Storytelling, Clay, Earthbending + more…

Play is universal. Every being benefits from play. I believe the very elements that make up life itself like to play. In this 4 part play series we will be exploring play through imagining how air, water, earth, and fire cultivate joy. Every play session we will play like the elements, give playful offerings to the elements, and play with the elements. My biggest hope is through being both serious and silly about play we will be able to see the endless ways we can incorporate more play into our lives. We need more playful, imaginative, vibrant and whole people in this world; so be prepared to get weird, be free, and have fun!

Please bring something for show and tell!

hosted by Mali

Come get your hands in the soil with our partners at Farm the District (FTD), every Saturday throughout the growing season. Whether you’re a first-timer or returning veteran, all are needed to help tend to our shared backyard. There’s plenty of projects to keep all hands busy, including weeding, watering, composting, harvesting, repairing, crafting, and ongoing side projects. The Farm Leads will help you learn all about the tasks of the day, and you’re welcome to come & go as you please!

As always, we’ll also be giving an orientation tour for newcomers. Welcome neighbors!

Month Offline welcomes you to a gallery and graduation party with the members of our September cohort!

These brave doomscrollers switched to a dumbphone for the whole month and participated in weekly creative challenges related to the smartphone-shaped hole in their lives. They explored themes like Communication, Navigation, and Boredom as they time traveled to the 1990s. At this closing exhibition, the Month Offline cohort will share what their experience was like and showcase the projects they made with all their newfound freetime.

This is (of course) a phone-free event—you'll be asked to put your phone away at the gate. All are welcome!

hosted by Olivia, Aaron, and Josh

Our midweek harvest is donated to Martha’s Table through a long-running partnership with Farm the District. Join us every hump day at 7 to give back to the community. No experience necessary, we’ll teach you how to harvest.

hosted by Riley

Our meditation community meets weekly to re-center, connect, and cultivate intentions. With a mix of guided, silent, and relational practice, we ground ourselves in presence and compassion. All levels of experience warmly welcomed.

Hosted by regulars and guests alike, bring a practice for the circle to share.

All levels flow in the garden for our community donation-suggested classes with the beautiful greenery and open blue sky. Perfect for grounding and centering. Bring yourself, water, and a mat (we’ll have a few extra on hand).

Have you ever wanted to try forest bathing but couldn't get to a forest? You're in luck. Forest bathing - or shinrin yoku - is a practice you can take anywhere.

Slow down, open your senses, and immerse yourself in a place with Certified Forest Therapy Guide Sarah DeWitt. Join Sarah for an evening of forest bathing in Temperance Alley to experience your city in a completely new way!

Founder of Uptown Forest Bathing, Sarah has lived in DC for 24 years including five years at 14th and T in the early 2000s. She has witnessed many changes in the city over these years and now dedicates a portion of her business toward guiding urban nature immersion experiences and advocating for equitable access to green space.

Start your week with a mindful moment of reset and reconnection at the Garden, every Monday at 8am!

Join us Monday morning to sip something warm, connect with neighbors, and ease into the day. We will have space for socializing and space for quiet reflection and journaling.

Drop in anytime. Bring a beverage, your breakfast, a journal, or nothing at all.

hosted by Zoe & Friends

Since the Attention Sphere launched a few months ago, the movement to reclaim our attention from Big Tech has been flourishing in Washington, DC. Month Offline cohorts are filling up, phone-free clubs are opening, Sora's Sidewalk Studies are underway, and the public appetite for regulating Big Tech keeps growing.

The Attention Sphere was built to make this movement accessible to you, and boy, have we grown so much!!!! So as the autumn leaves begin to crisp, let's gather in the garden to meet each other, socialize, organize around our shared dreams for a better digital world and see what comes of it.

Alongside Design It For Us, we'll meet in the Temperance Alley Garden from 5-7 THIS SUNDAY. We're envisioning a super low-key event... you don't need to have any experience in the movement to attend! If you’re curious about the future of technology and want to meet other people thinking about it, you’ll find your people.

(There may also be an opportunity to write postcards to Big Tech CEOs... )

hosted by Kendall and Sebastian

Join us for a garden gathering exploring what we nurture and what nurtures us.

