DC Restaurants Celebrate Earth Day

Posted on by Sacha Cohen
Tallula courtesy of Powers & Crewe

Dine deliciously and celebrate Earth Day with special events, menus, and offers from local area restaurants:

Sustainable Dinner at Tallula
Tallula will celebrate Earth Day with a special four-course dinner showcasing locally grown produce, humanely raised meats, and sustainable seafood.

Bev Eggleston, founder of EcoFriendly Foods and leading proponent of ethical farming, as well as Drew Koslow, biologist, clean water advocate, and brother of Executive Chef Barry Koslow, will also attend the dinner. The dinner will start at 7PM on Thursday, April 22nd in the restaurant’s intimate wine shop.

Priced at $85 per person including wine pairings (excluding tax and gratuity) the Earth Day dinner will feature dishes such as Bison Carpaccio, sourced from New Frontier Bison in Madison, VA, and a Pork Trio from EcoFriendly Farms. The dinner will also include dishes using local, sustainable seafood, such as Virginia Clams and Striped Bass and local Virginia wines.

Eco-Friendly Cocktails at JW Marriott
As an extension of Earth Day’s celebration, the JW Marriott Washington is creating a special menu of refreshing eco-cocktails and organic summer white wines by the glass to help raise awareness for preserving the rainforests.

The special beverage menu will be available at Bar 1331 beginning on Monday, April 19 and served throughout the summer.  Cocktails, including “Strawberry Fields” (muddled fresh strawberries, basil leaves, simple syrup), are $12.00 and organic wines by the glass start at $9.00.  Thirty percent of the proceeds from the new beverages will be donated toward the protection and preservation of 1.4 million acres of endangered rainforest in the Amazon, called the Juma Sustainable Development Reserve.

Sweetlife Festival
Sweetgreen‘s free outdoor music festival, Saturday, April 24 from 3–9 PM (behind its Dupont Circle location), will raise money for Farm To School, an organization committed to connecting schools with local farms. Live performances will feature Hot Chip performing a DJ set, U.S. Royalty, The Love Language, Phil Ade, Will Eastman, DJ Grant Shapiro and more. Limited complementary tickets are available via the Sweetgreen beginning on April 9, with donations requested.

Mixt Greens Offers Tote with Green Goodies
The first 150 customers who visit one of Mixt Greens three DC locations on Thursday, April 22nd, will receive a complimentary tote bag filled with goodies including recipes from Chef/Co-Founder Andrew Swallow’s upcoming cookbook, Mixt Salads, and packets of herb seeds to plant at home.

Green Hours
The official Earth Day 2010 Sustainable Feast DC initiative encourages restaurants across the DC area to highlight the responsible decisions they make when buying and serving local or organic, sustainable foods. Participating restaurants include Bread & Brew, Pitango Gelato, Busboys & Poets, and more.

Earth Day Menu at Restaurant Nora
Restaurant Nora will be featuring an Earth Day tasting menu that includes seasonal spring vegetables such as artichokes, asparagus, and spinach as well as seasonal cocktails. On April 20th and 21st, the restaurant will be donate $1 from each seasonal cocktail to Earth Day Network.

The Buzz on Beekeeping in the District

Posted on by Sacha Cohen

Guest post by Carrie Madren

Pollinating crops, gardens, and flowering trees around DC, honeybees are being raised by a growing number of hobbyists who tend hives in the suburbs and in the District. Beehives now top the Fairmont Hotel and sit by The White House’s organic gardens.

The D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation recently led a four-session short course on hobbyist beekeeping, hoping to get volunteers to tend the department’s new hives. Some 30 beekeeper-hopefuls attended the class, and will now volunteer to tend the city’s hives.

The District already has one buzzing hive located at Lederer Gardens on Nannie Helen Burroughs Ave. in Northeast, according to Kelly Melsted, Camping and Environmental Education.

“We will be placing five more throughout the city to educate about the need of pollinators in the city,” says Melsted, who notes that residents are extremely interested in beekeeping.

Though the city has much equipment, many experienced beekeepers have been helpful and willing to share resources. Currently, Melsted has a waiting list of 50 people who want to volunteer in addition to the 30 short-course students.

“Honey will go home with volunteers,” says Melsted, “I think it will be a community thing.”

Gristle Book Party and Climate Lab Turns One

Posted on by Sacha Cohen

Wednesday April 7th

Book Party for Gristle

Moby and Miyun Park, the executive director of the Global Animal Partnership, have brought together 15 contributors in an informative collection that examines how industrial farming is affecting the way we live.

