A Garden Grows at Eastern Market

Let's Face it, Eastern Market is not the "marche aux Fleurs a Nice" in the South of France, and mores the pity. Neither is Eastern Market, Versailles's back yard. Nor, is it like some of those fields of Tulips, I saw when I was in Holland. Alas, it is not like walking the country lanes of County Wicklow in Ireland either-no sheep!

(Jefferson Greenhouse-annuals "pinks, dustymillers,

petunias and...)

(Jefferson Greenhouse- Lantanas are plants that attract butterflies)

( Cone flowers, Hibiscus: Jefferson Greenhouse)

However, I like you this time of year when I look outside all I can think about is gardening. Just look in your "yard", "front lawn", "window pots" or "barren and uncared for patch of dirt" and/ or garden can't you just see them pushing up (in your my imagination) the narcissus, daffodils, irises, snow drops, hyacinths, and tulips.

How did this happen to me. I grew up partly on a farm. So, I hate nature! That is to say, when I think of working outside; I think of bugs, snakes, prickly weeds and plants that itch, and back breaking work. In my days on the farm I was know to hide from my granddaddy when I would here him calling my name and saying it was time to go down to the "big or little" garden to chop weeds or worse collect vegetables for the table. I was short so granddaddy had chopped down a hoe just my size and he always kept his tools sharp and in good repair so I had no excuses. On more than one occasion I went down a whole row of vegetables and failed to distinguish the plants from the weeds. To say the least my grandfather was not pleased.

( Jefferson Greenhouse-Perennials)

This transformation from hater of nature to gardening fiend is due to many factors. But lets just put the blame where it belongs. It is my mother's fault. It started with me getting a scholarship to Penland School of Crafts for two months but without funds to pay apartment and travel, I had to move back home. I went to Penland studied-Landscape photography-(don't ask) and looked at the beatific landscape of the mountains of North Carolina. I still have many a black and white photo of kudzu. When I came back from Penland "po' as a church mouse". I did not have the where with all to move out. I stayed and stayed and stayed.

(Jefferson Greenhouse- annuals)

(Jefferson Greenhouse stand at Eastern Market)

During that time I studied more metalsmithing and one day... I did something wild and crazy. It is Ruth E Tintary fault as well. Ruth E is a client friend from Eastern Market who advised me not to save my money, not to stay in Baltimore another summer but to leap. So, I went to Ireland and studied Silversmithing with Master silversmith Brian Clarke( http://www.silversmithingworkshop.com/ ). And I fell in love with the people, the country, "the hot whiskey" and basically everything but the food. Brian's work shop is in a little village called Balinaclash in the Irish country side. Yvonne-Brian's wife remarked to me that Co. Wicklow is the garden of Ireland. I would have to agree. I went back to Brian's workshops five times. And still hope to go back one more time. Where I was in Ireland was so beautiful it was oppressive. Many times I would walk down the road and just stare. I could not breath. It was like being in a living patch work quilt of differing hues of green. Then there are the yellow , purple, white, red and orange wild flowers. Then of course, there are the low ancient stone walls covered with liken that bisect the green canopy and of course the sheep grazing in the fields.

But, what turned the corner in my story gardening was the time I spent in the south of France. I went on a tour of the lavender fields in "haute provence". We stopped on this tour to walk into a field. I just became country again and took my shoes off and ran through the field of lavender. I just ran around with joy. So, now it is the spring of 2006 and I am back at Eastern Market my mother's yard looks like who struck john and I think and think and try to hire someone else to fix it. My mother had always been in her yard doing something, planting something, weeding and digging. Now she was ailing and I was able, so I did. My love of gardening started out as obligation in the late spring of 2006.

The artist in me took over, about 3 months after I started gardening. I was wrestling a rock and I won-it moved. During this time I stared talking to Mr. Jerry Mark of Jefferson Greenhouse at Eastern Market. Mr. Mark is a horticulturalist and has been at Eastern Market under the Farmer's shed since 1978. Mr. Mark comes from a long line of farmers. His family has been farming since 1860. He was born and grew up in Iowa. He came to this area (Jefferson West Virginia) and visited Monticello and named his business in honor of the gardens that President Jefferson installed at his home. He decided early on that his interest lay not in large scale farming but in intense small farming. In speaking of the reasons why he has stayed at Eastern Market for so long, he sighted the community that he feels comfortable with and the fact that he likes providing them with plants that they like. He also sight his enjoyment of the diversity of people that he has met at Eastern Market over the years. His wife said coming to Eastern Market is "like coming to town once a week".

I think at first when I stared speaking with Mr. Mark he gave me the hairy eyeball. At Eastern Market I have learned to dress up and I look very artsy. I do not look like some one who would wrestle a rock, nor clean up and dig up 1/4 of an acre of yard. Jerry however, was always nice and very informative. I asked about what plants to put in shade, sun, micro climates, soil composition, composting, what planets to put under a black walnut tree etc. Every weekend for almost two years when Jerry was there I would come around with another question. He was and is patient, knowledgeable and generous with information.

