Rooting DC

DC State Fair had a half-table at Rooting DC this weekend. And boy was it a scene! Hundred of people turned up to learn the basics of canning, growing mushrooms, composting, and much more, as well as get information about area businesses and nonprofits at the information fair.

DC State Fair's half-table at Rooting DC's information fair. We were one fo the first to arrive and set up at Coolidge High School's unheated gymnasium!

The audience was huge for keynote speaker Gordon Clark!

Grown in the City has videos from Rooting DC on its blog, and at one point, you can briefly see one of the DC State Fair board members in his spray-painted DC state flag T-shirt! Washington Gardener also posted some photos of the event on Facebook, and the twitterverse was aflutter on the #RootingDC hashtag. DC State Fair, however, didn’t get many photos or videos, because we were very busy tweeting about the event and speaking with new and experienced gardeners, bakers, canners, and even crafters who are all going to enter this year’s DC State Fair contests (hopefully!). Many of last year’s contestants came by to say hello, too, and we’re glad you did! We definitely look forward to seeing even more entries this year from last year’s participants.

Expert canner Maureen Moodie shows dozens of Rooting DC attendees techniques to preserve food. We hope they'll all enter DC State Fair's contests!

Thank you everyone who came out to talk with us yesterday, and thank you Katie Rehwaldt of America the Beautiful Fund and Bea Trickett of Neighborhood Farm Initiative for putting on the fourth annual Rooting DC!