[RP TownTalk] Master Peace Community Garden update

[Vinnie Bevivino]

Its been too long since we've found our way into your inbox, a product  
of us being way too busy using and expanding our garden.  Bounties of  
tomatoes, okra, eggplant, basil, beans, and cucumbers are always  
pouring out of the garden, and its sometimes hard to slow down and do  
simple things like write emails to our supporters.

Some Key Points:
- Save October 18th for our fall festival, and October 19th as a rain  
date.  We've planted more than a hundred pumpkin plants back in July  
for this, and its looking like it will be a pick-your-own pumpkin  
festival.  This is also to commemorate the work that was paid for by  
the Rodale Institute's grant (see below for more information)
- Keep coming to the Riverdale Park Farmers Market!  While we're  
always proud of what we've harvested, the produce that's available  
there from other farmers is wonderful.  Every Thursday from 3 until  
7pm next to the MARC train station in Riverdale Park, on Queensbury  
Road, two blocks from Rt. 1.
- Keep volunteering!  We rely on volunteers, come over every and any  
Saturday from 9 until 2, and we'll put you to work and send you home  
with produce.
- Keep visiting!  The garden is always open, there is no lock on our  
gates.  Come by if your in the area, and bring a picnic.

Since we've last updated you on our work:
- We've had our second Free Minds Collective summer program. Building  
on last year, we've taught 12 middle school students Monday through  
Friday in July about nutrition, gardening, and cooking.  They learned  
a lot about "seed to plate horticulture", and the politics of food  
advertising, and had a lot of fun too!
- From the help of the Rodale Institute's WaterWorks program, we've  
had a 1200 gallon rain cistern installed in the garden.  Check out the  
photograph, its huge.  Now we're just waiting for rain!  This grant is  
also paying for our fence to be expanded, wonderful art to decorate  
the fence and cistern, and lots of other great beautification  
projects.  We'll have more photos on all this in a few weeks.
- We have built a 17' x 48' high tunnel that we'll be using to extend  
our seasons in the spring and fall (see photo).  This was paid for by  
a grant from the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Eduction program  
of the USDA, and built by the help of some amazing volunteers, both  
within Maryland Cooperative Extension and from the neighborhood.
- We've hired Christian Melendez using money from sales at the  
Riverdale Park Farmers Market.  Christian has been a huge help this  
year, being responsible for almost all aspects of keeping us  
productive.  He started interning for us back in February, and is  
being paid for throughout the summer.  He's a great personality to  
have, he's wonderful with kids, and organizes family potlucks in the  
garden for our community gardeners.  He's also very active in student  
organizations on campus and helpful in our outreach to new  
volunteers.  None of this work could have been possible without him.
- We continued to sell much more produce this year than last year.   
This is not only possible from the great help back in the garden, but  
also from the help of student volunteer Kristen Mui, a senior  
undergraduate Urban Planning major.  She is studying urban agriculture  
from a planning standpoint, and helps sell our produce every week.   
Another person that enables all this to happen.


Simple ways that you can help:
- Come by and volunteer.
- Tell a friend or neighbor about what we're doing, and tell them to  
volunteer.
- Purchase some vegetables from us at the market.

See you soon in the garden!

-Vinnie Bevivino and the staff of the Master Peace Community Garden
6200 Sheridan Street
Riverdale, MD 20737

www.engagedu.umd.edu
301-405-0656

The Master Peace Community Garden is a project of the the University  
of Maryland Cooperative Extension's Engaged University and Food Stamp  
Nutrition Education Program.  We work to increase access to healthy  
food and the knowledge and skills needed to grow healthy food.

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