Saturday March 14 In-Person Green Breakfast

How can Fairfax County and Fairfax City, home to more than 1.2 million people, ensure that their residents get enough to eat? Both the county and city have developed robust plans and programs for food access and distribution, but what about food production?

Led by NVSWCD, the Urban Agriculture Roadmap Work Group has been examining how to strengthen local food system resilience through smaller-scale agriculture and innovative production. The key takeaway from a 2025 gathering of local food production stakeholders: Grow more food everywhere.

Join NVSWCD Urban Agriculture Specialist Stacey Evers and Fairfax County Health in All Policies Manager Anna Ricklin as they discuss the county's policies and share the work group's recommendations for additional tools to make it easier for anyone to grow food for themselves, for donation or to sell.

Click here to register for the March 14 Green Breakfast!

NVSWCD facilitates a bi-monthly gathering to discuss environmental topics in a casual setting on a Saturday morning. Attendees include agency representatives, interested citizens and community members, students, lawmakers, members of the business community and representatives of local non-profits. Six green breakfasts are held each year. Virtual Green Breakfasts are hosted on Microsoft Teams. In-person Green Breakfasts are held at Ornery Public House, 3950 University Drive (scroll to the bottom of the page for directions). 

2026 Green Breakfast Schedule

• January 10, 2026 - Virtual! Data Centers in Northern Virginia, with Julie Bolthouse, Piedmont Environmental Council.
• March 14, 2026 - In-Person! Grow Local: Strengthening our Food Systems through Local Production, with Stacey Evers, NVSWCD and Anna Ricklin, Fairfax County Health Department.
• May 9, 2026
• July 11, 2026
• September 12, 2026
• November 14, 2026

To receive updates about Green Breakfast speakers or join us at an upcoming Green Breakfast, please register for the Green Breakfast newsletter. Please direct questions to NVSWCD.

You can view our Green Breakfast YouTube playlist here or scroll down to view our past Green Breakfasts.

Past Green Breakfasts

Data Centers in Northern Virginia (January2026)

Northern Virginia already has the largest concentration of data centers anywhere in the world, with more in the pipeline. What demands do data centers place on local land, energy, and water resources? What does this mean for our climate goals? Join Julie Bolthouse, Director of Land Use at the Piedmont Environmental Council, to learn more about the local impacts of this booming industry at our January virtual Green Breakfast.

Past Green Breakfast topics and speakers (click on title to view recording):

• Fairfax County's Energy Programs. Rama Mitry and Maggie Beetstra, Fairfax County Office of Environment and Energy Coordination. November 2025.
• Invasive Plants: Tools for Taking Action. Wendy Cohen and Rekha Dolas, Fairfax Invasives Removal Alliance. September 2025 (in-person).
• Mapping a Conservation Vision for Northern Virginia. Matt Gerhart, Northern Virginia Conservation Trust. July 2025.
• Sustain Fairfax. Sara Girello, Fairfax County Office of Environmental and Energy Coordination. March 2025 (in-person).
• Does This Animal Need Help? Dr. Carolyn Wilder, Wildlife Rescue League. January 2025.
• Native Bees Need Native Flowers. Sam Droege, Wildlife Biologist, USGS. November 2025.
• Zooming Through Nature. Dr. David Luther, Associate Professor of Biology at George Mason University. September 2024.
• Trapa bispinosa: Invasive Water Chestnut. Dr. Nancy Rybicki, Aquatic Plant Ecologist and Affiliate Professor at George Mason University, Ryan McIntyre, GMU graduate student, and Sophia Wood, Urban Conservation Specialist at NVSWCD. July 2024.
• The Importance of Native Trees. Dr. Jim McGlone, retired Urban Forest Conservationist. May 2024.
• Knockout Natives Sam Hoadley, Manager of Horticultural Research, Mt. Cuba Center. March 2024.
• Conserve Energy, Save Money, and Take Climate Action with OEEC. Neely Law, Senior Planner, Fairfax County Office of Environmental and Energy Coordination. January 2024
• Managing Deer on an Urban Landscape: Partnerships as a Pathway to Success. Jordan Green, Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources; Bill Browning, Arlington Regional Master Naturalists; and Dr. Katherine Edwards, Wildlife Management Specialist, Fairfax County Police Department. November 2023.
• Healthy Plate, Healthy Planet. Dr. Maryam Dadkhah, Registered Dietician and Nutritionist at EatWellGuru LLC. May 2023.
• Living with Black Bears in Virginia. Fairfax Master Naturalists. March 2023.
• Bringing Conservation to Unexpected Places. Dr. Sari Carp, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Sustainability Matters. November 2022.
• Joint Environmental Task Force. Dan Storck, Mount Vernon District Supervisor; Elaine Tholen, FCPS School Board Member - Dranesville; Karl Frisch, FCPS School Board Member - Providence. September 2022.
• Coexisting with Beavers: A Dam Worthy Challenge. Alison Zak, Human-Beaver Coexistence Fund. May 2022.
• Fairfax County Salt Management Strategy. Martin Hurd, MS4 Program Coordinator, DPWES Stormwater Planning Division. March 2022.
• Plant NOVA Trees Campaign. Margaret Fisher, Outreach Coordinator with Plant NOVA Natives. September 2021.
• Invasive Management Area: Ecology, Species, and Volunteer Management Training. Patricia Greenberg, Ecologist. May 2021.
• Fairfax County's Watershed Monitoring Programs. Shannon Curtis, Chief of Fairfax County's Watershed Assessment Branch. March 2021.
• Valuing Our Urban Forests. Dr. Jim McGlone, Urban Forest Conservationist with the Virginia Department of Forestry. January 2021.
• Northern Virginia Purple Martin Initiative. Michael Bishop, Founder. November 2020.
• Young Conservation Leaders. Carolyn Rohr (The Danger of Microplastics), Nimesh Rudra (Water Quality in Accotink Creek and Effect of Microhabitats on Insect Biodiversity in Northern Virginia), Cynthia Ma (The Efficacy of Different Erosion Prevention Methods), and Becca Jeffries (Water Quality and Buffered Stream Banks: What's the Connection?). October 2020.
• Greener at Home. Jen Cole, Clean Fairfax Council Executive Director. July 2020.
• Fairfax County's MS4 Program. Heather Ambrose, MS5 Program Coordinator with Fairfax County Department of Public Works and Environmental Services Stormwater Planning Division. May 2020.