Ward 6 Community Gardens Bike Tour to begin from SW Community Gardens!

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Ward6Bikes

While SW Community Gardens may be among the newest community gardens in Ward 6 of Washington, DC, it certainly isn’t the only garden. We want to meet and learn from our garden neighbors!

We hope to see you and your bicycle on September 29th, 12-3 pm, at the Ward 6 Community Garden Bike Tour which will begin from SW Community Gardens.

SW Community Gardens Location

SW Community Gardens Location

We’ll start at SW Community Gardens then pedal to the Virginia Avenue Community Garden in Navy Yard, before taking the Anacostia River Trail up to visit Rosedale gardens. Next, we’ll cut across C Street NE to stop by the Walker-Jones Urban Farm that partners with Walker-Jones K-8 school before jumping up to the City Blossom’s Marion Street Intergenerational Garden. We’ll wrap up at BicycleSPACE and a happy hour at Passenger to relax from the ride and share what we’ve learned.

For this Ward 6 ride, leaders from each garden visited will talk about their garden space and share their stories. This exciting Ward 6 ride is in partnership with the BicycleSPACE City Explorer’s program.

No RSVP is required (but if you complete the free registration it will help us get a head count) and we want to see you join us for the ride – whether for the whole ride or just your favorite section.

Pesto Market

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Pesto Market

Coy, Eric, and Sam harvested about 2.4 pounds of basil late Sunday afternoon September 8th and set up a little market table in front of the garden for about an hour and a half. We gave away basil, provided free samples of pasta and pesto Coy made, and recipes for how to make the pesto. The pesto was well-received (or the visitors were just hungry) and some very interesting culinary discussions ensued.

 

Basil Harvest

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August 11th at 4-5pm will go down as an important day in SW Community Gardens history as it was our first harvest ever. We harvested our several basil leaves and came away with 1.4 lbs of basil, which was distributed amongst the 8 volunteers who came to help with the harvest. 

We look forward to continued basil harvests, likely in a week or two, as basil grows quick. For those looking to get creative with your basil, check out Basil Bonanza hosted by our friends at City Blossoms, to be held at 1480 Girard Street NW Friday August 16th 6-8:30pm. 

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Open-Me–Basil-Awaits-You–7-days-away-.html?soid=1102064811808&aid=gBmV8sL3bVgImage

We built a garden. Let’s celebrate!

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Thanks to everyone for a successful build day! We built a garden!

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As we plan our next steps, let’s take some time to celebrate how much we’ve accomplished thus far. Please join your fellow gardeners and neighbors this Sunday!

Location: The Garden (1098 Delaware Ave SW)
Date: Sunday, Aug 4
Time: 3pm – 5pm

Some people will be bringing small treats to share. Feel free to bring something!

Build Day is Almost Here!

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July MeetingYesterday was the final SW Gardens Meeting before the July 31 Gardens Build Day. We had a whopping 18 attendees! Of course, yesterday wasn’t our final planning meeting ever. We will still have plenty of issues to manage post-July 31st, and plan to continue meeting monthly thereafter.

In even more exciting news, construction on the garden has begun! You can visit the site at Lansburgh Park (1098 Delaware Ave SW) to check it out, which we did after last night’s meeting. (see photo)

The Southwester ran article about Garden Build Day on the front page of July edition, with several great insights from representatives of the garden planning team. http://thesouthwester.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Southwester0713-V3.pdf

Our volunteer total is at 76 (and counting). We’re hoping to add several more volunteers before the big day. If interested, don’t forget to sign up: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1zRyvVDCmipykfUyxM2hGL2pYqnzAAKcX-g3_w511Abw/viewform

Volunteer blitz and other news

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As the clouds parted, Kamilla, Coy, and I took to the streets of SW DC in order to recruit volunteers for our July 31st build day. So far, we have 50 volunteers. But, we definitely need more! If you are interested in being apart of this momentous occasion, sign-up here: http://tinyurl.com/build-day

In other news, our group was featured in the Hill Rag. We want to thank our fellow gardener, Annette Nielsen, for putting this piece together. You can read the article online (http://tinyurl.com/hill-rag-article) or in print.

Our monthly meeting is this Wednesday, June 12th. We’ll be meeting at 7PM in the Southwest Library’s meeting room (basement level), 900 Wesley Pl SW, Washington, DC 20024. New and vintage members are welcomed!

Bernice

SW Community Garden Build Day JULY 31st

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On July 31, part of Lansburgh Park in Southwest Washington DC will be transformed into a beautiful and productive community garden – in a single day.

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The Lansburgh Park Community Garden was as the 2013 Project Orange Thumb garden makeover recipient from over 400 applicants. Envisioned as a place for community gardening and programming for veterans, youth and seniors, the new 8,000 square-foot garden will provide educational opportunities and give community members a place to reap the rewards of growing their own food.

Join us and Fiskars to help build the Garden by signing up to volunteer here.

Please save the date in your calendar.

SW Community Garden Build Day:
Date:  Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Time:  8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Location:  Lansburgh Park – 1098 Delaware Avenue SW, Washington DC, 20024

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Southwest Community Gardens received the Fiskars garden makeover!

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Community gardening is about to expand in Southwest DC! Our group has received a national garden makeover award from Fiskars Brands, Inc., which will allow the group to build a community garden in Lansburgh Park with a budget of $50,000.  Southwest Community Gardens was the only garden to be selected for this makeover out of over 400 applicants across the US.

The Fiskars Garden Makeover will take place on one day in the summer of 2013. The community garden is expected to be built in late July or early August. Check this website and our Facebook and Twitter pages to stay up-to-date on our progress and to see how you can help.

We want to thank the Southwest Neighborhood Assembly, our fiscal sponsor, and the Southwest community groups that helped us along the way. We couldn’t have done this without you!