McCleaf's Orchard CSA coming to neighborhood

Spring is upon us and it is an great time to consider enrolling in a farm share program, bringing locally grown fruits and vegetables to your kitchen table. McCleaf's Orchard farm share program offers an excellent opportunity for customers to truly know their local farm and farmer. McCleaf's is interested in building relationships with its customers, through utilizing central weekly drop off points. Each evening weekly drop off will feature a community gathering of those participating in the farm share. McCleaf's is unique for several reasons. First, they are a single farm program. That means that every bit of produce you receive from them was grown by them. How’s that for knowing your farmer? Second, because they are an orchard, fruit abounds in their farm share program. And finally, in addition to TASTE, they are all about QUALITY. They harvest at the peak of ripeness to ensure the best tasting, most nutrient dense produce and typically have it to you less than 24 hours after harvest. McCleaf's will be serving H Street and Capitol Hill neighborhoods starting in June.

Details: 15 weeks of delivery - regular package is $480 and rubust is $630. Join in the community building! Pickup location is 600 11th St NE.

My friend operates McCleaf's Orchard, and we are looking to have a weekly get together in the evening to allow all farm share participants to pick up their share at my sister's house, while enjoying the company of friends and neighbors. We will feature things like cooking lessons and food tastings at this weekly pickup to make it fun. It will have a great feel of community. Here is the link -http://mccleafsorchard.com/content/14152

"Montessori Night's Dream" to support Capitol Hill Montessori is this Friday,April 27, 7-10 p.m.@ Hill Center

Come party with your friends in the the Capitol Hill Montessori at Logan (215 G St NE) family this Friday (April 27), 7-10 p.m., at the Hill Center (921 Pennsylvania Ave SE) for their annual auction A Montessori Night's Dream.  The auction proceeds will go towards special Montessori materials not fully supported within the DCPS budget and to help to fund their aftercare program.  Capitol Hill Montessori at Logan moved to its current location less than a year ago and is one of DC's most popular elementary schools.
A Montessori Night's Dream includes entertainment, hors d'oeuvres, OPEN BAR with wine and beer, and a silent auction – all for the low low price of $25/person (advance purchase) or $30/person at the door.

At the auction, bid on sporting events, vacation home stays, food and wine certificates, and some amazing home-cooked meals.  Purchase tickets (discounted $25 price for prepurchase) here.

Kingman Island Bluegrass Festival is this Sat., April 28, 1 - 8 pm

Kingman Island Bluegrass and Folk Festival Returns
Celebrates the Revitalization of the Anacostia River

Ward 6 Councilmember Tommy Wellswill join residents for the 3rd Annual Kingman Island Bluegrass and Folk Festival on Saturday, April 28, 2012, 1:00 – 8:00 p.m.

“The Festival brings residents together with some of the DC area’s best local bluegrass bands for aday of music, food and exploration on Kingman Island to celebrate the revitalization of the Anacostia River,” stated Wells.

In addition to some of region’s best in live bluegrass music, severalother activities will take place, including free tours of the river bycanoe provided by the Anacostia Watershed Society, tours of the island and several bicycle-related activities and prizes hosted by BicycleSPACE, and nearly a dozen of DC’s top food trucks will be on hand to feed hungry visitors.

By hosting the Kingman Island Bluegrass and Folk MusicFestival, Councilmember Wells hopes to encourage more residents to enjoy the Anacostia River and to discover Kingman Island Park.

When is the Festival?

Saturday,April 28th, from 1:00 – 8:00 pm.

How to get to the KingmanIsland Festival?

·        The entrance to Kingman Island is off of the Anacostia River WalkTrail near parking lot # 6 at RFK Stadium.
·        Free shuttles will run between Kingman Island and Stadium/Armory Metro Station (blue/orange lines).
·        Abundant bicycleparking is available on Kingman Island and at the entrance (provided by DDOTand BicycleSPACE).
·        MetroBusroutes X1, X2 and X3 have a nearby stop located at the intersection of BenningRd. NE and Oklahoma Ave. NE. The entrance is a short walk across the parkinglot.
·        Free car parking isavailable in RFK parking lot #6.

What does it cost?

