If a person who gardens has a green thumb, then Elizabeth Falk, SIS/MA ’06, must have green hands. Pulling double duty as the director of the Common Good City Farm (formerly the 7th Street Garden) and the Program Manager for FRESHFARM Markets, Falk uses these complementing jobs to emphasize the benefits of environmentalism to the DC urban public. (Environmentalism is perhaps too narrow a term: both programs stress the importance of good nutrition, agriculture, access to fresh food, and having those foods be locally-grown.)

As a student, Falk was able to combine her scholastic work with hands-on learning. Her dual degree from AU consists of one-half AU’s Natural Resources and Sustainable Development program (part of the Global Environmental Politics field), and the other half studying abroad at the AU-sponsored University for Peace in Costa Rica. During her time there, Falk was able to explore the ins and outs of sustainable agriculture and how it might turn into a sustainable business.

Sustainable it became. One of Falk’s continuing goals is to expand the appeal of fresh, locally-grown food to more than just the farmer’s markets’ regular clientele. FRESHFARM Markets joined the local farmer’s markets’ nutrition programs – and received a sizable grant – to allow food stamp users to utilize those benefits at farmer’s markets. But just buying the food isn’t enough: “We are partnering with the University of the District of Columbia Cooperative Extension Service to bring a nutritionist to the H Street NE Market on a regular basis to teach people how to cook fresh, healthy foods and how to cook with kids,” Falk says hopefully. 

Because of extended promotion among neighborhood organizations, the base of volunteers at and interest in the Common Good City Farm grew. The crew consists of helpers of all races and ages, and the occasional visitor who can’t resist freshly-grown produce. “When there are peaches on the trees and tomatoes on the vines, it was pretty inviting to most passer-bys to stop on in and see how they could get some,” Falk admits.

While word spreads about the good works of the Common Good City Farm, the program itself is expanding, too. In October 2008, the Farm moved to LeDroit Park, at 3rd and V Streets, NW.  With such rapid growth in space and popularity, the program may soon have to call itself the “All Over DC Garden,” which Falk probably wouldn’t mind one bit.