a weekly local food update, coordinates a Congregational Community Garden Network, is leading the campaign to get vegetable gardens in our county schools, and works with individual and community gardeners, farmers, and county planners to create a more sustainable, self-reliant and above all local food system. Join us, and join the good food revolution! You can visit Montgomery Victory Gardens on the web and on Facebook. |
| 2:00 | Montgomery County Efforts to Combat Childhood Obesity Wendy Friar, Holy Cross Hospital & Montgomery County Commission on Health Reflecting the growing national and local interest in improving community health, the Montgomery County Commission on Health's fiscal year 2011 priorities address adult and childhood obesity in Montgomery County. Nationally, nearly one-third of children are overweight or obese, putting them at risk for conditions such as diabetes and heart disease. To help solve this chronic issue of childhood obesity in Montgomery County, the Commission is engaging in partnerships and promoting Montgomery County's robust health and wellness programs from the County to the private sector to increase children's access to physical exercise and wholesome food. Learn about the Commission's efforts and future plans to combat this local and national problem. |
| 2:45 | Break |
| 3:00 | Cooking from the Heart (and inspiring others to do the same) Carla Hall, Alchemy by Carla Hall If you're not in a good mood, the only thing you should make is a reservation. Sometimes lost in the conversation about organic, local and fresh food, we forget the importance of just having fun in the kitchen. Since her appearance in the finals of Bravo's Top Chef in 2005, Carla Hall has continued to cook from the heart while balancing her Southern traditions, classic French training and holistic approach to food as an entertaining expert. Through media appearances, cooking demonstrations and another season on Top Chef All-Stars, Carla has literally cooked her heart out. Learn how Carla is making inroads toward her goal of getting people simply to enjoy preparing food together. |
Featured Speakers
Jonathan Bloom is a journalist and food waste expert. His book, American Wasteland, was published by Da Capo Press in October 2010 and he writes the blog Wasted Food. An accomplished eater and fledgling composter, he has covered both serious and quirky topics related to food and the environment. His work has appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times, Boston Globe and Newsweek, among others. A Boston native, Jonathan now lives in Durham, North Carolina, with his family and many, many containers for leftovers.
Gordon Clark is the founder and Project Director of Montgomery Victory Gardens. A lifelong activist and organizer, Gordon served as the national Executive Director of Peace Action, the nation's largest grassroots peace and disarmament organization, from 1996 to 2001, followed by three years as the national Field Director for the Congress Watch division of Public Citizen, and then Project Coordinator for the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. He ran for Congress in 2008 to help bring attention to the issue of global warming. Gordon is a frequent public speaker and writer, and serves on the Sustainable Maryland Agriculture Task Force and Montgomery County's new Sustainable Community Food System Initiative. He grows vegetables enthusiastically (if not always successfully) in two community gardens, and lives in Silver Spring with his wife Emily and their two cats, Domino and Snoop.
Wendy W. Friar is Vice President of Community Health Education at Holy Cross Hospital and Chair of the Montgomery County Commission on Health. Ms. Friar is responsible for the ongoing management, development, planning, implementation, and evaluation of the hospital's community health and wellness education programs, which encounters almost 100,000 members of the community annually. She holds an A.A.S. in Nursing from Queensborough Community College in Queens, New York and a B.S. in Nursing (cum laude) from Texas Woman's University in Dallas, Texas. Ms. Friar received the M.S. in Maternal Child Care and Nursing Administration (dual track) from University of Maryland, Baltimore, School of Nursing and has completed Doctoral course work at the Catholic University of America.
Carla Hall cooked her way into the finals on season five of Bravo's Top Chef. Her commitment to wellness and balance connects her passion for natural, organic and locally sourced ingredients with her belief in yoga and meditation. For Carla, the preparation of dishes is a mindfulness practice, and an opportunity to transform the way people approach food. Carla graduated from Howard University with a degree in Accounting; however, her passions were elsewhere. Modeling brought her to Europe, where she discovered her true love: food. After graduating L'Academie de Cuisine, Carla worked as sous chef at the Henley Park Hotel, and Executive Chef at both The State Plaza Hotel and The Washington Club. At age 42, she married and gained a teenage stepson, which helped her to realize the beauty of family and further inspired her passion for food. A natural teacher, Carla has passed on her genuine love and joy for being in the kitchen by teaching at CulinAerie and L'Academie de Cuisine, as well as extending her personal philosophies in team building classes at different venues in the DC metropolitan area.
Phil Normandy is the Plant Collections Manager at Brookside Gardens, where he oversees all outdoor and indoor horticultural display operations. He has a B.S. in Ornamental Horticulture from North Carolina State University and was a Longwood Fellow at the University of Delaware from 1977-1979. In addition to his role in managing the horticultural displays at Brookside Gardens, he teaches frequently and is a member of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society's Gold Medal Plant Award Committee.
Mark Richardson is the Adult Education Programs Manager at Brookside Gardens. He holds a B.S. in Urban Horticulture from the University of Rhode Island and the M.S. in Public Horticulture from the University of Delaware's Longwood Graduate Program. Prior to joining the staff at Brookside Gardens in 2009, Mark was the Student Programs Coordinator at Longwood Gardens, where he managed five undergraduate education and internship programs, including the 2-year Professional Gardener Program.
New! Earth Day Festival April 22, 2012
Earth Day Craft Fair Vendor application and tentative Event Schedule is now availible.
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Date of last update: June 15, 2011
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