Month: March 2009

Dear Friends:

Long before the Obamas put in a vegetable garden at the White House (pretty amazing, right!), city-wide volunteers and members of the Alemany Community were working hard to make the Farm a living example of neighborhood empowerment, food security, and ecological sustainability. 

The seeds of that labor are receiving some gratifying recognition this week. 

On Saturday, March 28, Alemany Farm will be recognized (along with Tom Ammiano) at the Bernal Heights Neighordhood Center’s 30th Birthday Bash. This should be a really fun event, and we hope you can join us at the Bay View Boat Club beginning at 7 PM. Tickets start at $30. For more info, visit: http://www.bhnc.org/hpEvent/40234612.html or call Mei Le at 415.206.2140 x148. 

And in a recent essay in The Nation magazine, SF-based writer Rebecca Solnit, thinking about how progressives can and should respond to the financial crisis, plugs our little operation as part of the solution: 

“Organic, urban, community-assisted and guerrilla agriculture are still small parts of the picture, but effective ones–a revolt against what transnational corporate food and capitalism generally produce. This revolt is taking place in the vast open space of Detroit, in the inner-city farms of West Oakland, in the victory gardens and public-housing of Alemany Farm in San Francisco, in Growing Power in Milwaukee and many other places around the country. These are blows against alienation, poor health, hunger and other woes fought with shovels and seeds, not guns. At its best, tending one’s garden leads to tending one’s community and policy, and ultimately becomes a way of entering the public sphere rather than withdrawing from it.”

You can read the whole article at: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090323/solnit

… Stay part of that revolution on our upcoming workdays: Sat, March 28; Sun, April 5; Sat, Apr 11; and Sat, Apr 18. 

Peace, 

The Farm Team

Dear Friends:

The days are getting noticeably longer, the weather is warming up, and at Alemany Farm we are digging into Spring. 

We hope you can join us at our next workday, Saturday, March 21 as we start on our spring garden bed tillage, compost building, and cover crop mowing. The garden is starting transform itself again, and we hope you can help us make it happen. 

Here are some other dates you should mark on your calendar:

Sat, March 28: Typical Farm workday digging beds, with special attention to be paid to the Native Plant areas at the entrance to the Farm and in the West Garden. From Noon to 1 PM the Native Plant Society will host a discussion of local plants and invasive weeds. ALSO: A workshop on mushroom cultivation. A busy day not to be missed. 

Sun, April 5: The Start of Spring Planting! More bed digging and then we’ll be putting broccoli, collards, and lettuces into the ground, plus salad mix and carrots in the lower boxes. On this Sunday we will also be one of the stops on a City-wide garden tour organized by the Native Plant Society. Come help us greet visitors from throughout the City. Visit 

http://www.cnps-yerbabuena.org/gardens/annual_garden_tour.html for more info. ALSO: Karen Peteros of the SF Beekeepers Association will be hosting a workshop on beekeeping 101. Another busy day! 

Sat, April 11: Spring planting continues as we put in our potatoes and beets. We will continue bed digging and compost building.

Sat, April 18: Our Third Annual Earth Day BBQ! For those eager to work, we’ll be planting tomatoes, peppers, basil, and summer squash. For those looking to lounge, we’ll have veggie burgers, grass-fed hamburgers and other treats. We’ll have grill stuff and beverages. Please bring a side dish to share. 

We  hope to see you at the Farm during this busy season.  Thanks so much, as always, for your work to make  SF more food secure. 

The Farm Team