Together, we'll slow down, spend time in the garden, engage with selected readings and reflect on the people, places and practices that sustain us. We’ll gather around a simple question: What are you nurturing right now, and what is nurturing you?

Consider the places throughout DC where you feel cared for, connected and restored as Capital M begins documenting the spaces that nurture mothers across the city.

A relaxed, facilitated garden gathering with time to read, reflect, connect with other DC mothers and share as much or as little as you choose. Children are welcome to attend and enjoy the garden alongside you.

This event is part of Capital M: Exploring Motherhood Across Wards and Generations in DC, a multimedia community storytelling and humanities project documenting and celebrating the lived experiences of DC mothers.

Using oral history, public storytelling, facilitated dialogue, and a culminating community exhibition, the project examines a singular question: “How does Washington, DC shape the experience of motherhood — and how do mothers shape the Nation’s Capital in return?”

Photography + Recording Notice: By attending this event, you acknowledge that photography, audio recording, and video recording may take place throughout the program.

hosted by Char

Come get your hands in the soil with our partners at Farm the District (FTD), every Saturday throughout the growing season. Whether you’re a first-timer or returning veteran, all are needed to help tend to our shared backyard. There’s plenty of projects to keep all hands busy, including weeding, watering, composting, harvesting, repairing, crafting, and ongoing side projects. The Farm Leads will help you learn all about the tasks of the day, and you’re welcome to come & go as you please!

As always, we’ll also be giving an orientation tour for newcomers. Welcome neighbors!

To celebrate Sukkot—the harvest holiday dedicated to dwelling in temporary shelters and embracing the natural world—we are hosting a special, completely phone-free Shabbat dinner. As twilight settles, we’ll light the candles, bless the bread and wine, and share a warm family-style meal under the open sky.

This is an Attention Sphere event hosted by Gabi & Kendall

Come gather for some productive artistic time together while the garden is blooming around us. Bring a project you're working on, your instrument of choice, or just come socialize with fellow creatives. Some basic art supplies will be provided.

Hosted by Cory & Creatives Club DC

Our midweek harvest is donated to Martha’s Table through a long-running partnership with Farm the District. Join us every hump day at 7 to give back to the community. No experience necessary, we’ll teach you how to harvest.

hosted by Riley

What is LocalGuessr?
LocalGuessr is a team game played at bars and restaurants, formatted similarly to bar trivia. It is based on the online game GeoGuessr, where players try to guess a location based on Google Street View images. While this sounds fun, it can be very frustrating because of how difficult it is to have a chance to figure out where these places are.

Enter LocalGuessr — GeoGuessr, but only locations in the city being played, and played in person on teams. This makes it much more approachable and fun for players, especially people who have lived in their city for a long time.

What does LocalGuessr look like?
Players come and sit together as teams. A host explains the rules and lets people know when each round starts. Once the game begins, players huddle up and use their phones to look at locations and guess where they are. When time is up, we show a map of all the guesses and the real locations, as well as calculate the scores (closer guesses score more points). At the end, we do a big reveal of the final scores and give out prizes to the best players. An event typically has one short practice round and three main rounds, which lasts about 2 hours all together.

hosted by Jay

Our meditation community meets weekly to re-center, connect, and cultivate intentions. With a mix of guided, silent, and relational practice, we ground ourselves in presence and compassion. All levels of experience warmly welcomed.

Hosted by regulars and guests alike, bring a practice for the circle to share.

The day has finally come! After 6 years of renovation the African American Civil War Museum is reopening to the public on September 30th, at 10AM.

Join neighbors for this special event including a ribbon cutting, presentation of the colors, re-enactor drills, and remarks from the Mayor.

Come celebrate this pillar of our community and experience the exhibits as the museum begins its new chapter that will last for years to come!

Admission to the Museum is free, with a suggested $10 donation to support the museum’s mission-driven programs, exhibits, and educational outreach.

All levels flow in the garden for our community donation-suggested classes with the beautiful greenery and open blue sky. Perfect for grounding and centering. Bring yourself, water, and a mat (we’ll have a few extra on hand).

Let’s get ready to Host!

Partner with a Stump Fellow to program your submitted event ideas for the month of OCTOBER. Anyone can join as we discuss garden event planning, budgeting, and partnerships. Your ideas and energy are more than welcome! Come early to mingle and brainstorm your ideas before submitting.