Contributors run the gamut from John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods, to Lauren Bush, model and co-founder of FEED Projects. There are vegans, vegetarians, and omnivores alike and topics such as big government, parenting, occupational safety, and more.

Cost: Free
When: 6:30-8
Where: Busboys and Poets, 2021 14th St., NW

Win a copy of Gristle!
Follow @GoingGreenDC and tweet “RT and follow for a chance to win a copy of Gristle–the new book from Moby from GoingGreenDC” for a chance to win one of five books.

Five winners will be selected using Random.org by 5pm EST on April 9th, 2010. One entry per person (duplicate entries will be deleted). Winners will be contacted via email after contest has ended.  Book ships via publisher to U.S. addresses only.

Climate Lab’s First Birthday Party

Climate Lab, a DC-based non-profit, has been running a climate change wiki site for one year, providing a platform for collaborating and sharing information on climate related issues. The party will feature a live band, food, drink specials, and birthday cake. Learn more on the group’s Facebook page.

Cost: $10 suggested donation.
When: 6:30-9:30pm
Where: Local 16, 1602 U St., NW

Growing Gardens, Growing Kids

Posted on by Sacha Cohen

Guest post by Alison Drucker

At City Blossoms, organic gardening and environmental education meet art and community development. Founded in 2003 by Lola Bloom and Rebecca Lemos, this grassroots nonprofit builds gardens at local schools and recreation centers and uses gardening to build skills and healthy habits among kids.

The City Blossoms model is unique: develop productive, organic green spaces where children and youth are the main cultivators, using gardening to teach about sustainability, health, responsibility, and artistic expression (alongside basics like writing and social skills).

It doesn’t hurt if the project spruces up a formerly neglected urban lot, either – artistic expression and beautification are key pieces of the programming.

Spanning seven years and at least eight different projects, City Blossoms’ activities reach more than 700 kids each week in D.C., Baltimore, and Langley Park.

One of their success stories is the Girard Children’s Community Garden in Columbia Heights – in 2008, the group transformed an asphalt lot into a demonstration garden where children from community organizations now attend workshops and help grow vegetables, flowers, and herbs.

The garden is also home to a free monthly workshop series for families. This season’s bilingual workshops kicks off on April 3 with a session on container gardening; future workshops this year will give kids and parents a hands-on opportunity to learn about herbs, insects, composting, and garden-inspired cooking.

This spring, City Blossoms will be transforming another urban D.C. space into a neighborhood garden, this time on Marion Street in Shaw. The two lots will become home to drought-tolerant, native flowers and plants, along with herb and vegetable gardens, an outdoor classroom, and art spaces.

On Saturday, April 10th, you can volunteer your digging and planting skills to help the Marion Street Community Garden become a reality.

For the D.C. Bilingual Public Charter School and others, City Blossoms has also developed and delivered regular workshops tied to schools’ curricular goals and standards, hosted at the school, another local green space, or the Girard garden. And they create special school-wide events and after-school or summer activities that promote environmental and community stewardship.

Giveaway: Enviro-Friendly MacBook Sleeve

Posted on by Sacha Cohen
We’re giving away a fashionable, eco-friendly MacBook sleeve from ColcaSac. It’s easy–just follow us on Twitter, retweet the tweet below from Tuesday March 30-Wednesday March 31st, and you’ll be randomly entered to win.
Giveaway Details:

* PRIZE: A ColcaSac MacBook sleeve in black. (Total value $39.95)!
* TO ENTER: Follow us on Twitter and retweet the giveaway tweet on Tuesday March 30, 2010.
* MUST ENTER BY: Wednesday March 31st, 2010 at 5pm EST.
* NUMBER OF WINNERS: One.
* PRIZE SHIPS: From GoingGreenDC to U.S. address only.
* ETC: One entry per person (duplicate entries will be deleted). Winners are selected using random.org.  Winner will be contacted via email after contest has ended.  Good luck to all!

About ColcaSacs
ColcaSac Sleeves are made by hand with all-natural environmentally friendly fabrics such as hemp and jute and lined with soft, 100% polyester sherpa fleece that provides protective padding and is secured with a durable, easily accessible velcro closure. Each sleeve has  a pocket that can carry a power adapter, mouse, USB Flash Drives, DVDs, or CDs, etc. One percent of all sales are donated to purchase land in environmentally sensitive areas.