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Guerilla Gardeners
Perhaps taking a cue from the First Lady’s White House garden, Capitol Hill green thumbs are getting to work. So-called “guerilla gardens” are literally popping up everywhere, including the side yard of the vacant Hine Junior High building at Eighth Street and Pennsylvania Ave. SE. Replete with tomatoes, squash, carrots, leeks, peppers, beets, broccoli and several kinds of lettuce, the garden is the creation of Victory Garden Direct Action, an informal group of "guerilla gardeners” who “liberate” unused urban space for horticulture. “Victory” was what Americans called patriotic plots planted during World War II. Today, some call their leafy reincarnations “recession gardens.”
“I think those gardens are great because they provide a protective presence, watching over the front of the school,” said historian Marcel Lafolette, who lives across the street from Hine. She added that the harvest could help fill local church food banks–including Church of the Brethren at 337 North Carolina Ave. SE--which are stretched to the limit. Perhaps due to the economic slump and home foreclosures, similar victory gardens are reclaiming vacant public lands all over the country.
On a muggy June afternoon, Johanna Bockman, a George Mason sociology professor spending a year at The Library of Congress, was yanking weeds in the Hine plot. She was joined by LOC colleague Anne Washington, as well as fellow Hillites Laura Olson and Tom Bregman. They are among nine “core” gardeners, with 59 connecting on FaceBook.
The group met in March at a benefit dinner for Food & Friends at La Plaza restaurant, Washington told HillBuzz. “We wanted to contribute something, and we came up with a victory garden idea.” The Hine site was suggested, as was a tiny, trash-strewn spot on Hine’s Pennsylvania Ave. SE side across from Metro. The small group got to work immediately, contributing seeds, mulch and even surplus plants from their own gardens. Water was a problem, so neighbors took turns bringing cans, and the “weather gods have certainly helped,” added Washington.
The idea took root, and the Hine garden is flourishing, and the nearby Pennsylvania Avenue space is now full of colorful pansies surrounding a cactus plant. There’s another garden at 12th Place NE, with still others scattered around the city including an organic garden at First and R streets NW. People volunteer for various reasons: They want to help the community, meet new neighbors and well–they just like to grow things and don’t have enough space in their own yards.
Volunteer gardening helps people in myriad ways. Olson, a former social worker from Minneapolis, recalled assisting developmentally disabled patients in growing their own vegetables in their group home. Not only did it give her patients a feeling of accomplishment, the produce helped stretch their meager food budget.
Resurrection of the Market
“It’s been a long two years since the fire,” said greeting card vendor Jim Cahill on a busy Saturday. “It’s great to see the farmers back where they belong, being productive and happy.” HillBuzz was inspecting the brand new paving on Seventh St. SE, and looking forward to Eastern Market’s June 26 reopening.
“I love the new paved streets,” said attorney Bruce Rinaldi, who lives on South Carolina Ave. SE, and was contemplating the farmers line produce. “With all the rain, the street looks like a checkerboard square.”
Archeology professor Marilyn Goldberg, who lives on 15th Street SE, thinks closing off Seventh Street SE on weekends–while allowing farmers to park their trucks there--is a good idea. “We saw [pedestrian streets] in Barcelona, and they worked very well,” she said.
Saturday flea market manager Carole Wright is “very excited” about the new streets and Eastern Market’s reopening. “When they redevelop Hine, I hope they allow us to stay here; I hope they can fit us into the plan,” added Wright, who has managed the Saturday market for the past 12 years.
Southwest resident Diana Wallace and her granddaughter Andi were equally impressed: “The street looks gorgeous,” she said. “The only problem is parking, which was formerly allowed between the Natatorium and Eastern Market.”
Eels as meals
As Eastern Market merchants were preparing for their big move into their restored building across the street, Southern Maryland Seafood was introducing a couple of exotic items (to Americans anyway): fresh Greek sardines ($7.50 per pound) and green eels from Virginia ($3.95). We’ve tasted both delicacies (eel is a sushi staple) and a few local Mediterranean restaurants grill sardines. Eastern Market customer Tony LaGreca, from Takoma Park, promptly snapped up the eel. How do you cook it?
“I just dust it in flour and fry it, or stew it in tomato sauce,” said LaGreca, whose father comes from Sicily. There, eel and sardines are regular (delicious) fare, and we enjoyed that island’s plethora of seafood while vacationing there in 2007. Fortunately, Southern Maryland seafood employees skin and slice the eel; they also clean and scale sardines for customers. The market also carries fresh squid and octopus. Lunch anyone?
Dick Wolf honored
Capitol Hill Restoration Society president Dick Wolf, long time Hill activist and preservationist, was honored June 2 with the 2009 Vision Lifetime Achievement Award by the Committee of 100 on the Federal City. Founded in 1922 by Frederick Delano (FDR’s uncle), the nonprofit organization is the city’s oldest planning organization. The group is dedicated to “safeguarding and advancing Washington's historic distinction, natural beauty and livability.” Wolf received his award at a reception at the German Historical Institute Woodbury Blair Mansion on New Hampshire Ave. NW. Other recipients were honored as well.
Wolf, who lives on Philadelphia Row (100 block 11th St. SE) has lived on the Hill since 1964 with his wife Muriel, a pediatrician/pediatric cardiologist at Children's Hospital National Medical Center in DC. She’s also an associate professor at George Washington University medical school.
“I feel very grateful to the people with whom I have worked for all these years for choosing to honor me,” Wolf told HillBuzz. “I’ve been a member of the Committee of 100 since the late 1960s, and have been with the trustees (board) on and off for all these years.”
Congrats to Hill scholars
Earlier this spring, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation named 2,500 distinguished high school seniors who have won $2,500 scholarships. Of a handful of District finalists, two live on Capitol Hill: Emma Fernandez (East Capitol Street) and Suzanna Frager (Seward Square). Selected by a committee of college admissions officers and high school counselors, finalists are judged to have a best combination of skills and potential for college success. On July 13, 4,700 college-sponsored Merit Scholarship winners, will be announced.
Ciao
So the rumors were true: Locanda, the upscale Italian/Mediterranean restaurant at 633 Pennsylvania Ave. SE has departed. Proprietor Turan Tombul, who also owns the popular Café 8 on Barracks Row, was unavailable for comment, and no word on what is going into that vacant spot.
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