Life in the time of COVID- DC edition

I feel kind of guilty about this, but if you ask me how this pandemic has affected me, honestly, I’ve never been better. Never before have I had the time to focus on my hobbies, or had time to breathe between weekdays. 

It’s not even that I have an aggressive work schedule; I work a calm 40 hours per week, and don’t have any responsibilities outside of myself and my small apartment. It’s just that after a week of heading into work everyday and braving the city, I wouldn’t feel like doing anything except relaxing. I’m not the best at time management, so I’d easily fall into patterns of just existing between work and Netflix, without carving out any time to work on stuff I actually cared about. 

But now, with working from home, I have longer stretches of time to talk myself into drawing, cooking an elaborate meal, or just cleaning my place. Of course like anyone I’ve had bad days, but overall I am really grateful to have this time to slow down and appreciate life. 

Here are some “gifts of quarantine” that I’m sure I’d never have gotten if not for ‘quarantimes’. 

Long neighborhood walks

Lack of directional sense has been my Achille’s heel my whole life! To this day, I don’t drive because the idea of getting lost on a freeway freaks me out. But being stuck in the house all day, I had to go somewhere, and the metro wasn’t an option. Instead I took long walks around the neighborhood.

I went to places during the day that I’d usually avoid at night. I found some amazing parks I never had time to visit before, like Kingman Island. It’s so tucked away and peaceful. I’m really surprised that more people don’t frequent it. I’m almost hesitant to write about it because I want it to remain a peaceful oasis. Kingman island is actually two islands; Kingman and Heritage, connected by a long wooden bridge that overlooks the Anacostia River and the old RFK stadium. Visitors will often fish off these bridges, and small groups of friends will picnic on the docks. Kingman is larger than Heritage, so it’s the perfect place for a music festival. I’m kinda mad I didn’t know about it until corona times, but the pictures look awesome. 

I also found at least three new cute little parks that are just a bit farther south than I would normally wander.

Free stuff in my neighborhood 

Speaking of walking, I’ve been doing a lot of it picking up free stuff from my neighbors. I discovered the Buy Nothing Project through a Facebook group, and it’s made my life so much richer.

Buy Nothing is a hyper-local gift economy movement where members can give, receive, borrow or lend. It’s really cool because it isn’t just the stuff; it’s about building connections with your neighbors. But I mean, who doesn’t love free stuff! If you have something to gift, just post it on the group, and there are usually several takers. In COVID times, group members put things out for porch pickup so there’s no contact. I usually wave and message them a thank you. 

To date, I’ve received an air mattress, an immersion blender, lots of coffee, and so much more. I was able to gift an old tablet I never used, a cell phone, a bunch of clothes still with tags on, and party supplies for parents trying to throw their kids the coolest social distance birthdays. Buy Nothing is actually worldwide, so it exists in most major cities. You should definitely do a search to see if your neighborhood has one. Treasures await!

I feel much more connected to my neighborhood than ever before. It also just gives me a sense of calm to know that if I ever need anything, I can just ask. One time I met a neighbor who I had never spoken to in the three years of living here, and found out that we both worked at the same place. She then offered that I join her carpool to work every morning when things returned to normal. That’s the kind of neighborhood I want to live in, where everyone has each other’s back. 

Besides neighborhood connections, actually navigating the streets to pick up items made me more familiar with how some of those tricky slanted blocks work. I find myself using Google maps and getting lost a lot less, and that is a huge win. 

Running 

In high school I used to run cross country and track. I definitely wasn’t winning any awards, but I ran all four years to keep my sanity. I always needed to find ways to get out of my head, and running is still that for me. 

During regular times, I would run about twice a week, always wishing I had time for more. I was never serious about it. Just needed some cardio to work off the amount of ice cream I was eating. 

Now that I have the time, I downloaded Nike Running, which I love. It’s way more motivating because I can track my progress rather than just “feeling” like I had a good run. And I’m able to use it consistently enough to where I can see patterns in my speed and distance. Based on the stats, I’m way faster than I used to be and my endurance is so much better. I know that I’m pushing myself to go for longer runs because I’m not worried about getting home in time to prep for the next day. There’s nothing like a low pressure run! 

Foraging

Yes, DC is a city, but it’s also surrounded by an abundance of nature. I never thought I would be that person who sees a mushroom in the wild, picks it, and takes it home to cook it for dinner. But somehow, during quarantine, I found myself doing exactly that.

Once again, a Facebook group came to rescue me from my ennui. I’ve always been interested in the natural world, and spend a lot of time just observing. I’ve also always enjoyed stories of survival, and how to live off the land. I saw an intriguing mushroom one day and wanted some help from locals in getting an ID. This led to me finding a mushroom ID group on Facebook, which led to me finding an urban foraging group. Fascination followed.

I found my first two Chicken of the Woods mushrooms (laetiporus sulphureus) growing under a tree on the grounds of the Capitol building of all places, and it was GLORIOUS! I was taking one of my usual long walks, when I caught a spray of orange out of the corner of my eye. They were bright enough to make me stop.

I took that baby home and cooked it up with some rosemary and olive oil, and it was a satisfying meal. Even more so because I had “hunted” it. And yes, it did taste like chicken. 

Now there are these weeds called garlic mustard, and they are everywhere. I was passing them on the trails everyday, having no idea what they were. Apparently they are one of the most nutritious green vegetables available. Rich in antioxidants and vitamins, and freely available. Sounds too good to be true! I love my greens so I decided to take a bunch home and steam them. Unfortunately, I was not a fan. It tasted like something that was good for you, in other words, blegh. But that didn’t stop me from feeling like a badass for eating greens I just picked off the side of some neighborhood nature trail. Most foragers make pesto out of these greens because the basil and parmesan gives it a more forgiving flavor. I didn’t have any on hand, hence the plain swamp soup that I created. 

Before quarantine, I thought the berries I saw growing on trees by the road were poisonous. They were so purple and shiny and enticing. Of course they would be poisonous. It wasn’t until I did more research that I realized they weren’t. I learned to recognize the trees and the leaves, and then felt comfortable just popping a few off the tree and into my mouth.

One time I saw a guy in the woods filling a up a plastic shopping bag from a mulberry tree, and I kind of chuckled to myself because (1) I was relieved that I’d identified the berries correctly, and (2) I just love when other people appreciate what nature has to offer. I heard him tell his friend “I’m gonna make some wine with these.” I don’t know how to do that…yet.

My favorite are the wineberries though. They grow in bushes, and definitely have thorns. The fruits are a brilliant red or a juicy purple. Some of these were sour, but I learned to pick the sweeter ones. 

Anyway, I like to know that if there were a food shortage from, say…a global crisis, I can at least pick out a few foods from nature to keep me going for a little while. 

These are the ways I’ve been making use of my little slice of urban oasis in DC during the pandemic. It’s great to discover surprising things about my city that I wouldn’t notice over the noise of work and a busy social schedule.

What have you done to stay sane during quarantine? What are some things that surprised you?