Tricycle Gardens' Urban Farm on Channel 12 News

If you missed it last week, you can see Channel 12's visit to Tricycle's Urban Farm at 9th and Bainbridge on their website. Just click here.

Produce from the farm is sold on site at their farm stand Tuesday and Thursday Afternoons, and now Saturdays as well.

The Travel Channel's Man Vs. Food Takes on Richmond!

You know the show... one man eats insane amounts of food.... often the sloppy artery clogging kind, sometimes it's the blazin' hot kind. In between you learn about some interesting food spots and some of their signature dishes.
Well, Wednesday night's episode will feature all Richmond restaurants including one of our favorites... The Black Sheep. Here is an excerpt from the e-mail sent to us by The Travel Channel. ....
"Richmond Episode - Wednesday June 30th at 9:00 E/P In the colonial capital of Richmond, Virgina, Adam explores the city’s love of revolutionary cuisine. For his first stop, Adam hits up Richmond’s famous Buz and Ned's Real BBQ for the best BBQ in Richmond. Buz and Ned’s Real BBQ is famous for their hickory and oak smoked spareribs slathered in sweet and sour BBQ sauce -- a real Richmond legend. Next, Adam visits Black Sheep where the sandwiches are not subs, but a fleet of battleships! Adam chooses to eat the incredible USS Brooklyn in honor of his hometown in New York. Weighing in at two and a half pounds, this two-foot long sandwich is loaded with peach chutney, an entire pound of jerk chicken, homemade slaw, and a roasted banana ketchup.
Finally, Adam stops by Caliente to take on the Stupid Wings Challenge: eight jumbo wings drenched in a sauce so spicy, that it is just stupid to eat! The sauce is a concoction of cayenne habanero, pure chili extract, and a secret inferno marinade from the “container of pure judgement”. Can Adam conquer the unbelievable Stupid Wings Challenge?
Want to know more about Adam's ultimate hunger quest? Be sure to watch the all-new episode on Wednesday, June 30, at 9:00 E/P."

Agriberry and Virginia Goat Industry on Virginia Home Grown

Virginia Home Grown will visit with Agriberry and take a look at Virginia's Goat Industry. Tuesday night at 8:00 on WCVE. Click VHG link to see trailer video.

Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution and Our National School Lunch Program

Three Cheers for Chef Jamie Oliver, and all of his efforts to improve our food system! The season finale of his ABC show aired last night with a mixed bag of positive impact and government roadblocks. This is a great time for Jamie to be raising awareness of the need for vast change in the way we feed our children. The new Federal School Lunch Bill is awaiting a vote in the Senate. The group Mission: Readiness, made up of retired military officers has weighed in with the release of their report this week showing how obesity in America's youth has become a problem for military recruitment. The group is petitioning the government to support better food in our school system. I feel like some real threshold has been crossed when the Mission: Readiness group has turned it's attention to the poor quality of our school lunches. Read the A.P. article here, or the somewhat more informative NPR story here.
Click Here to sign Jamie's petition for better food in America's public schools. You can roll over each state and see how many people from each state have signed. Virginia has almost reached 12,500. That puts us a couple thousand below North Carolina, and about 50 thousand behind California. As for West Virginia, the state that played host to Jamie's Food Revolution Television show... they are at 5,343 signatures, interesting stuff. Check out Jamie's Food Revolution website to track progress and learn more on how you can help. The site even has a two week school meal plan with recipes included.
Locally, our new Richmond chapter of Slow Food has made transforming the food in our area public schools part of their mission. To learn more about Slow Food Richmond, and maybe join in, click here.
If you want more info here are some related reports from The Institutes of Medicine of The National Academies:
http://www.iom.edu/Reports/2008/Nutrition-Standards-and-Meal-Requirements-for-National-School-Lunch-and-Breakfast-Programs-Phase-I-Proposed-Approach-for-Recommending-Revisions.aspx

DIRT the Movie Shows Tonight on PBS

A documentary Film called 'Dirt' has been creating buzz for it's release for a year or so now. The film , narrated by Sigourney Weaver, features a number of well known activist, and scientist tackling the issue of soil degradation and its effects upon communities, health, and agriculture. Not released to theaters it instead is being sold to individuals and organizations like Tricycle Gardens for them to show. Erin and I went to a viewing of the film at Tricycle Gardens a few months ago and enjoyed watching it with the thirty or so people who were there.

Dirt is airing on PBS tonight at 10:00pm. Check it out, and don't be afraid of the talking microbes!

Victory Farms to be on Virginia Home Grown

This just in from Victory Farms...
Victory Farms will be featured on the April 28th episode of Virginia Home Grown- so tune in to this great local PBS program to see the farm! It airs at 8pm on WCVE on Tuesday, April 28th with a repeat on May 2nd at 5pm on WCVW. Thanks to our friend LJ for letting in on this one.
Victory Farms seems to be one of the most successful local farms and CSAs in terms of CSA member numbers, as well as the quantity and variety of produce available to both members and non-member market shoppers. Hopefully this appearance on Virgina Home Grown will provide even greater insight into just how Gina and Charlie make it happen.