The event is FREE. Food and beverage will be sold at the event. There is also asuggested donation of $5 to support Living Classrooms, a non-profit thatmanages the island and provides environmental education to children in the DCmetro area.
How do I learn more?
Follow us onTwitter @KIBluegrassFest
Visit us online:http://www.facebook.com/KIBluegrassFest

Thanks to our Title Sponsor, DC Events and all theother sponsors that make this event possible, including Office of CouncilmemberTommy Wells, Living Classrooms, BicycleSPACE, Sierra Nevada, Safeway, WAMU BluegrassCountry, Create DC and Scott McCarthy Design.

What’s the schedule of participating bands?

1:00 – 1:50: King Street Bluegrass (http://www.reverbnation.com/kingstreetbluegrass)
2:00 – 3:30: Patuxent Partners (http://www.patuxentpartners.com/)
3:45 – 4:45: Split String Soup (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Split-String-Soup/151385041542722?sk=app_178091127385)
5:00 – 6:00: Hollertown (http://www.myspace.com/hollertowndc)
6:15 – 7:15: By and By (http://www.myspace.com/byandbyband)
7:30 – 8:00: Closing jam session

Sherwood Neighborhood Volunteers event at Sherwood Recreation CenterSaturday May 5, 9 am-1 pm w/ Argonaut & Queen Vic

The Sherwood Neighborhood Volunteers will host their next event at the Sherwood Recreation Center (640 10th St NE) on Saturday, May 5, from 9 am until 1 pm. They will be reopening the newly refurbished field, planting several bushes near the entrance, and celebrating the one year anniversary of the planting of 19 new trees in the park. Neighborhood restaurants the Argonaut & the Queen Vic are providing lunch. All are welcome — whether to help plant and beautify the park, to enjoy the new field, or just to share lunch with neighbors.

For more information, visit the Sherwood Neighborhood Volunteers' website and follow them on Twitter: @SherwdVolunteer.

Ommegang Hop Chef Competition at the Atlas w/ Boundary Road Chef Brad & H St resident & Bibiana Chef Nick Stefanelli & more, Sat. 4/28

Inaugural Ommegang Hop Chef Competition heats up D.C. on April 28, 2012.
Sat., April 28, 2012, 1-4 pm. Atlas Theater, 1333 H St., NE, Washington, D.C.

Brewery Ommegang of Cooperstown announces our first-ever Ommegang Hop Chef Competition.™ The competition invites innovative DC area chefs to prepare and pair dishes with fine Ommegang ales. Each chef creates two dishes showcasing imaginative beer and food pairing skills. The dishes, along with Ommegang ales chosen to go with them, are served to professional judges and a consumer audience. The competition will produce fourteen delectably different dishes, offer at least seven different beers, and promises plenty of culinary surprises. The Hop Chef Competition is part of the Ommegang program known as Great Beer Deserves Great Food®, a national initiative dedicated to the idea that fine beer deserves its rightful place at the table with fine foods. The Hop Chef Competition brings that idea to life for 200 lucky tasters.
The Ommegang Hop Chef Competition takes place April 28, 1- 4 pm, at the historic Atlas Theater on H Street. Seven hot DC area chefs compete, eight area notables judge, and 200 lucky tasters can buy tickets to watch, taste, sip, and vote for a People’s Choice Winner. Chefs are Jamie Leeds, Hank's Oyster Bar; Jeff Eng, Clyde's of Tower Oaks; Bradley Walker, Boundary Road; Mike Bonk, Sonoma; Nicholas Stefanelli, Bibiana; Mark Marrocco, Magnolias at the Mill; and Will Artley, Pizzeria Orso.
This Ommegang Hop Chef Competition is the first in a series of chef’s cook-offs across the US, culminating in a Grand Hop Chef cook-off at Ommegang’s Belgium Comes to Cooperstown festival in August 2012. The competition is put together by Brewery Ommegang and Chef Teddy Folkman, Ommegang Culinary Ambassador and chef/owner of DC’s beloved Granville Moore’s Gastropub. The competition is co-sponsored by Saveur Magazine, Shun Knives, Gel Pro Mats, Lodge Enamel Cookware, Cuisinart, and Chefware Branded Chef Coats. The Hop Chef Competition is also sponsored by ‘Share Our Strength’ Taste of the Nation program. Net proceeds benefit ‘Share our Strength' and its efforts to end childhood hunger
Hop Chef Competition judges include Greg Engert; beer director, Birch and Barley/ Churchkey; John Guattery, executive director, Matchbox Food Group; Tammy Tuck, beer writer, Washington City Paper; Nycci Nellis, host "Foodie and the Beast, Talk Radio and NBC TV; Bart Vandaele, chef/owner Belga Cafe; Bonnie Benwick, Deputy Food Editor, Washington Post; Simon Thorpe, president/CEO Brewery Ommegang and Duvel USA; and Saveur Magazine.

