Washington Youth Garden has been in full swing this spring. Our one-acre demonstration garden on the grounds of the National Arboretum has already produced 745 pounds of food this year.

This bounty of greens, radishes, turnips, and carrots gets distributed to students and families at our local partner schools. But first, elementary school students on SPROUT field trips get to taste test the harvest. We love watching kids experience new foods for the first time, like sorrel leaves or harukei turnips!

While our garden team works hard to grow food for our community, they also showcase innovative gardening techniques that you can use in your own backyard.

The mushroom bed is one of the new features in WYG this year. In it, you'll find wood chips and straw bales inoculated with spores and growing winecap, blue oyster, golden oyster, and white oyster mushrooms. Come visit Washington Youth Garden and see for yourself!

You'll see changes start to take shape at the Washington Youth Garden. As part of celebrating WYG's 50th anniversary, we have worked with Groundsmith Collective to create a new garden redesign plan that will help it grow and thrive for the next 50 years.

If you visit today, you'll see new signs welcoming visitors to WYG and offering self-guided activities for children. But this is just the first step of a multi-year implementation process. We are evaluating longer-term infrastructure projects that set the garden apart and draw people into the space.

These projects include changing the layout of raised beds, extending and updating the garden's fence, and creating pathways directly guiding people from the road into the garden.

We look forward to working with our partners at the National Arboretum to evaluate these new projects and bring them to life.

Our Evening Benefit on Sunday, June 12th will not only celebrate WYG's 50th anniversary, but will also raise money for the garden's future and the garden's redesign.

During this casual, ticketed fundraiser, you'll be able to tour the garden, talk to participants past and present, and learn about WYG's work. We'll premiere a short film about Washington Youth Garden's history and work and have a special vermouth tasting from one of WYG's past participants.

Join us on June 12th! Get your ticket today and support Washington Youth Garden's work — past, present, and future!

As the growing season ramps up, here are some local farms in the DMV region owned and operated by Asian American and Pacific Islanders you can support beyond AAPI Heritage Month:

Want to find other AAPI-owned farms on the east and west coasts? Check out this list our garden team has made!

We'd love to hear from you. Please fill out a quick anonymous survey (2-4 minutes long) to provide feedback on FONA Field Notes and let us know how we're doing.

Birthday Party June 11, 11 AM - 1:30 PM

Evening Benefit June 12, 5:30 PM - 8 PM

June 19, 12 PM - 2 PM

Celebrating the crops of the African diaspora

June 25, 9 AM

Scenic race through collections in bloom

Movie in the Meadow: Calamity