Welcome Megan Mauer, Nutrition Outreach Instructor

Megan Mauer is a 2010 graduate of  Virginia Tech with a Bachelor of Science in Human Nutrition, Foods and Exercise concentrating in dietetics.

Previously Megan has served 1,700 hours with the Pittsburgh Health Corps where she assisted HIV positive clients with making healthy food choices from the agency’s food pantry.  She also
interned with Share Our Strength’s, Cooking Matters program, where she provided support to the evaluation team.  She has also worked for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) as a nutritionist educating and providing referrals for low-income moms and children under the age of 5.

Megan is very excited and eager to begin her new role as Nutrition Outreach Instructor for the Northern District. Through this opportunity Megan will be able to provide free trainings for volunteers to teach
wide-ranging nutrition curriculum for youth and adults. Megan is based out of Alexandria, and will be covering: Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William and Stafford Counties.

Welcome to Susan Pollack

On Dec. 28 Susan Pollack joined our staff in a temporary county-funded position
as coordinator of the Master Gardener volunteer program.  She is filling in for Kim
Haun who has been temporarily re-assigned to head the county’s urban agriculture
task force.

Susan is retired after working at USDA's Economic Research Service
(ERS) for 30 years.  While at ERS, Susan specialized in agricultural and rural
labor force issues, U.S. agricultural policy and legislation, US agricultural trade.
For her final 16 years, she was a senior analyst covering the world fruit and tree nut industries.

Susan has both an MS and BS in Agricultural Economics from Penn State and the University of Massachusetts.  Since retiring in 2010, Susan has volunteered as an assistant Market
Master at the Upper King Street Farmers Market in Alexandria, and become a certified Master Gardener with the Master Gardeners of Northern Virginia (MGNV).
She is also an enthusiastic yoga student. Susan will be working in our office 20 hours/week, so please stop in to say hello.

Please Support the ‘Energy Elves’ - Volunteer or Donate!

Here from today's Sun GazetteIf you're interested in the next Arlington Energy Masters aka "Energy Elves" volunteer training program partnered between Cooperative Extension/ACE/AMEN please call:
ACE at 703 228 6406 or VCE at 703 228 6400

Conservation Group Seeks Support for ‘Energy Elves’

The homes of 16 Arlington families living in the Marbella Apartments received an early holiday present – energy and water efficiency improvements provided by “Energy Elves,” the Arlington Energy Masters volunteers trained by Arlingtonians for a Clean Environment (ACE) and Virginia Cooperative Extension (VCE). 

A large group of the volunteers spent 154 hours collectively helping the residents conserve energy and water by installing compact-fluorescent light bulbs, power strips, and outlet and light switch gaskets; sealing cracks and leaks around windows and doors; and converting to low-flow aerators and showerheads. 

The program was developed specifically to support families living in affordable housing buildings throughout our community.

“The energy program not only helps to make our apartments more energy efficient by reducing energy costs, but it also provides education on how to conserve energy,” said  Shanette Yao, resident-services coordinator at Marbella Apartments, which is managed by the Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing.

ACE has set a goal to raise $15,000 and secure 300 donations by Dec. 31 to support the Arlington Energy Masters program and ACE’s other conservation and sustainability initiatives. 

For information, see the Web site at www.arlingtonenvironment.org.

Extension Master Gardener Blog Posts

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Garden Professors Blog Invitation: Spreading the Word About Research-Based Gardening Information Posted: 18 Dec 2012 12:53 PM PST Having had the opportunity to meet many of you when I give talks or conduct demonstrations, I know how passionate master gardeners are about spreading research based information. With that in mind we’re asking you to help us spread the word about the Garden Professors blog and the new Garden Professors Facebook page we are putting together. Our group includes Linda Chalker-Scott from Washington State, Holly Scoggins, from Virginia Tech, Bert Cregg, from Michigan State, and myself, Jeff Gillman from University of Minnesota. You can read more about how the Garden Professors blog got started  in our eXtension feature article Our goal is to engage the public around research based gardening and horticulture We cover topics from new trends, flowers, trees (and tree care), while also debating hot issues such as compost tea, using native vs. exotic plants in the landscape, or GMOs.  While there are many differences in gardening across the U.S or even internationally, we find there is a lot of common ground (sometimes even literally) that science can help us understand about how to grow plants. For example, did you know that adding gravel to the bottom of your containers does NOT improve drainage? Adding Gravel to Increase the Drainage? Not so, says the Garden Professors Facebook Page Adding to the Facebook page example above, here are just a few examples of topics we’ve covered on our blog this week: Planting Edibles in the City (contemplating favorite edible plants that would work well in cities) Why Oh Why? (Trees) buried alive (another example of trees being planted too deeply) Closing the Loop (how MSU food waste compost helps grow greens for dining halls) Eternal [gardening] optimist (sometimes we just can’t resist the urge to try some plants) And in the future you can look to see more current events, issues,  and questions addressed, aimed at keeping you up-to-date with reliable, research based gardening information. Please stop by our blog or our Facebook page (where we think the comments are just as fun to read as the posts)….And let us know, what questions do you have about gardening that you’d like to see discussed on the Garden Professors blog? Jeff Gillman Associate Professor Department of Horticultural Science University of Minnesota

Interested in developing GreenSTEM?
Get Connected with Environmental Educators in Northern Virginia with NoVA Outside!

NoVA Outside Networking and Professional Development Event for Environmental Educators - Friday January 25

Guest Speaker: Vince Meldrum - Vice President of EarthEcho International


Register now at http://goo.gl/VFTQp

When: Friday January 25, 2013

Time: 11:00 AM - 2:00 PM

1952 Gallows Road
3rd floor conference room
Vienna, VA

This event will include:

• NoVA Outside’s business meeting to shape the future of this soon-to-be 501C3
• Discussion of NoVA Outside's 2013 events for students and educators
• Networking lunch
• Guest Speaker: Vince Meldrum, Vice President of EarthEcho International talks about organization development and fundraising
• This will be the first of four quarterly NoVA Outside networking events

Early bird registration http://goo.gl/VFTQp - now thru Jan 11th

December 2012 Calendar

Cooking Matters Program Leads to Healthy Changes

Jennifer completed two Cooking Matters courses in November. This popular program is the one in which participants attend six weekly classes where they receive a nutrition lesson, cooking instruction, and a bag of groceries featuring the ingredients for the recipe prepared in class. On November 26 she and Hareg Tecklu completed a Cooking Matters for Adults course at Ruby Tucker Family Center and on November 30 she and Shazell Robinson completed a Cooking Matters for Kids course at Mt Vernon Community Center.


Both programs had 15 participants each and both were in Alexandria. If you know of a site that could benefit from this course contact Jennifer Abel.