Arcadia Food, Inc.

Arcadia stands on the shoulders of giants -- ordinary people who, 180 years ago, saw what was wrong with the world and set about creating something better on this very farm. Surrounded on all sides by slave plantations, 20 years before the Civil War,  the people of Woodlawn -- Quaker, Black, White, and Immigrant -- established a free farming town where everyone was equal. They used this farm to advance the causes of freedom and equal justice, with good food and farming their cornerstone. 

We take a lot of courage from them now, and -- just like them -- we aim to use these acres to create something better for all of us. 

Good food.
Strong connections to the land, and to each other. 
Healthy communities. 

Your Spring2Action donation to Arcadia this year will help us make sure our most vulnerable neighbors have good food at our Route 1 Community Farm and through our Mobile Markets. 

At our Mobile Markets, your donations support doubling the face-value of food stamps -- especially needed now because SNAP has been cut. 

The Route 1 Community Farm provides free growing space, seeds and seedlings, irrigation, and growing workshops for nearly 100 families surrounding the farm. This space is for people who don't have the space or resources to grow their own vegetable gardens at home -- military families on base, low-income families along Route 1. 

Many of our neighbors are currently in peril -- losing their jobs and livelihoods after years of faithful service, losing health care and food benefits, and some the only home they have ever known.

We can't do everything, but we can do this. 

Remember: A $1000 donation makes you a sustaining member, and earns you two complimentary farm dinner tickets! Mark your calendar for Sept 27, and we'll see you on the lawn! 

Thank you for being an Arcadian (which you become, the exact moment you click donate!).

Who We Are

Arcadia is a nonprofit organization dedicated to cultivating vibrant regional food systems that build the health of our land, our food, and our community, from the farm forward. 

Arcadia is re-imagining the food system from the ground up -- one community, one family, one meal at a time.

Our Mobile Markets bring fresh, locally grown food directly into DC’s most vulnerable neighborhoods, places where grocery stores have closed, where fast food is easier to find than an apple. We don’t just sell produce; we build food security and dignity. Every item starts at an affordable price, and every federal nutrition benefit is doubled, because everyone deserves access to healthy food, not just those who can afford it.

But Arcadia’s work goes much deeper -- back to the source. 

We grow food on our suburban farm, just outside the city: close enough to be connected, big enough to be impactful. It’s a working model of regenerative agriculture and community collaboration, showing what a healthy, local food system can look like.

We train veterans to be farmers, providing a path from service to stewardship, and a livelihood rooted in purpose. We welcome children to discover where food really comes from ...and the wonder of pulling a carrot from the earth. We support school and community gardens, helping them thrive long after the first planting. And we open our gates at the Route 1 Community Farm, where low-income and military families can grow and harvest their own food, entirely for free.

Every Arcadia program is a piece of a larger whole, creating a farm-to-community pathway that shifts demand, consumption, and appreciation for the land that sustains us all.

When you support Arcadia, you’re not just helping to feed people: you’re helping transform a system that impacts our health, our happiness, our communities and our land. 

Your donation helps grow a food system rooted in equity, sustainability, and shared abundance -- where everyone gets a seat at the table.