Since the 1980s the Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum’s longest-running program, Growing Community, has been a way for local Anacostia and DC residents to learn about best practices for their gardens and even start small home gardens themselves.
Growing Community is a flagship program of the Smithsonian’s Center for Environmental Justice at the Anacostia Community Museum, which launched on Earth Day 2023. Through garden programming, residents of all ages can engage with the beauty of the natural world, a healthy food system, and their cultural past.
We welcome the community to participate in our monthly workshops, taking place throughout the growing and harvesting seasons. All workshops incorporate themes such as gardens as places of community and connections to our cultural past; gardens as sites of stewardship and nurture; and gardens as sites of empowerment and access to good nutrition and healthy living.
This summer, the Center for Environmental Justice is excited to launch a new program of the Growing Community work as we look to serve the next generation of growers and gardeners in the area. Running from August 19 – 22, the Center for Environmental Justice will host the first-ever Summer Youth Gardening Program for students in grades 3 – 5. Throughout the week, participants will get first-hand experience on how to start and maintain a garden, tips and tricks for what to grow, live cooking demonstrations, creating art projects, and lots of fun outdoor games!
This experience will be an opportunity for youth to connect with the Earth and learn about the benefits and the fun associated with growing your own food. Each day the camp will run from 8:30 am – 1 pm and lunch will be included. On the final day of the program, come celebrate with us at our Harvest Festival where participants will be able to see the bounty of their work and celebrate with new community members. This program is completely free, but does require advanced registration.
The Center for Environmental Justice is committed to ensuring that residents in all neighbors across Anacostia and DC have local access to fresh produce. We believe this experience will start to build the foundation for youth in the area to see how their communities are abundant with opportunity and growth and how these youths can change their communities for the better. Through learning science, history, and civic engagement—the program will development the next generation of community stewards, imparting an accessible and familiar act of civic engagement through which tangible, equitable development of healthy communities can be achieved.
The youth gardening program will take place daily August 19-22 from 8:30am – 1pm with lunch provided.
For questions or to sign up your student, please email Jamie Gage at GageJL@si.edu. You can learn more about Growing Community and other programs offered through the Center for Environmental Justice and the Anacostia Community Museum by visiting: anacostia.si.edu.
On Saturday mornings the outdoor plaza at the Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum comes to life once again with colorful, locally grown fruits and veggies. The FRESHFARM ACM Farm Stand returns for its second season, and it is open every Saturday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (weather permitting) through November 23.
The ACM Farm Stand launched its inaugural season on Earth Day 2023, and since then it has welcomed hundreds of neighbors. Once again, this year, the ACM Farm Stand is produced in partnership with D.C.-based nonprofit FRESHFARM, which is the nation’s third-largest farmers market organization. ParkView Farms, based in Poolesville Maryland, supplies the farm stand with their own homegrown produce. Family-owned and operated, located in the heart of Montgomery County’s Agricultural Reserve, ParkView Farms naturally grow seasonal vegetables and fruits for the local community and beyond.
Also, this summer, starting June 22, the ACM Farm Stand will be part of the Free Summer Meals Program (also referred to as DC Youth Summer Meals), works to close the meal gap during the summer months for children in the District. Every Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. through August 24, children aged 5 to 18 years old can visit the farm stand with their families and request their free meal which has a protein, a fruit, a vegetable, a grain, and a small milk container. The menu changes regularly and will be displayed onsite. There is no ID or proof of residency required.
As part of the FRESHFARM Market family, which includes over two dozen other markets around the city and northern Virginia, the ACM Farm Stand accepts SNAP/EBT, WIC, and Senior FMNP checks. Plus, the farm stand offers the FRESHFARM FreshMatch program which provides a dollar-for-dollar match on all federal benefits spent at market, helping shoppers take home more fresh and nutritious produce and local foods while creating and sustaining new revenue streams for local farmers and food producers.
We look forward to working with our friends at FRESHFARM to continue to increase access to fresh, healthy foods through the FRESHFARM ACM Farm Stand. We hope you will join us on the plaza sometime this year.
The ACM Farm Stand is open every Saturday (weather permitting) on the ACM Plaza at 1901 Fort Place SE, Washington, DC 20020 from 10 a.m.-12 p.m. until November 23. Follow the Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum on social media or visit the museum’s website at anacostia.si.edu/farmstand for the most up-to-date information.