Getting Savvy with the Tech!

Good morning, ye guerillas! Is anyone else out there happy to see the rain? I am awash in joy that it is raining, for lo! I have already planted my vegetable garden. (Impatient much? Oh yes, indeedie!)

Today's scintillating post is about the super-cool D.C. Guerilla Gardeners LISTSERV! *happiness! joy! glee!*

One of our awesome guerillas, the one who I'm not-so-secretly in love with, is a tech genius as well as a gardening genius, and he kindly set up a listserv so that we can speak to one another like the best buds we are! To sign up, go to http://groups.google.com/group/dcguerillas. We'll use the listserv to post messages, ideas, arrest reports, etc. It will be all sorts of fun! Woot!

So jump on the listserv bandwagon and sign up today, folks! All the cool people are doing it. For reals.

Meeting Moved!

Hey everyone! Turns out that our meeting place, Tynan Coffee in Columbia Heights, HAS CLOSED DOWN! We're heading over to Red Rocks Pizza at 1036 Park Road NW. If you're up for walking a few blocks, come on over!

REMINDER: We're A-Meetin', Yo!

Hear ye, hear ye! The D.C. Guerilla Gardeners will be getting together tomorrow evening, 6:30pm, at Tynan Coffee in Columbia Heights to plan our 2011 season o' guerilla-y fun!

Come prepared to drink some coffee - Let's make sure we give Tynan lots of props for letting us use their space! - and hash out ideas to transform D.C.'s concrete jungle into a green, uh... actual jungle.

I'll also be soliciting (read: begging) y'all for some help with some of the administrative and leadership roles within the DCGG. If there's a project you'd like to oversee, by all means, oversee! If you're a guerilla with an interest in writing, we have an entire blog for you to write for! And if you're a Facebook whiz, please take over our Facebook page! Because I don't understand Facebook! At all! For reals! There's lots of fun for everyone, and I love to share the love.

The first-ever DCGG Planning Meeting is sure to be memorable, so be there!

Event: DCGG Planning Meeting

Good morning, guerillas! Spring is in the air and I am READY TO PLAY IN THE DIRT!

The DCGG will hold its first-ever MEETING OF THE MINDS on Tuesday, March 8th at Tynan Coffee & Tea in Columbia Heights. Over wonderful, wonderful caffeine, we will brainstorm ways to overtake D.C. with our guerilla-y ways, and then? AND THEN! We will schedule our events for the season! Look at us, being all organized and such... We're gardeners, guerillas, AND organizational gurus! Woo!

2010 was an amazing year for the DCGG. The press we got was overwhelming, and though being so out-in-the-open isn't guerilla-y per se, it brought us lots and lots of recruits. With a bigger team than ever, we can sneak attack D.C. in even bigger ways!

I'd love to hear your ideas, my friends. Let's pow wow on the 8th and make 2011 the Year of The Guerilla Gardener!

What: DCGG Meeting of the Minds
Where: Tynan Coffee & Tea - 1400 Irving Street NW, Washington D.C. - Right at the Columbia Heights Metro stop on the Green/Yellow line.
When: Tuesday, March 8, 2011 at 6:30PM
Why: Because we want to turn all of D.C.'s forgotten spots into green ones!
RSVP: If you plan to come, please let me know so that we can commandeer enough tables.

Happy almost-Spring, my awesome guerillas! I look forward to seeing your green thumbs on the 8th!

Swap 'Dem Seeds!

Hey kids, you know what time it is? IT'S SEED SWAPPIN' TIME!

Yes indeedie, Spring is right around the corner so all of us gardenin' folk are antsy with cabin fever. The dirt! It calls to us! Which means that we're planning our beds and preparing our tools and, yes, swapping our seeds!

Join me and lots of other super cool people at the Washington Gardener Magazine's 6th Annual Seed Exchange. There'll be seed swapping, door prizes, planting tips, expert speakers, and goodie bags! Woo! Fanfare!

Event Overview

Washington Gardener magazine, the publication for DC-area gardening enthusiasts, is hosting its Sixth Annual Seed Exchange at Brookside Gardens and Green Spring Gardens. These seed swaps are in-person and face-to-face. You bring your extra seeds and swap them with other gardeners. Everyone will leave with a bag full of seeds, new garden friends, and expert planting advice.

Where

This year, there are DUAL Seed Exchanges one week apart and on opposite sides of the Beltway. One Exchange will be in the Visitor's Center Auditorium of the Brookside Gardens, 18oo Glenallen Avenue, Wheaton, MD. The other will be at Green Spring Gardens, 4603 Green Spring Road in Alexandria, VA.

When

> Saturday, January 29, 2011 (Brookside Gardens, Wheaton, MD)
> Saturday, February 5, 2011 (Green Spring Gardens, Alexandria, VA)

I'll be at the February 5th event, swappin' seeds and telling everyone who will listen about the D.C. Guerilla Gardeners and our fabulousness!

Check out http://www.washingtongardener.com/ for more information and to register.

Bombs Away! The DCGG In Washington Gardener Magazine

When the amazing Kathy Jentz contacted me about writing an article on seed bombs for Washington Gardener Magazine, I jumped for joy. A chance to write! About seed bombs! Is there anything better than that? Methinks not.

I'm super behind the 8-ball with posting this, but it's not too late for you fine folks to check the magazine out. Peruse the magazine rack at your local Borders, contact Kathy for a copy, or - better yet - A SUBSCRIPTION! Nothing says, "Gardening, I love you, man!" like a subscription to Washington Gardener Magazine.

Check out the issue's information and how to subscribe to the magazine here. Happy reading!

Fame, Fortune, and Felonious Acts

Guerilla gardening is all about The Sneak, but we at the DCGG seem to be attracting a lot of attention. Do we mind? Oh hells no! We love the love, people, and hope that our not-so-clandestine doin's inspire others to take matters into their own hands and beautify their neighborhoods.

Our mission at 932 Florida Avenue was our first night event, as well as our first time working under the watchful eye of the vivacious Mana Rabiee, journalist for Voice of America. Mana, a District resident herself, was doing a piece on guerilla gardening and so joined us for our nighttime planting. I have a feeling that we'll be seeing Mana again... she has the spirit of a guerilla gardener.

Watch (or read!) us in action, my gardening friends. And when you do, I give you permission to fall in love with my boyfriend's parrot, Gandalf. She's a super star! Also, try not to notice that around 2:30 in the video you can totally see down my shirt. (And that it ain't pretty, yo.)

Most favorite quote ever: KEN - "Oh, this is totally beauty. It's also vandalism."

Ken, I not-so-secretly love you.

Many thanks to the valiant guerillas who transformed 932 Florida Avenue into something awesome: Abbie, Doug, and Ken.