*HouseKeeping Circles happen at the end of each month, they are the functional meetings where we calendar events for the next month of programming, approve any new spending, and can vote to change any Garden policies if needed. These meetings have official minutes that keep a record of our decisions and are shared with the rest of the U Street Neighborhood Association for transparency.

Start your week with a mindful moment of reset and reconnection at the Garden, every Monday at 8am!

Join us Monday morning to sip something warm, connect with neighbors, and ease into the day. We will have space for socializing and space for quiet reflection and journaling.

Drop in anytime. Bring a beverage, your breakfast, a journal, or nothing at all.

hosted by Zoe & Friends

Sorry Friends, the rainy skies mean we will have to POSTPONE our Potluck in the Garden…

Join us for a potluck dinner and conversation on community building, across backgrounds, faiths, generations, and cultures.

Three experienced community builders will open by sharing what they wish they’d known earlier: the lessons, missteps, and insights that only came with time. Then the floor opens to everyone. Whatever your role in community life, we want to hear what you’ve learned too.

This isn’t a panel to sit back and watch. It’s a shared table (literally) where insight moves in both directions. Bring a dish to share, and come ready to answer: what do you wish you’d known sooner about building and sustaining community?

Please RSVP if you plan on attending or bringing something!

Hosted by the Potluck Project in DC

Come get your hands in the soil with our partners at Farm the District (FTD), every Saturday throughout the growing season. Whether you’re a first-timer or returning veteran, all are needed to help tend to our shared backyard. There’s plenty of projects to keep all hands busy, including weeding, watering, composting, harvesting, repairing, crafting, and ongoing side projects. The Farm Leads will help you learn all about the tasks of the day, and you’re welcome to come & go as you please!

As always, we’ll also be giving an orientation tour for newcomers. Welcome neighbors!

Our midweek harvest is donated to Martha’s Table through a long-running partnership with Farm the District. Join us every hump day at 7 to give back to the community. No experience necessary, we’ll teach you how to harvest.

hosted by Riley

Our meditation community meets weekly to re-center, connect, and cultivate intentions. With a mix of guided, silent, and relational practice, we ground ourselves in presence and compassion. All levels of experience warmly welcomed.

Hosted by regulars and guests alike, bring a practice for the circle to share.

🌧️ Cancelled due to rain showers :( Happy Equinox to all!

Celebrate the Autumnal Equinox at the Garden during an evening of soothing music, celestial demonstrations, and as always—seasonal letter-writing!

Prabir Mehta will play a guitar based exploration of various ancient Indian raags. A collection of songs curated for a yoga and meditation practices. Prabir reaches deep into his family roots and offers a new approach to these sacred, treasured aspects of life on the subcontinent of India. Offering some sounds that lead the ear to calm.

Grrrls Gong Wild: The triple-gong supergroup Grrrls Gong Wild (Maya Glicksman, Estephanie Rose, and Naoco Wowsugi) facilitates immersive sound baths that offer deep rest, shared vibration, and collective healing—cultivating radical care and connection to nature, each other, and the self.

Naoco Wowsugi is an interdisciplinary, community-engaged artist. Wowsugi’s extensive fieldwork includes community gong baths that activate the gong as an instrument for deep, broad, and collective listening experiences, often offered on a moon-cycle basis. 

Maya Glicksman draws from her background in earth science and personal connections with land to imagine an environmentally just and resilient future. Her work explores intersections of food, community wellness, and climate resilience in Washington DC. Sound and fermentation are core components of her experimental practice.

Estephanie Rose, founder of Sound and Movement, ignites ancestral memory by sharing healing sounds with diverse communities. As a meditative sound facilitator, a yoga practitioner, and a multi instrumentalist artist, she can set the vibe to calm the nerves. Estephanie Rose understands movement as medicine, whether it’s of the body, breath, emotions or sound waves.

hosted by Maya, Naoco, Estephanie, Prabir, and Josh!

CANCELLED DUE TO RAIN SHOWERS

All levels flow in the garden for our community donation-suggested classes with the beautiful greenery and open blue sky. Perfect for grounding and centering. Bring yourself, water, and a mat (we’ll have a few extra on hand).