Seasons are changing
In a season filled with so many challenges, there were still many points of light and joy at the farm. In particular I am thinking of one day in October, where I was walking through the park during the Wednesday food giveaway. There were probably about 25 people in the park. Some neighbors from across the street, a couple of families, some young people exercising on the equipment by the farm… and they all had produce boxes from Common Good. It was a beautiful sight!
We’re really grateful for the opportunity to support LeDroit Park this year. It’s been really hard to see this community struggle through pandemic-related illnesses, unemployment, remote school, and the loss of friends and family members. It might be some time still before it’s safe for us to gather in the way we once did, but we will be here when it’s safe to mourn together and to celebrate together. And if it takes a long time before that happens: we’ll be here during the hard times too.
With the support of our community members, we were able to raise additional funds to help cover some of the costs of the free produce giveaway as well as extend the market season with 2 pop-up markets on Wednesday, November 4 and 18 from 2-5 pm. Our Farm Market on Wednesday November 18 will feature bigger produce boxes for giveaway as well as a range of items for sale so people can stock up for Thanksgiving.
We’ve had to get creative this year with our youth programs and most of our usual activities had to be put on hold, but we’ve done our best to support our youth program participants and their families through these challenging times. Some unexpected positives have been the opportunity to collaborate more with other local organizations, and being able to serve even more of the community by offering resources through delivery, mail and virtual programming.
Throughout the year, our youth staff have put together and distributed over 400 at home learning kits including home garden kits, cooking kits, pumpkin exploration kits and pesto and popsicle making kits. Through kits and other efforts we have served more than 300 children this year and we have a regular schedule of virtual programming that will continue year round.
We transitioned our Home Apothecary Program to a virtual format and offered students the option to pick up herbs from the farm a few times so they would still be able to work with the herbs to make tea, tinctures, salves, and more.
Our annual A Night on the Farm cocktail party has been transformed into a virtual dinner series, with guests choosing from meals prepared from local chefs or cooking along with the chef to make a delicious meal using a chef-prepared meal kit, all still highlighting Common Good produce! We had a great time picking up some new cooking tips from our partner chefs, thank you! You can still buy tickets for the last dinner in our dinner series with Nina May on Tuesday, November 10.
Our farm staff focused on keeping farm production high, even with limited volunteer assistance. So far this year, we’ve grown over 3,200 pounds of produce for our CSA members and for free distribution to the neighborhood. We want to give a special thanks to our farm manager, Tracy for all her hard work the past two years and her many important contributions to the organization. We are sad that she is leaving DC and her work with us this winter, but excited for her to move on to a new adventure.
If you’re struggling still, please make sure to reach out and tell us what you need. We will do our best to connect you to whatever resources you need.
