We had a great cooking workshop with Caroline Homan of City Market last week. We made three delicious salads using fresh summer veggies, herbs and grains, and ate them at the Riverside Garden in the sunshine.

Caroline joins us again this Saturday for a hands-on FOOD PRESERVATION BY BLANCHING AND FREEZING workshop. Learn all about blanching and freezing summer produce such as kale, broccoli, zucchini, and tomatoes so you can enjoy them throughout the year. The workshop is at 10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 14 in the Riverside Avenue Apartments Community Room, behind 669 Riverside Ave. Free. Map at www.growteamvt.com. RSVP to growteam@yahoo.com or 598-3139.

And more canning workshops from City Market and Red Wagon Plants:

TOMATO CANNING & FREEZING
6-7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 24 @ the Chubby Muffin
Learn how to can fresh tomatoes for the winter months and prepare them for the freezer, too. Classes are at the Chubby Muffin on Oak Street/corner of Intervale Ave. Sign up at City Market's Customer Service desk. Free.

GIFTS FROM THE GARDEN: NO ADDED PECTIN JAM MAKING
9 a.m.-noon, Saturday, Aug. 28 @ Red Wagon Plants in Hinesburg
Robin Berger is a mother of two young food critics, an avid home canner and cook. She focuses on seasonal food prepared without processed products. In this workshop we will make and can a seasonal fruit jam with no added pectin. There will be a discussion of canning safety and equipment needed as well as time to ask questions. Workshop participants will take home 1 jar of jam and the recipe presented in the workshop. http://www.redwagonplants.com. $25 for materials and workshop fee.

The Chittenden County Lawn to Garden Campaign wants to help you transform your lawn or unused yard space into a vibrant, productive foodscape! Enter the “Turn My Lawn Into A Garden” essay contest for a chance to win everything you need to create your very own garden: a soil test, compost or raised bed mix from Intervale Compost Products, raised bed materials (if applicable), seeds from High Mowing Organic Seeds, transplants from Red Wagon Plants, and a garden cart from Gardener’s Supply Company. A Lawn to Garden crew will even help install your garden and provide support throughout the growing season!

Everyone who submits an essay will receive coupons for terrific discounts on compost, seeds, plants, and garden tools from local businesses AND be entered in monthly drawing for lots of great prizes.

To enter, write an essay (1,000 words max) explaining why you and your yard are the best candidates for the grand prize lawn-to-garden transformation. No gardening experience is necessary, but you must be committed to sustaining the garden through the growing season.

The contest is open to all Chittenden County residents. All entries must be typed and include a name, address, and daytime phone number. The landowner will be required to sign a release of liability as a condition to receive the prize. The contest deadline is 5 p.m. Monday, April 12. Entries may be e-mailed to lawntogarden@intervalecompost.net or mailed to Lawn to Garden Contest, Intervale Compost Products, 282 Intervale Road, Burlington, VT 05401.

If you’re not interested in the essay contest, but still want to be entered in the drawing for monthly prizes, send an e-mail to lawntogarden@intervalecompost.net with the words "I plan to turn my lawn into a garden" in the subject line.

The Chittenden County Lawn to Garden Campaign is an Intervale Compost Products initiative in partnership with Chittenden Solid Waste District, Burlington Permaculture, Grow Team O.N.E., Gardener's Supply Company, High Mowing Organic Seeds, and Red Wagon Plants. For more information and the complete contest rules, go to www.intervalecompost.net or call 660-4949.

Burlington Permaculture has developed a proposal for a grant to help flesh out its Burlington Community Resource Map. 
The recipients of the grant are selected via a public voting process and BP needs your help!

To do so, visit http://brighterplanet.com/project_fund_projects - you will see it listed a little bit down the page in the list of proposals, entitled: Burlington Community Resource Map in Burlington, VT

TELL ALL YOUR NETWORKS! EACH PERSON WHO VOTES IS ALLOWED 3 VOTES.

