Local Spinach, Mushroom, and Potato at Newcomb, Monday, April 4

The title of this post tells you almost everything you need to know: the farms in Central Virginia are starting to grow and harvest the first veggies of the season, and some of that will be available tomorrow in Newcomb at lunchtime thanks as always to our partnership with the Local Food Hub. In the north room of Newcomb Dining Hall (closest to Clemons), you can find one of the more popular National Nutrition Month dishes we served just a few weeks ago -- a sweet potato cake atop a spinach salad. The potato, mushroom, and spinach in the dish are all local.

Speaking of the Local Food Hub, a group of Charlottesvillians gathered at their educational farm down near Scottsville on Saturday morning for Charlottesville's first ever Crop Mob (see photo below). The twenty or so volunteers set to work planting 600 pounds of organic potatoes, and knocked out the planting in a fraction of the time that it would have taken farm manager Steve Vargo and his new apprentices to do the same job. Bellair Farm, also in southern Albemarle County, is having another crop mob-style planting party next Saturday morning, April 9th, starting at 9am (but you're welcome to stop in anytime). Lunch will be provided for all volunteers around noon.