Author Archives: Kelli Scott

Building a Community thorugh Gardening – ROA Community Garden Association

https://www.wdbj7.com/content/news/Building-a-community-through-gardening–509406521.html

Article from WDBJ7 (Roanoke-CBS) on the Roanoke Community Garden Association

Anna Copplestone, director of the ROA Community Garden Association, joined us in May for our community conversation disussing the 4 community gardens across the city and the connection with Carilion Health.

Click here to access the May Community Conversation (webinar).  

 

 

Nutrition and Food Security – Governor’s Childern Cabinet

For our June Communtiy Conversation, we spoke with Heidi Hertz, the Assistant Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry for the Office of Governor Ralph S. Northam.  She spoke to us about the Governor’s Children’s Cabinet, Virginia Blueprint to End Hunger, Urban Agricutlure, and FeedVA programs across the Commonwealth of VA.

Click here to access the full Powerpoint Presentation from the conversation 

Click here to access the full video and audio (PPT included)

Governor’s Children’s Cabinet

  • Governor Northam issued Executive Order No. 11 reestablishing the Children’s Cabinet June 21, 2018.
  • Priorities are early childhood development and school readiness, nutrition and food security, systems of care and safety for school-aged youth.
  • Children’s Cabinet will work to develop goals, identify strategies, and measure impact and outcomes.

Blueprint to End Hunger

Outline action steps and policy recommendations for achieving childhood food security.

  • Shared vision for food access equity in Virginia, quantifiable goals, scope of the problem, and policy recommendations to bringing together solutions and strategies in healthcare, agriculture, and education.
  • The report would align priorities and provide a roadmap for action, implementation, and evaluation over the next 3 years.

Urban Agriculture – Creating an Urban Agriculture Census

–Research urban agriculture nationwide and in Virginia

–Compile a directory of urban agriculture locations and organizations

–Review datasets pertaining to school and community gardening and overlap/gaps

–Conduct a scan of how other states support urban agriculture (legislation, funding, etc)

FeedVA 

  • Created by the Council on Bridging the Nutritional Divide
  • Virginia Food Access Network (VFAN) launched May 2017
  • Goals:

–Provide data clearinghouse

–Connect food system

–Share best practices/resources

 

 

Welcome to 2019 ~ Join Us For Our Monthly Conversations

We are excited to continue to  engage with you around Community & School Gardens across the Commonwealth. 

We will host a monthly Zoom conversation (webinar) on the 4th Tuesday of the Month at 9am.  Stay posted to our Listserv @ https://groups.google.com/d/forum/va-community-garden-network for links to join the conversation.

  • Listserv    – Please “Apply for Membership.  We will add you to the list.  
  • Google folder for sharing resources on different topics facing community gardens  
  • VA Community & School Garden Directory & Map                                                                               
  • VCGN Calendar of Related Events                                                                                                            

Fresh veggies bring people together

Read this great article from Clemson Extension,

Fresh veggies bring people together at Synergy Garden in Fountain Inn

“If you want to bring people together, one thing unites us all. No matter the language we speak or country we come from. Regardless of race, ethnicity, color or creed.

Everybody eats.

So if you’re trying to build the bonds of community, where better to start than a garden?”

 

 

Archived Webinar #7

For July, we took our community gardening conversation south of the boarder with a chat with Diana Schmitt McCall from the Town of Black Mountain, North Carolina.  Diana works for Black Mountain Parks & Rec as the director of the Dr. John Wilson Community Garden.  It was a very dynamic and interesting conversation!   We are in admiration of what this community garden has accomplished over the last decade.  Learn more below.

View/Listen to our conversation here

Click here to learn more about the Dr. John Wilson Community Garden 

Click here to learn more about Gardens that Give Network

Click here to learn more about North Carolina Community Garden Partners 

 

Archived Webinar #6

For our June webinar conversation, we were joined by Maureen McGongale, from the New River Valley Health District and the Farmacy Garden.

Listen to our full conversation here

Learn more about the Farmacy Garden via the Facebook Page

Archived Webinar #5

Our latest Virginia Community Gardening webinar is now available.

This is the 5th webinar in our series.  We were joined by Dave Close from Virginia Tech and Virginia Cooperative Extension to talk more about his role as Consumer Horticulture Specialist and the lead of the Virginia Master Gardener Program.  We discussed the Annual Master Gardener College held on the VT Campus in June of each year.  We are looking forward to holding a Virginia Community Gardening Network session at this year’s MG College.

Click Here to view the webinar

The recording started a little early, so scroll to the 5:40 minute mark for the opening of the conversation.

Our next webinar in the series will be held on Tuesday, June 26th at 9am.

Best,
Kelli, Meredith, and VA Community Garden Network Team.

Archived Webinar #4

Did you miss our most recent webinar discussion?  We had an informative and extremely fun conversation with Laura Reilly from the Town of Salem and the Salem Fresh Ideas Garden.

Take a relisten at your convenience at the link below.

Webinar #4 

Learn more about the Salem Fresh Ideas Garden at their FACEBOOK PAGE.

Make sure to mark your calendar for our next webinar.  They are held on the 4th Tuesday of each month at 9am.

Sprout the Network!

Join us as we sprout the Virginia Community Garden Network!

We are offering Webinars to share online conversations & learning opportunities held on the 4th Tuesday of each month at 9am.

Our schedule for the next few months: 

  • May 22nd
  • June 26th
  • July 24th
  • Aug 28th

The connection info will be posted via the listserv.  Looking to Join?

JOIN US  by going to  https://groups.google.com/d/forum/va-community-garden-network

If you can’t join us LIVE, check out the Webinars tab above to connect to our archived recordings.