This year, the Arlington Public Library’s Arlington Reads 2010 program is all about food and sustainability and will feature appearances by urban farmer/author Novella Carpenter and literary legend, poet, and farmer Wendell Berry.
Events include:
Sunday April 11, 3 p.m.
Shirlington Branch Library, 4200 Campbell Ave., Arlington
Panel Discussion: Eating Local
A panel of area farmers and naturalists will look at simple ways to eats foods that are safer, healthier and geared to the bounty of each season. It’s all part of the sustainable, consumer-supported agriculture movement that has built a following in groceries and restaurants around Arlington. Moderator: Samuel Fromartz, author of Organic Inc. Panel: Hiu Newcomb, co-founder of Potomac Vegetable Farms (an organic/eco-ganic CSA and active in area farmers markets); Matt Szechenyi, owner of Briar’s Farmstead (pasture raised beef, pork, chicken and turkey); Rob Miller, owner, Distillery Lane Ciderworks: (heirloom apples for cider-making and eating); Chris O’Brien, beer activist, author of Fermenting Revolution.
Saturday, April 17, 2 p.m.
Arlington Central Library Auditorium, 1015 N. Quincy St., Arlington
Film Screening: “A Community of Gardeners” (2010)
A work-in-progress screening of “A Community of Gardeners,” produced by local filmmaker Cintia Cabib. The documentary explores the vital role of seven community gardens in D.C., not only as sources of fresh, nutritious food, but as outdoor classrooms, places of healing, centers of social interaction, and oases of beauty and calm in inner-city neighborhoods. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Cabib.
Thursday, April 29, 7 p.m.
Arlington Central Library Auditorium, 1015 N. Quincy St.
Author Talk: Novella Carpenter, Farm City: The Education of An Urban Farmer
Novella Carpenter has restaged the American agrarian dream in an abandoned Oakland, CA, lot, raising fruits, vegetables, bees, and even pigs and goats in a neighborhood known as “GhostTown.” Her critically acclaimed Farm City—featured on “best book lists” from Oprah to the New York Times—spreads the gospel of home-grown food and the empowerment it brings.
Tuesday, May 4, 7 p.m.
Arlington Central Library Auditorium, 1015 N. Quincy St.
Featured Author Talk: A Conversation with Wendell Berry
In a rare public appearance, literary legend, essayist, poet and Kentucky farmer Wendell Berry visits Arlington Public Library to discuss his life’s work and vision of people honoring and reconnecting with the soil. It was Berry who declared “eating is an agricultural act,” inspiring today’s movement toward safer, healthier, locally produced meals and sustainable living. Berry’s classic novel The Memory of Old Jack is this year’s Arlington Reads featured title.
goinggreendc.net 