Garlic, Gourds, and Gratitude

As we wrap up the season by planting garlic and harvesting gourds, we want to take the time to reflect on all of the efforts of the staff, volunteers, and community members who have made this season possible and take some time to appreciate and uplift their work. 

To our dedicated City Farmers:

  • A big thank you to our harvest heroes: Jeff, John, Tracy, Bodhi, Mike, and Ruth, who worked tirelessly to make sure produce was harvested in time for our weekly produce distribution.

  • Our market volunteers Kelsey and Carolyn were critical in ensuring everyone who came to the market had a good experience and were able to get produce. Janey, Paige, and Ben helped with the often un-glorious task of unloading and setup.

  • Thank you to our youth program volunteers Litah, Nhaomie, Kali, Ryan, Rachel, Talia, Jackie and Mareeha for your contributions--and thank you to all the families who participated in our adapted youth programs this year!

A big thank you to all of our restaurant partners and our delivery partner, DC To-GoGo, for working with us to host our A (Virtual) Night on the Farm. We know that this has been a very challenging time and we so appreciate your willingness to work with us, despite all of this. With your support, we were able to raise over $7,500 to support our produce distribution efforts. 

We also wanted to take the time to thank our event sponsors:

We owe a lot of gratitude to our board and community members, who have been willing to step in as needed, when we needed extra hands at the farm market or to provide other operational support. Thank you for your dedication and support!

Finally, we give thanks to our staff. Our LEAF staff of Emily, Juan, and Nate quickly adapted by offering at-home garden and cooking kits and pivoting to offering lesson kits for pick up from the farm for interactive virtual sessions. 

Our Farm Manager Tracy and Farm Assistant Bodhi have been phenomenal in working to ensure that the farm grew ample food to distribute for the community. We are sad that they will be leaving us in a few months, but we are so grateful for their time with us. Tracy has been with the farm for over two years and has helped to standardize our farm procedures as well as provide another friendly face on the farm. She also managed our food safety plan--no small feat, even in a normal year. We wish them both the best in their future endeavors. You can still send them messages through their Common Good email accounts for another few months!

We are also so thankful for Josephine who manages the market. She was instrumental in shifting our market structure to a produce giveaway, and managed all the relationships that allowed us to provide Produce Plus Direct boxes to 225 families per week along with an additional 65 - 225 boxes per week for those unable to take part in the program! 

Decolonizing Thanksgiving

We understand that Thanksgiving may be painful for many indigenous folx. We hope that by offering some resources to those who may be celebrating we can help address the atrocities of colonialism and begin to heal ourselves and the land.

We share this Thanksgiving address with greetings to the natural world from Haudenosaunee. As Robin Wall Kimmerer prompts in her book Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, “What would it be like to be raised on gratitude, to speak to the natural world as a member of the democracy of species, to raise a pledge of interdependence? No declarations of political loyalty are required, just a response to a repeated question: 'Can we agree to be grateful for all that is given?'"

Whatever way you choose to engage with Thanksgiving, we invite you to learn more about Indigenous ways of knowing. 

The Piscataway Land Trust is an Indigenous-led effort to restore and rematriate ancestral land and sovereignty to the Piscataway and other Indigenous peoples of the Chesapeake region. You can learn more about their efforts here.

We share a few resources from Slow Food USA to reframe and reimagine the day.

ACT: Support the Diné Healthy Nation Act with a simple email to the Navajo Nation Council. Details here.

COOK: Indigenous ingredients and recipes with Recipes from Turtle Island

REFLECT: An Interview with Chef Brian Yazzie (his most used ingredients, favorite native-owned restaurants, and a couple of recipes).

LEARN:  The Thanksgiving Tale We Tell Is a Harmful Lie. As a Native American, I’ve Found a Better Way to Celebrate the Holiday by Sean Sherman

TEACH: Decolonizing Thanksgiving: A Toolkit for Combatting Racism in Schools

We also know that this year in particular may be extra challenging for some people as they may not be able to gather with their loved ones. If you are in need of food, please be sure to check our webpage here, where we have compiled some resources. If you are feeling isolated, alone, or hopeless, please reach out. You are not alone.

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