Here is info about the project:
Burlington Community Resource Map $3500 Burlington, VT

The goal of the BCRM is to create a web-based “green map” that will chart Burlington’s natural assets, cultural sites, and burgeoning local economy. This green map will be located on the easily-accessible Green Map website (http://www.greenmap.org/) as a Google map, into which asset-specific information can be linked. Community members will be solicited to submit their green business, food-production endeavor, community program, and other resources to the map for publication. We hope that theBCRM will not only act as a support system for businesses, non-profit service providers, community organizers and tourists seeking to learn more about Burlington’s green resources, but will also provide a tool for reducing the carbon footprint of our community, preparing for a low-carbon future, and building a stronger, more resilient Burlington.

Funding for this initiative will be used to for:
- registration fee to add the BCRM to the Green Map website,
- outreach and education to generate awareness,
- and wiki that will allow inclusive participation from the community,
- data entry,
- formatting and publishing a first edition of the BCRM in the spring of 2010, and
- a site manager for ongoing updating and management.

The BURLINGTON FOOD COUNCIL NEEDS YOUR VOTES to win a $5000 grant from Brighter Planet. The process is extremely quick and simple:

1. Register to vote at: http://brighterplanet.com/sign-up

2. Enter an email address, a username and password.

3. You will be directed to the homepage. Then navigate through the "Project Fund" tab to the Burlington Food Council Project Page: brighterplanet.com/project_fund_projects/13

4. Click on the GREEN TAB "Vote For This Project" tab. YOU CAN VOTE FOR US THREE TIMES!!!

5. FORWARD THIS EMAIL TO YOUR NETWORK (mailing list, facebook friends, twitterites, etc).

This grant is awarded entirely on voter participation. The Burlington Food Council is a city-recognized, open community group exploring ways to ensure that Burlington creates and nurtures a healthy, equitable and sustainable food system for all members of the community. The Burlington Food Council is dedicated to advocating, supporting and educating community members on the importance and accessibility of local food production and consumption.

The Archibald Neighborhood Garden has been plagued by vegetable thieves and we are at our wits end about what to do.

At first we thought that it was a simple misunderstanding of what a neighborhood garden is and is not. However, signs at the site explaining that it is not OK to take food without permission and listing places that do have fresh food for anyone in need (Food Shelf, Imani, etc.) have deterred some of the culprits, but not all.

The Archibald Garden is an allotment-style garden. It is not a communal garden, nor is it a public park. Each plot belongs to a specific individual, family, or group who registers in the spring and pays a small fee. There are a few shared herb beds, but most of the garden is private plots. The land is owned by the Visiting Nurse Association, which graciously leases the site to Grow Team ONE  for use as a neighborhood garden.

All the workshops and events are open to the public and we welcome ALL community members as registered gardeners, volunteers, mentors, workshop leaders, and steering committee members. However, we do not welcome people to pick other people's precious food. The gardeners have invested a lot of time, money,energy, and care into their plots. To have the fruits (and veggies) of their labors so callously taken is frustrating and disheartening.

Also, we have heard that someone may be charging people for the"right" to pick veggies at the garden. No one has the authority to do this.

Of course, the big question is: why are people taking the food? Is it out of need, convenience, malice? The need is clear and a big issue in the ONE. Part of Grow Team's mission is to increase access to fresh food. To do this, we encourage ANYONE who would like to be an active, contributing member of the garden community to join our wonderful group of gardeners. Equitable access to affordable, healthy, fresh food is a critical issue that needs to be addressed at the community level. The garden is a small part of a much bigger discussion.

Meanwhile, we welcome any suggestions you have for reducing the amount of theft at the garden. Please add your comments below or e-mail them to growteam@yahoo.com. If you would like to  have a plot next year, volunteer, be a mentor, teach a workshop, or join the Grow Team steering committee, contact us at growteam@yahoo.com or 598-3139.