WASHINGTON — It was 1974. The occasion? National Food Day, a discontinued holiday today, but at the time, the inspiration for creating The Newark Street Community Garden, celebrating its 40th anniversary this fall. From international residents to families who live right down the street, the garden provides a service to the community of not only convenience and beauty, said Susan Akman, a longtime gardener and member of the board.
At the garden, deemed official in 1975, those first urban farmers brought their own water for their plants on the previously military-owned property. Their water source now runs through their four acres of land to their points of attraction: the playground, tennis courts and dog park.
Walking through the 200 plots, everywhere one looks there is something new. From arrangements of flowers that cover the entire plot to those that have a robust vegetable patch, gardeners have a creative license when planting to leave their own mark on the community garden.
Although there are many local gardeners, international gardeners have a place in the garden as well. While some gardeners protect their plot from deer and fox, a couple from Lithuania has a taller fence around the plot, in addition to a locked gate, to protect the plants themselves. A man from Africa planted fava beans and a pepper that appears to “look like jack o’ lanterns,” Akman said.
While families may come to the garden to grow for their own dinner tables, the garden also serves as comfort for others. A woman who experienced loss during 9/11 came to the garden as therapy, Akman said. “It is a very peaceful place,” she said, adding that she often comes to garden from 5:30 to 6:30 in the morning, finding comfort in the quiet.
A garden for the community, by the community
The trees planted from the Casey Trees organization help to enhance this unique acreage behind the National Cathedral, visible from the garden. Out of the 30 trees planted, only one has been lost. The trees have “made an incredible difference in this community,” Akman said.
Elwood Gautier, a master gardener, has taken his fresh produce tomatoes, yellow squash and lettuce to Miriam’s Kitchen for about three years. “He would wash every head of lettuce” and send them to the soup kitchen, Akman said.
And while some residents might be choosing air-conditioning during the high temperatures D.C. has seen this summer, gardeners were out tending to their cherished plants on a recent day where the forecast was for the mid-90s. There are 190 gardeners tending to one or two of the 200 plots available; there’s about a two-year waitlist, Akman said. Some plots have gone through generations of families.
Members range from toddlers to those in their 90s. The garden’s educational program “is a big hit,” Akman said. Children can plant, water and harvest their own vegetables and flowers, Akman said, and the children’s garden now features a small wooden picnic table and donated animal statues.
The playground
When the gate to the playground shuts, one is left with the view of animated flowers towering over a plastic treehouse that reads, “Kids Only.” Children play on the bright green monkey bars, and the plastic log slides lead down to a blue padded ground surrounding the play area.
Katterinee Salgado was visiting the playground for the first time, trying something new for the two kids she babysat, she said. The playground was right down the street “so it’s easy” to take the kids down for an hour of play before lunchtime, she said.
The shade the trees provide was much appreciated, not only by Salgado, but also by Doulat Kapoor, who was pushing his daughter in a plastic car stroller down the blue walkway that curves through the playground. Like Salgado and her charges, this family also lives close by. The park is “right for her age,” Kapoor said. The family goes to the park “almost every day.”
For more information about the garden and Newark Park, go to their website.