Tickets are limited, so please purchase in advance at www.brownpapertickets.com/event/237993.

Learn more about the Ommegang Hop Chef Competition and our sponsors at greatbeerdeservesgreatfood.com
Ommegang Hop Chef Competition events logo

H Street FreshFarm Market returns this Saturday, 9 am - noon at 1300 H St

The H Street FreshFarm Market resumes this Saturday, at 9 am, at its new location at 1300 H Street.  The market runs every Saturday until noon up to Thanksgiving.

For opening market, Wes Morton from Art and Soul will be doing the Chef at Market demo.

Farmers and producers returning this season are: Atwater's Bakery, Blueberry Hill Vegetables, Cedarbrook Farm, Dolcezza Gelato, Full Cellar Farm, Garden Path Farm, Keswick Creamery, Quaker Valley Orchard, Red Apron Butchery and Richfield Farm.  New this year is Gordy's Pickle Jar.

This neighborhood farmers market will be filled with fresh flowers and seedlings to plant, purple and green asparagus, lots of greens (spinach, arugula, salad mixes), strawberries, pasture-raised meats (pork, chicken, lamb, beef), farm-fresh eggs, cheeses and yogurt, breads, cookies and scones, cured-meats, pate and Dolcezza gelato.

CHAMPS hosts Neighborhood Development Sessions 4/17 & 5/8

CHAMPS - CAPITOL HILL'S CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, ANNOUNCES AN EVENING SERIES ON REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT ON AND NEAR CAPITOL HILL

Tuesday, April 17 and Tuesday, May 8 at 7:00 PM
Councilmember Tommy Wells to Speak at Both Programs
Co-sponsored by Capitol Riverfront, NoMA and Capitol Hill BIDs and Barracks Row and H Street Main Street Organizations

When will the new Capitol Riverfront neighborhood around Nationals Park become fully built-out? When will the Hine site at 8th and Pennsylvania be developed and what will it look like? When will key sites on H Street and in NoMA be developed and what shape will such development take?  When will Hill East move from being a plan to being developed and how?

CHAMPS, the Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce, is sponsoring an educational series on these and other real estate-related issues to help the community better understand the pipeline of projects coming to the Capitol Hill community. The co-sponsors include the Capitol Hill BID, Capitol Riverfront BID, NoMA BID, and the Barracks Row and H Street Main Streets. The series will involve two sessions. The first program will focus on development activity south of East Capitol Street and east of South Capitol Street. The second program will feature developments north of East Capitol Street and east of North Capitol Street.

Both programs will feature presentations highlighting various development projects, and guest speakers will provide development overviews of the subject areas and the projects. Councilmember Tommy Wells will speak at both programs.
The first session, on development activity south of East Capitol Street and east of South Capitol Street, will be held Tuesday, April 17 at 7:00 PM. The second session, featuring developments north of East Capitol Street and east of North Capitol Street, will be held on Tuesday, May 8 at 7:00 P.M. Both programs will be at the renovated former Meader Theater at 535 8th Street, SE. This venue is generously being made available by the National Community Church. The sessions are being coordinated and led by Jacques DePuy and other attorneys of the Washington law firm Greenstein DeLorme & Luchs. 

No admission fees will be charged for these events.
Please plan to join with CHAMPS and attend one or both sessions.

Boundary Road brunch menu looks great & tastes even better

Boundary Road is now open for brunch every Sunday at 11 am.  Their opening menu follows.  We've already tried most of it and really enjoyed everything we've had.   

