UDC’s Muirkirk Research Farm last fall. (photo from UDC-Causes.blogspot.com)
UDC’s Muirkirk Farm in Beltsville does agricultural research, to be sure, but it also feeds the needy, and some lucky diners at Washington’s Hay-Adams Hotel. The university’s agriculture school was pleased to see the farm featured in the Washington Post’s food section recently.
Says Leslie Malone, the CAUSES communications manager:
The Post’s Tim Carman toured the farm where he saw first hand the microgreens and ethnic crops grown provided exclusively to the renowned Hay-Adams, a partnership which began last summer.
Muirkirk Farm uses sustainable growing methods to produce a range of fresh herbs and vegetables that are rare in DC supermarkets. These “ethnic crops” do not originate on the American continent but can be grown locally – even in Beltsville, Maryland! It was this hard-to-find—yet locally grown produce that led to the Hay-Adams to sign an exclusive MOU with Muirkirk.
Carman and the Post were invited to the farm during one of visits where Hay-Adams sous chef Jaime Montes de Oca was on hand to pick up fresh produce for the hotel’s restaurant, Lafayette.
Farm director Che’ Axum, of UDC’s Center for Urban Agriculture, CAUSES describes: “The farm has come a long ways in a short amount of time, and we still have a long way to go. I can’t put into words how it feels to be featured in the Washington Post.”