(Isiah Brunson-Blue Iris Farms-Jerry Mark-Jefferson Greenhouse)

Mr. Mark was my first reference at the Market about gardening, but I would also speak with Angie and Isiah Brunson of Blue Iris Farms. They own the big flower stand on the outside of Eastern Market facing 7th street. While Blue Iris Farm's specializes in cut flowers Angie and Isiah grow many planets themselves and also have a farm. The Brunson's of Blue Iris Farms have been selling cut flowers and plant Eastern Market since 1976. Like Mr. Mark, Isiah Brunson comes from a long line of farmers. He is from Sumter, South Carolina.

(Jerry Mark: Jefferson Greenhouse)

(Blue Iris Farmers)

(Blue Iris Farms-floral arrangements)

(Blue Iris Farms-gladiolas)

By 2008, I was a full fledged "gardening addict" and Jerry Mark was one of my primary dealers. I have told him this and he has replied "I only try to help those in need or more planets" this is one of our jokes about garden addiction.

I am not alone in this love. Near Eastern Market there are several community Garden's among them are Virginia Ave. Community Garden on N & 10 street N.E. as well as the Ginkgo Garden on 11th street. It is impossible not to note the cute postage stamp gardens that dot the area around Eastern Market. In Baltimore "we" have "yards" and in Tennessee we have fields. The word garden is strange on my lips.

One should also note that in the early spring and early fall "The Capital Hill Garden Club" sets up a stand at the market tempting folks with a wide and varied selection of bulbs, rhizomes and corms. I especially love there selections of tulips. Can one plant enough of these colorful and fragrant delights.

( Capital Hill Garden Club- Tulip bulbs)

To "show off" I put in a front yard garden. I came up with this idea after reading " A Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson and noting how much work it was to keep grass pretty. And I don't particularly like grass. I am an ornamental gardener. I love flowers and herbs. The star of my show are roses. I have a vegetable patch in my back yard garden which mostly feeds the bugs and squirrels. Let's face it squirrels are demons-they eat bulbs, tomatoes, cumber, okra etc. I plant hot peppers around my other vegetables just to try and keep them out. Mr. Mark and I have spoken of pest control often. It was he that suggested the hot pepper trick. It works.

I now also have to contend with "Bami" and her cousins. I have told the four legged fawns that my backyard ain't the evergreen banquet. Last month in January I saw three out back. I am about ready to call Jesse Dunham ( a long time produce merchant at Eastern Market ) of Dunham farmers in West Virginia to come up with his boys, the truck, and the shot guns. I understand that "bami" taste good with a little rosemary and mint. I have some of the former and a great deal of the latter.

One seeing the collection of planets I was purchasing from Jefferson Greenhouse at the Market. I discovered many a garden among the exhibitors and my clients. Eastern Market during the spring, summer and fall is for gardens.

__________________________________________________________________

Beulah Land: MY MOTHER'S GARDEN

(These photos are of the garden July and august 2009)

(Mi casa) (I put in the front yard garden spring of 2007, it is 17 feet long and 3 feet deep on either side. All the lavender is from Jefferson Greenhouse as are the Cone flowers) The idea was a "white butterfly garden with 3 seasonal interest that was also very aromatic. I still smile when I remember, I would work on Tuesdays, my mother would sit in her rocker on the left and watch me with approval in her eyes and it was only after I finished putting this in that she told me with a look of pure innocence "my favorite color is red)

(This is "the vegetable patch" as one can see by 2009 it was mostly flowers-false sun flowers with some tomatoes, peppers and okra sprinkled in for show)

(Sunny side garden with -bee balm, day lilies , nasturtiums, weeds, sedum and cat mint)

(Red nasturtium for my mother-from Jefferson Greenhouse-day lilies, weeds...)

(Butterfly bush-with monarch butterfly-the yard is now filled with butterfly's, bees and birds from spring to fall)

(Front yard border done by my mother-she loved hostas, shrubs and everything flowering)

(Near the Black Walnut Tree-shady side garden- my mother put in hosta, ivy and roses of Sharon, I added variegated hostas, bleeding hearts, toad Lilly's and ferns)

(back yard shade garden -hosta central-)

(detail front yard garden, phlox, sweet alyssum, cone flowers, bee balm and lavender) For as long as I can remember my mother would say to me "I want my flowers while I am alive" and thanks in large part to hard work, the advice and support of my best friend Catherine Carter, her mother Mrs. Margaret Carter and Jerry Mark (Jefferson Greenhouse) and his wonderful stand at Eastern Market, she got them.

Witnessing

Sonda T. Allen

Turtle's Webb

Post Script: Jerry Mark(Jefferson Greenhouse) will be back at Eastern Market late this March with a special treat "red leaf variegated nasturtium". I can not wait to put them in

the garden

(Yes, I feed and water birds, Japanese Maple, clementis, creeping jenny and...)

(backyard garden partial sun- Easter Lily, and heavenly bamboo)

(variegated hosta, clematis, rose of Sharon, and hydrangea)

'Eastern Market: The Turtle's Webb Newsletter'

'Eastern Market: The Turtle's Webb Newsletter'

But it was February: Noor-ul Islam at Eastern Market

It would be nice to say that "we" get along just fine at Eastern Market, that there are no differences that divide "us". That would be nice to say...and it would be a lie. In a very real sense, the exhibitors and farmers who make up the majority of Eastern Market are the world, with the world's differences and challenges. "We" have some at the market who are "characters," who by their "style", talk, personalities, and actions stand out from the rest. Noor-ul Islam is one. And for a very long time he got on my last nerve.

