ReadysetDC A CREATIVE URBAN ENTERPRISE

Common Good City Farm

Common Good City Farm is located in the LeDroit Park neighborhood in Northwest, Washington DC at 3rd and V Streets.  They can be reached at 202-330-5945 or at info@commongoodcityfarm.org.  Common Good is having a Public Opening Day celebration and offering the class, “Good Design, Bad Design”, this Saturday, April 10th, from 10am – 1pm. Register for class or to volunteer online and stop by and get to know more about what Common Good City Farm is doing to help grow the urban agriculture movement in Washington, DC.

In 2007, when Common Good City Farm started in the Shaw neighborhood, their goal was simple: help provide locally-grown food to low-income DC residents while simultaneously teaching them the art of urban agriculture.  Since then Common Good has grown significantly and has moved to the LeDroit Park neighborhood, but their core missions of food and education for the communities’ most needy residents has not changed.  The benefits of Common Good extend beyond the immediate nourishment offered by the locally-grown food  – the farm is a source of pride in the community and has developed into a special place where all members of the neighborhood can gather, get to know each other, and celebrate their community bonds.

When Common Good began it was known as the 7th Street Garden and was located in Shaw.  As their available use of the space ran out in 2008, they were actively recruited by the LeDroit Park Civic Association to be part of a redevelopment effort of the shuttered Gage-Eckington school campus at the corner of 3rd and V Streets NW.  It is a testament to the sincerity of Common Good’s dedicated community oriented focus that they were hand selected by a near-by neighborhood and welcomed into the community with open arms.  When they moved to their current site – a city owned 1/2 acre plot that was formerly a baseball diamond – in the fall of 2008 the organization changed their name to “Common Good City Farm.”  Liz Falk, one of the co-founders and the Director of the organization, explains the name selection “the word ‘farm’ evokes food more than gardening.  We consider ourselves a community farm or communal farm.  We haven’t quite found the proper term for us yet!”.

Common Good does not fit into the typical model a community garden with independent plots that are maintained and harvested by individual gardeners.  Instead, it is organized around the concept of a communal farm where members must dedicate two hours each week to the farm and in return get a grocery bag of full of fresh fruits and vegetables – food that they had an active hand in growing – each week.  This program is known as Green Tomorrows and it is the foundation of the Common Good City Farm.  The weekly time requirement can be fulfilled by either hands-on farm work or though attending the Growing Garden Workshops.  By offering classes in conjunction with the hands-on work, the Green Tomorrows program enriches the minds and bodies of its participants and gives them life skills that can be used to grow food on their own.  This “teach a man to fish” approach is, according to Falk, the “heart of community food projects – it is not just handouts of food, it is a lot more.  You teach sustainability in peoples lifestyles and choices.”  These skills and the appreciation for urban farming can be passed down through the generations and will stay with Green Tomorrows participants even if they move away from the neighborhood.  To be eligible for the Green Tomorrows program, residents must make below living wage and have access to a kitchen so they can prepare the food grown in the program.  The application can be downloaded on the Common Good website,here.

The new site has proved to be a challenge – a baseball diamond isn’t exactly the most nutrient rich and fertile soil – but the hard work of the Green Tomorrows participants and community volunteers continue to persevere.  Last year the farm operated on half of the site and was able to produce a weekly minimum of 20 large grocery bags of food each week.  Since then they have been diligently building the health of the soil and will expand to the full site for the 2010 growing season which should double the food production capacity and increase their community impact.

In addition to the Green Tomorrows program, Common Good City Farm also offers Group Education Programs and Youth Farm programs The Group Education programs provide school groups an opportunity to come tour the farm or be involved in hands-on farming activities.  Neighborhood children can also come to the farm two nights a week and once on the weekend for educational experiences that focus on everything from botany basics, to composting, to nutrition and health. In an age where so much of the food that reaches the youth comes highly processed straight from a box, or a bag, or a vending machine, and childhood diabetes is on the rise, the lifelong importance of getting some dirt under their fingernails and truly understanding where healthy food comes from can not be overstated.
For those that are interested in urban agriculture, but who may not qualify for the Green Tomorrows program or live in the immediate neighborhood, Common Good City Farm offers a series of Growing Gardens Workshops.  The topics of the classes include basics of garden design, cooking with fresh foods, container gardening, preserving foods, and many more.  A full schedule of the Growing Gardens Workshops is available here.  The first class of the season is this Saturday (April 10th) from 11am to 1p and is entitled “Good Design, Bad Design” and has suggested donation of $10/participant.   This class coincides with the farm’s Public Opening Day, be sure to come by, say hello to your neighbors, and stick around for the workshop.

Outside of food production and education, one of the major successes of the Common Good City farm has been the creation of a fresh, vibrant, green space in the middle of the city.  This breath of fresh air in the urban fabric has evolved into what Falk describes as “a gathering space for all generations, and all races, and all classes.  It is a safe space.  A public place that is safe and beautiful and for everybody.”

As Common Good City Farm continues to grow and mature, it is their hope that the program can serve as a replicable model that can be embraced by other similar neighborhoods.  Falk says that the actual gardening lessons is the “easy stuff” and has a few recommendations for people who are interested in starting their own urban agriculture venture.  First, Community, Community, Community.  You need to be open and engaged with the neighborhood.  Listen to them and take their suggestions to heart and they will embrace the program and support your efforts.  They should be your core and will be critical to the success of your program.  Second, make sure that you can secure the space for a minimum of three years to ensure that you are able to develop the farm to its full potential.  As real estate development has slowed around the country, there are more and more opportunities available for this sort of temporary urban food production. Finally, embrace the existing network of urban farmers that exists around the country and around the world.   They are an incredibly supportive and resourceful group that can help you do everything from basic site planning, to negotiating leases with the city, to event planning and organizational tips.

For Falk, growing food in the city is intuitive.  ”It’s where the people are, it’s where the food should come from”, she says.  In describing her vision for the future of urban agriculture in DC she says “in a city like DC, there are so many old, flat buildings that are structurally capable of handling urban farms on their roofs. It would be a shame to not, someday in my lifetime, see food growing on top of them.  Just fly into National and see the acres and acres of flat roofs that are just sitting there waiting.”  But, until we get into farming in the air, Common Good City Farm will be providing healthy food to the areas low-income residents, growing a knowledge base that will help develop the urban food system, and providing a wonder green community amenity that enriches the lives of all it touches.
Common Good City Farm is located in the LeDroit Park neighborhood in Northwest, Washington DC at 3rd and V Streets.  They can be reached at 202-330-5945 or at info@commongoodcityfarm.org.  TCommon Good is having a Public Opening Day celebration and offering the class, “Good Design, Bad Design”, this Saturday, April 10th, from 10am – 1pm.  Register for class or to volunteer online and stop by and get to know more about what Common Good City Farm is doing to help grow the urban agriculture movement in Washington, DC.