Abbie Steiner is the Capital Area Food Bank’s Resident Food Growing Expert. Follow her on Twitter at @redheadgardener.
The Capital Area Food Bank recently broke ground on our Urban Demonstration Garden, a space that provides a hands-on, learning laboratory for food growing education. Representatives from the District Department of the Environment and Audubon Maryland/DC worked alongside neighbors, volunteers, partners and staff to create a perennial wildlife habitat. The 300 native plants and shrubs create a thriving ecosystem that will enable us to grow healthy produce in our garden.
In addition to the food bank’s new Mildred J. Brooks Learning Center, the garden enables us to promote and create demand for healthy food among low-income individuals. We are excited to use garden-based education to demonstrate how food growing stretches food budgets and increases access to nutritious produce. Beginning this spring, the food bank will utilize the Urban Demonstration Garden to empower the communities we serve with the skills and knowledge necessary to grow their own food.
If you are interested in food growing education with the CAFB, please contact Abbie Steiner. If you want to create a wildlife habitat at your home or in your community, click here to learn more about DDOE’s Backyard Habitat program.
We look forward to growing food together with you in the future!