(Noor-ul Islam, Noor's Collections)

Unlike most of the exhibitors at Eastern Market, Noor-ul Islam is a D.C. native. He was born and raised on 16th and East Capitol Streets, N.E. He confirms that he was born around 1948. Hence, he has a unique view on the growth and changes that have marked the United States, the District and Eastern Market. He started vending at The Flea Market At Eastern Market in 1989.

I came to D.C. in 1989 to attend graduate school at a University on 7th street NW. I often saw and was accosted with a "hey sista" when walking down 7th street, coming and going to university, by folks who looked like Noor. Now, I only have one brother, and he lives in Florida. These guys (for they were always men) were (and are) the street corner preachers, philosophers and/or teachers. Their theories, while interesting, were limited; a constant diet of it for two years was enough. Then I came to Eastern Market and heard Noor. He is very loud--as is Jesse Dunham (produce merchant at EM for twenty-five years). For many years one could hear a cross-cultural loudness, ranging from NE to West Virginia, on Sundays at Eastern Market.

For years, I ignored him. He never stopped saying hello, or trying to be humorous. In that time, I set him straight a time or two about my name--it is not sweetheart or darling. You see, I am a card carrying member of W. E. B Dubois's "Talented Tenth," and a fang-bearing feminist, among many other parallel and contradictory things. Noor and I come at the world from different perspectives. I am an artist. He, to my eyes, was a street vendor who sold at the Flea Market at Eastern Market.

However, history teaches us to question our prejudices, to research and go to the original sources to find answers--or, better yet, the right questions.

(soap)

One Sunday morning about three years ago, I was driving into the Market from my home in Baltimore. Outside all around was the wintry mix--rain, snow, sleet and wind, just the kind of day on which one wants to stand outside and smile at folks for nine hours. As I was coming in, I was listening to one of my favorite Sunday morning gospel music stations. I had just pulled into the market, when here came Noor with a smile on his face, a twinkle in the eyes. I could just tell he was ready to say something annoying about the weather. But it was February; he started with a "HEY" I could hear with my car door closed. I opened the door, and I said, "Listen." We both did, it silenced us. We heard a re-broadcast of an interview with Fannie Lou Hamer from the nineteen-sixties. She spoke of being beaten while in jail. She was jailed for "breaking the law." Her offence? registering pour southern sharecroppers to vote during legalized segregation in the south of the 1960's. We heard. We listened.

I cannot remember exactly what Noor said, but it was something like. "Well, hey, our day won't

be that bad." I think I laughed and said, "no, not even close."

(handmade oils)

Noor-ul Islam's humour is something of a mask. As a child he was introduced to Islam by a "play uncle" when he was just a toddler. This uncle was the first person to cut his hair and was his barber until he was sixteen years old. This uncle's shop was on H street NE. Noor was at the March On Washington in 1963. He started University at Howard University with a focus on mathematics and chemistry, then went on to Knoxville College in Tennessee. That is where he was when King was killed. He road the "Freedom Train" and was on the Mall with the "Freedom Fighters." He later went back to school, this time to Allen University in Columbia, South Carolina. He never finished. He now says, "a degree is just a piece of paper." From 1968-1970 he was a Black Panther. Later he became a member of the Nation of Islam.

I believe Noor-ul Islam (like Tom Rall, founder of the Flea Market at Eastern Market) in the heady days of the late 1960's-early 1970's, was looking for a path, a way, and freedom, and that they both found a bit of it by exhibiting at Eastern Market. Noor says, "...reality set in and{I} knew that true freedom is not by a bullet or a piece of paper, but the peace of mind one has in knowing that if it can be conceived and the thought is from your Lord, it can be achieved..."

Nowadays, Noor and I speak. I hear him behind me on Saturdays and Sundays. He loves his 1970's R&B and plays it every weekend. Recently, he has been playing a great deal of Michael Jackson--a tribute, I think. After he has set up his two tents (Noor's Collections)--in spring full of imported print dresses for women and "outfits" for men, and in winter full of hats, scarves and always soaps, incenses, and oils) he starts in with "HEY!" This is the call. Other exhibitors (from long-time produce Merchant Dave Morgul to newbie Taylor Caudle of Wisteria Gardens) answer with an even louder "Hey!"--the response. On Sunday's this is kinda like church. Other exhibitors are completely under his spell; Mitch and Pia Phulsuksombat ( Smiley Crafts-from Thailand, jewelry markers and importers) call him "Poppa Smurf.".

A week or so ago, I asked him, "what are you, now--Sunni or Shiite?" He told me, "I have evolved into peace with myself and Allah." It's clear that at Eastern Market, "we" grow understanding, and together .

Witnessing,

(Noor-ul Islam arranging his stand at

Eastern Market)

Sonda T. Allen

Turtle's Webb