Event Recap: School Garden Tour

By Ibti Vincent, Slow Food DC School Garden Liaison

What a beautiful Saturday for a bike ride! I was fortunate to meet up with a dozen or so adventurous cyclists at BicycleSpace in Ivy City for the annual DC school garden bike tour, this year focusing on innovative garden programs in Wards 7 & 8.

After a fairly robust ride from Ivy City, our first stop was at Sousa Middle School, where garden manager Zakiya Cobb showed off the school's early tomato plants along with the story of the garden's evolution (and big dreams). We continued from there up a BIG hill to Friendship Tech, where inspirational garden manager Coy McKinney shared the history of his school's program that over the course of his time there has boasted bee hives, raised beds, a rain garden, fruit orchard, and more in a vibrant oasis tucked away in Ward 7.

The fearless group of cyclists continued onward to our third stop, where Jenny Anderson, one of Leckie Education Campus' garden leaders, showed us around a gorgeous outdoor kitchen and invited us to peruse the small garden while we marveled at the projects her students were planning: trellises for climbing plants, an improved irrigation system, and - my favorite - a meditation garden.

Running a bit behind schedule, but enjoying the beautiful weather and chance to glimpse gardens in parts of the city that many of us had not explored before, we rolled a short way to our fourth school garden at Patterson Elementary, where the friendly Idy Ofogu showed off her school's growing spaces. Then it was off to The Well, where ride participants learned a bit more about the riders organizing partners: BicycleSpace, OSSE, FoodCorps, and, of course, Slow Food DC. Oh, and it being a Slow Food event of course there were tasty nibbles from Snail winners MOM'S Organic Market and FRESHFARM. What a treat it was to enjoy fresh fruit, whole grain bread, and sandwich fixings in the shaded park.

If you missed the ride, stay tuned for next year's annual school garden bike tour!