Archive for January, 2010

Posted by Stacy Braverman | January 12th, 2010

[Cross-posted at Beyond Bread.]

Last week, a woman came to Bread’s Southeast Legal Clinic for help getting food stamps. She had multiple sclerosis, which made cooking a difficult task. On top of that, she was also living on a fixed income of Social Security Disability Insurance — and after paying for rent, utilities, and other costs, food of any kind was tough to fit into the budget. She attempted to apply for food stamps, but she was denied.

That same week, I saw another woman in a strikingly similar situation: in clear need, but denied food stamps. When I calculated the amount of benefits to which the two women were entitled, I came to the same unfortunate conclusion: under the District’s current policies, both clients were “over income;” their incomes were each slightly more than 130% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines (FPG), which is a threshold in qualifying for food stamps.

However, I was able to provide some signs of good news to these clients….

Posted by Lauren Biel | January 11th, 2010

In the January 6th edition of themail, Gary Imhoff wrote about ‘bad bills’ that pass from idea to law because of the arrogance and greed of politicians. Incredibly, he singled out the recently-introduced “Healthy Schools Act” as an example thereof. Yesterday, I submitted the following response to Imhoff:

DCPS student enjoying a salad from school garden

I am on the Advisory Board of the DC Farm to School Network, manage the Glover Park-Burleith Farmers’ Market, and am the parent of a future DC Public School student. I will also disclose that I operate under the assumption that getting healthy, local fruits and vegetables to District of Columbia schoolchildren is a worthy cause for its impacts on child health and well-being, environmental sustainability, and economic development.

First of all, I’d like to clarify that the farm-to-school section of the bill is not about “identifying any foods served in schools that students may actually like, and replacing them with more servings of carrot and celery sticks,” as Imoff claims (with tongue only “minimally” in cheek).

Posted by Joni | January 8th, 2010

As a policy wonk, I really appreciate the Capital Area Food Bank. They are one of the best food banks in the country for addressing the root causes of hunger through policy change, education, and outreach for the federal nutrition programs.
 
Of course, they also distribute 23 million pounds of food a year to more than [...]

Posted by Ed Bruske | January 7th, 2010

By Ed Bruske

Contributing Editor

Washington Post garden columnist Adrian Higgins today lends his voice to the growing movement behind backyard chickens in the nation’s capitol with a front-page spread in the paper’s Home section.

Higgins recounts the story of Caryn Ernst and how D.C. police and animal control agents swooped down on her family’s Capitol Hill home in June when they discovered that Ernst and her daughters were raising some chickens in their back yard as part of an elementary school science project. After the chickens were taken away, Ernst started digging into D.C. law and discovered that it is nearly impossible to raise backyard chickens in the District of Columbia. Animal control regulations require that chickens be kept at least 50 feet from the nearest residence.

Ernst took her concerns to local Councilmember Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6), who, with Ernst’s assistance, drafted a new law that would ease restrictions on keeping chickens. That bill is now in the hands of Councilmember David Catania (R-At Large), pending a hearing before the Council’s Committee on Health, which Catania chairs.

Posted by Ed Bruske | January 6th, 2010

By Andrea Northup 
With the recent introduction of “Healthy Schools” legislation in the D.C. Council, the District of Columbia joins a gathering national movement toward incorporating local produce in school meals. By providing strong impetus for schools to serve more nutritious foods grown in our own area, the bill in one broad stroke addresses interlocking concerns [...]

Posted by Rhea Kennedy | January 5th, 2010

Here in the Chesapeake Bay area, with our tomato-rich summers and squash-happy falls, it can be easy to shop locally. After Thanksgiving, one might expect the pickings to become scarce — but as it turns out, the D.C. metro area is flush with year-round farmers markets that sell local produce, meats and cheeses even in the cold and snowy months.

When I first wrote about year-round farmers markets in the D.C. area for my food blog, I could only scrounge up four. Various commentators and twitterers helped me identify six more area farmers markets that operate through the winter, bringing the total number to 10.

Unfortunately, many of the markets that accept food assistance vouchers during the summer are not able to do so through the winter — I’ve noted those in the list below (compiled with appreciation to those who provided insider community information).

Posted by Greg Bloom | January 4th, 2010

First thing in this new year, we’re pleased to announce that we have relaunched this website! The site is certainly not a finished product, but we now have things like improved commenting features and RSS feed. We are still looking for volunteers who can tweak with wordpress – might that be you? Or maybe your friend?

Now some real-world news:

Coming up this week is a DC Food For All workshop at Bread for the City (1525 7th street NW) this Thursday (Jan 7th) at 530pm. This will be an open-format, with topics self-determined by attendees