Dozens of short, rotting logs line the edge of THEARC Farm, propped up against the fence. The heap of timber houses chestnut, shiitake and oyster mushrooms inoculated in holes in the wood, feeding off the log until it's ready for harvest.
Farm Director Carrie Vaughn pointed to one of the logs, which had delicate pieces of bark flaking off.
“If you were to peel the bark off, you would see this network of white mycelium, and that's the body of the fungus,” she said. “So when you eat a mushroom, you're actually eating the sexual organ of the fungus, sort of the way you eat the peach from a peach tree.”
Once matured, Vaughn would send the mushrooms to Town Hall Education Arts Recreation Campus’ east building, where a community member could bring it home to cook for themselves or their family. It’s one of nearly 60 crops grown at the THEARC’s Ward 8 farm given away for free at weekly Food and Farm Fridays during the harvest season from early summer to fall.
D.C. Ward 8 is a food desert – a community where residents are more than 0.5 miles walking distance from a grocery store – and farmers at the THEARC have been producing crops to alleviate food insecurity in the area since the farm’s establishment in 2010. There are currently three grocery stores in Ward 8, according to Open Data D.C., and only one east of the Anacostia River.
“We want to bring the best produce that we possibly can to this neighborhood,” Vaughn said.
Ward 8 is home to over 87,000 residents with a median household income of $48,609 — which is roughly half of the District’s overall median household income, according to census data. The ward is also a predominantly Black community, which are more likely to be food deserts due to economic inequality, according to Feeding America.
THEARC is part of a network of farms owned by nonprofit Building Bridges Across the River. Vaughn said the organization’s farms produced 6,500 pounds of produce in 2024, feeding nearly 3,000 people, 65% of which reside in Ward 8.
The farm includes beds of collard greens, broccoli and garlic, herb boxes of dill and cilantro, pear, apple and fig trees, two greenhouses for tomatoes and melons and flower beds. The yields sent to Food and Farm Fridays are joined by donations from the Capital Area Food Bank and D.C. Central Kitchen. Vaughn said THEARC staff lay out the crops for giveaway at noon, and the food is typically gone by 1 p.m.
2024 is the first year the organization has given out food for free, previously selling crops at farmers markets in past harvest seasons.
The farm is part of the THEARC’s 16.5 acre campus and faces the south – where the sun lingers in the District – to soak up as much sunlight as possible. It lies behind THEARC’s west and east buildings, which are home to theaters, dance studios, art galleries and other creative spaces for Ward 8 youth.
Vaughn said many Ward 8 residents who may live in apartments or rowhouses might not have access to a south-facing space to grow food, and its THEARC farm’s mission to provide it for them. Partners like Howard University and Skyland Workforce Center have hosted mental health resource tables and hiring fairs, respectively, at Food and Farm Fridays, creating a nutritional and educational space for community members.
“The more of us there are, the more we can help each other,” Vaughn said.
At the time of THEARC farm’s opening in 2010, it was the sole farm in Ward 8. Now, there are six urban farms total in the area, according to D.C. Department of Energy and Environment. There’s 26 urban gardens overall in the ward, made up of the six farms, 13 school gardens and seven community gardens.
THEARC hosts workshops to engage community members in the farm, including lessons on how to start a garden. Vaughn said her favorite interactions with community members are when workshop attendees report back to her after the lessons and show her what they’ve grown. She said some workshop attendees have started giving gardening tips to their friends.
“That's nice to feel like you're having multiple impacts on somebody's life, that they can try something new, be their own gardener,” she said. “I want everybody to be growing gardens.”
As farm director, Vaughn is in charge of deciding which crops to plant, purchasing supplies, record keeping and reporting grants, which make up most of the farm’s funding. She also supervises the farm's only other staff member, Senior Farm Manager JJ Boone.
Vaughn studied biology at Pomona College in Claremont, Calif. and aspired to become a geneticist. But upon graduation, she realized she didn’t want to work in a lab, so she turned her interest to agriculture research, where she could be outside and see the impact of her work on a daily basis. She interned at a farm and managed their vegetable operation.
“I didn't want to spend all that time going to grad school and becoming something that wasn't actually that helpful, but I did love the actual farming, so I just kept farming,” she said.
She joined THEARC three years ago and is leading the farm into its fifteenth year. She said THEARC will be expanding their food giveaway operations with a new garden at Washington View Apartments.
She said she’s looking forward to the opening of a school on THEARC’s campus, which will have a gate into the farm giving the students direct access to the crops.
“All those kids in the school are going to have their classroom windows looking right down on the garden,” Vaughn said.
Credits:
Ianne Salvosa