A one-acre community farm and wellness space in D.C.’s Ward 8 that is “powered by” (as they say) DC Greens, The Well at Oxon Run is my happy place.

Since The Well opened for the season on March 18, I’ve spent four hours volunteering there every Tuesday that I’ve been in town. I’ve prepared planting trays, repotted seedlings, planted seeds, cleaned up the meditation garden, weeded the herb garden, helped measure soaker hoses, and planted pepper plants and flowers, among other things. More importantly I’ve become a part of The Well at Oxon Run community — one with perpetually dirty fingernails. 

When I retired from the State Department last August after a 36-year career in the Legal Adviser’s Office, I knew I wanted to get more involved in our community and continue to give back. I also knew I wanted to give back in a more tangible way, preferably doing something that touched on my interests in the outdoors, gardening, food insecurity, and children.

I found The Well at Oxon Run through Impact100. After I joined Impact100 in December and the Environment Focus Area Committee (FAC) in January, I dug into Impact100’s website to learn about past grantees and discovered DC Greens and their program, The Well at Oxon Run. The mission of DC Greens — “to advance health equity by building a just and resilient food system — and its tagline — “food is medicine” — resonated with me. I immediately signed up through their volunteer portal for March 18, at that point over a month away.

When Opening Day finally arrived, Melanie, The Well at Oxon Run Coordinator, and Kenny, the farmer, welcomed me warmly and immediately put me to work in the greenhouse. As a woman of a certain age, I was soon introduced as Ms. Judy to Mr. Leslie and Ms. Angela, members of the immediate community who also volunteer regularly.

I found spending the day with my hands in the dirt with friendly folks doing something tangible to address food insecurity very nurturing. And even after I spent an arduous day at The Well as part of a crew shoveling compost into wheelbarrows and wheeling them to different parts of the farm, I kept coming back.

And I felt as if I’d truly “arrived” as a Ward 8 Well community member when the day came that Melanie introduced me to a couple of large volunteer groups as “Ms. Judy, a veteran, regular volunteer.”