August Updates from the Farm
Community Events
A time was had at our first ever Back-to-School Tomato Jam and we couldn't be more grateful! We ate, we laughed, we celebrated tomatoes, but most importantly, we gave back to the community!
We loved having the Green Getters on the farm and wanted to take a moment to acknowledge them for all of their hard work and positive energy! Maurice, Andrew, Chloe, and Manasha have been a joy to work with this summer, as well as Kenneth and Keila!
We also want to give a special thank you to our amazing partners who withstood the rainy weather to jam with us. Thank you so much to the DC Public Library, Alveole Beekeeping, J.B Humble Pies, Abiona Herbs, Pawpaw Possum, Aiyana the Face Painter, DJ Sifu Sun, and our wonderful staff and volunteers. We couldn't have done this without you all.
Thanks to your contributions, The Green Getters summer interns were able to raise over $1,300 towards purchasing school supplies for the kids in the Ledroit Park community.
The Green Getters Program is an in-depth job training initiative in partnership with McKinley Technology High School. Created by Farm educators Jaime Gage and Nia Cole, students received hands-on training in Non-Profit urban farming through event coordination, social media management and content creation, fundraising, and garden education. They also participated in workshops such as pickling, herbal medicine making, and farm-to-table cooking.
The Green Getters played a major role in planning the Tomato Jam. Students designed the flyer and all social media promotional content, developed the donation campaign, and helped create the tomato-themed menu. They also stuffed over 60 bags of school supplies to distribute to the community.
Teen Programming
This series of Free Youth Workshops organized by by our Community Engagement Manager Ani, encourages life and job readiness skills for teens. Youth that attended this workshop series got to learn from and collaborate with local chef, Ah'Ri who hosted weekly plant based cooking workshops on the farm. In the pictures they are enjoying delicious BBQ Jackfruit Tacos! We are excited to keep working with our neighborhood teens and youth with continued programming this Fall!
Workshops
We also hosted free workshops in Food Preservation and Clothes Mending where attendees learned sustainable skills like canning tomato sauce, sewing patches, and darning socks.
Private Events
Kam & 46 and SAMASAMA teamed up with us for their first of "after work" series of events to keep the spirit of Pau Hana alive through gathering folks, sharing their food, drink, stories, and music.
Pau Hana, Hawaiian for "after work", comes from the old Hawaiian plantation days where the immigrant workers of different backgrounds, would come together after a long, treacherous day of work and talk story, share food, listen to music and dance to separate themselves from work.
We enjoyed a Cocktail Hour w/ Sustain Table Food Co. & Little Hat Coffee. Afterwards, Kam & 46 served dinner while Drew Kid played a live set. Les The DJ will be providing the soundtrack throughout the evening.