BRUNCH

Corned Beef Eggs Benedict

. . . $12

Gentleman Will Take a Chance—pork confit, onions, peppers, potatoes, and a fried egg

. . . $12

Bacon & Eggs—house-cured bacon with two hen eggs any style or one goose egg

. . . $12

Sunday Quiche

. . . $10

Duck Confit—duck leg, frisée, red onion, bacon

. . . $14

Peanut Butter & Banana Monte Cristo

. . . $12

Apple Cheese Pancakes

. . . $10

Granola and Yogurt

. . . $10

House Salad—carrots, radish, red onion, cucumber, and mustard vinaigrette

. . . $5

Endive Salad—endives and iceberg with a creamy Stilton dressing, apples, and toasted walnuts

. . . $7

Pastry Basket

. . . $8

Sweets

$6

Gallery O on H pops up at LUMEN8 Anacostia this Saturday, 4 to 9 pm & has big plans for H Street space too

Gallery O on H
LUMEN8Anacostia Pop-up Gallery
2021 MLK Ave SE
4pm to 9pm

For more LUMEN8 Information go to:
www.lumen8anacostia.com

During Lumen8Anacostia, using a combination of projection, art installation and live music performance, Gallery O on H will recreate their gallery and courtyard in a historic Anacostia building.  Located at 2021 Martin Luther King Blvd., the event will take place from 4 to 9 p.m. and will showcase outsider artist, Brian Dowdell and a live local music showcase by Listen Local First.

Gallery O on H, located at 1354 H Street NE is an indoor/outdoor community space where art, music and minds intersect for cultural experience.  The pop-up gallery, much like the H Street space, will combined art and music allowing sound to flow into the street using speakers to project out the windows of the second floor space.
The space will be recreated through a mix of live art, live music and projected video scenes of the original space, featuring hyper-local H Street celebrities.  The experience is open to the public.

“Recreating the outside in is an exercise in fusing sensory realities, and I find that fascinating. This piece of video projection art captures the burgeoning and exciting Gallery O on H space – and its lively community on H street – within the walls of Anacostia,” explains Isabelle Carbonell, videographer.

Live musical performances include local artists Rene Moffatt, Justin Trawick, The Sweater Set and Jess Dye of Lightfoot.

Gallery owners and community advocates, Steve Hessler and Mary Ellen Vehlow are using this experience to launch a series of events that they hope will build community on H Street.  After holding onto this property and surrounding structures for years, the couple has begun execution for a mix-use plan including temporary and permanent concepts that foster creative entrepreneurs.  The full concept, set to roll out in stages over the next two years, will begin with a more active use of the current gallery and outdoor venue space for ticketed events including art, music and community featuring a pop-up markets for food and retail.

“We see this as an opportunity to infuse local community with an energy beyond the bars and the night life of H Street,” explains Vehlow.

The space will host their first event, Blossom Bake+Brew, on April 21 in collaboration with ScoutMob, Chocolate City Beer and Think Local First to benefit H Street Main Street.  Jazz in the Hood, a component of the DC Jazz Festival, is set for June 2 and 9th.   A summer music series, Music in the Courtyard, hosted twice a month begins in July.  A full listing of events can be found online at www.galleryoonh.com

Update on the H Street FreshFarm Market; still open 4/21, new location 1300 H St

Our Farmers' Market is going to be displaced this summer by the commencing of construction on Jair Lynch's development project along the south side of the 600 block of H Street.  The Market had initially planned to open there and move after a few weeks, but is instead looking to open at its new location.  They looked up and down the corridor and considered a few spots close to their current location.  Unfortunately, the closest public space -- Ludlow-Taylor Elementary School, which is just a block south of the market's current location -- is unavailable as it's parking lot is already going to be used to stage construction equipment for the Jair Lynch development.  The market folks had more difficulty finding a new locaiton that one would hope as they were unable to convince the city that it did not need to charge them very high rents to use part of a city-owned parking lot at a nearby school or recreation center.  Fortunately, 1300 H Street -- the NE corner of 13th & H and the former site of the R.L. Christian Library Kiosk and the pop up fashion outpost the Temporium -- is available for use.  The Market is now slated to open as scheduled on Saturday, April 21 at 1300 H Street NE. 

They are seeking volunteers to spend an hour or two this Saturday, April 14 at 2 pm to help get notices delivered to nearby neighbors doors. If you're willing to help, please meet the group at Sidamo and RSVP or send any questions to JulietGlass AT FreshFarmMarket [DOT] org