DC Mutual Aid presents ...
Join DCMA’s 3rd annual Plant Fest on Saturday, June 14th from 12 - 2 PM at Lederer Gardens (4801 Nannie Helen Burroughs Ave NE, Washington DC)! We’ll give away medicinal and culinary herbs as well as pollinator plants (many of them native!) as a gift to our beautiful community, prioritizing residents in Wards 7 & 8.
Plant Fest is a time for us to reconnect and for you to leave with your arms full. As our leadership team takes this season to plan what’s next, we hope you continue growing your gardens as well as your relationships to the plants we all love. This will likely be the only public event DCMA hosts this year and we’ll share more about our plans for the future as they unfold.
The seeds of the DC Mutual Aid Apothecary were planted as a reponse to the uncertainty and fear of the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Over the years, those seeds took root in the soil of our community at Lederer Gardens and it’s leaves and branches sprouted in our partners, collaborators, and Herbalism in Community cohorts, and it bore its fruit in the form of nourishing medicine and glycerites. Harvest and rest are part of the cycle of growing and it’s time for us to pull back and return to the seeds.
As the world shifts and the needs of our community expand, we want to grow with them, and that requires reflection. Our 6th season will be an internal one, giving us space to regroup and recoup. If our 5th season was the season of the pivot, this is the season of the “Re’s”—reflect, rest, and revise. While we’re working internally, we will be unavailable to external programming and messages so we can savor every moment and come back renewed. To express our love and gratitude to our community that made this and all our moments possible, we’re hosting our 3rd annual Plant Fest to gift some of the seedlings of our project back to you in the hopes that you’ll continue your journey of growing and learning with plants.