Harvest Festival THIS SAT + Growing New Gardens

Dear Farm Friends:

We hope you can join us THIS Sat, Oct 24, as we celebrate our Fifth Annual Harvest Festival. The festivities will start around 11 AM and wrap up around 5 PM.

We will have plenty of food including a Somoan-style roasted organic suckling pig, veggie burgers, salads fresh from the farm, and Mission Pie desserts. But it’s potluck style, so please bring another side dish to share. Also, to reduce waste, please bring your own plates and utensils; we will have paper plates in case you forget.

Activities will include Alemany Farm t-shirt making; games for kids; bands and drumming; and garden tasks such as planting next season’s garlic.

While we celebrate a great 2009 season, we are also working with our partners to help grow new gardens in SF. The SF Parks Trust, along with Garden for the Environment, are working with the city to locate new plots of land to start community gardens. To find our more, please read the announcement below about upcoming planning meetings.

Keep it growin’,

The Farm Team

Garden City: How to find space to grow food in San Francisco
Three Part Workshop series

Have you been dreaming of starting your own urban oasis, a garden where you can grow you own food and find some piece of mind, but you don’t have any space and don’t know where to look to find some? This three part practical workshop series is for you. Attend one workshop, or all three. This workshop series is co-presented by the San Francisco Parks Trust and Garden for the Environment.

Garden City Workshop I: Finding City Land for a Garden
Date: Sunday, October 25
Time: 10 AM – 3 PM
Location: SPUR, 654 Mission Street,, San Francisco, CA 94105-4015
Cost: $15-$30 sliding scale

Pre-registration is required, and space is limited, so sign-up soon. To pre-register, please call (415)750-5110, or email julia@sfpt.org

Even though San Francisco is a very dense city, there are more open parcels of land than one would think. In this session, learn how to identify possible spaces for gardens in San Francisco, including city property, privately owned lots, school gardens, sidewalks and backyards. The basic pros and cons of each option will be explored. After a brief lunch break, workshop participants will venture out on a bicycle tour of gardens implemented in such spaces. All participants
should bring a bag lunch, water, and a bicycle.

Garden City Workshop II: Navigating Permits, Procedures and Building Community Support for your Garden
Date: Sunday, November 8
Time: 10 AM – 2 PM
Location: SPUR, 654 Mission Street,, San Francisco, CA 94105-4015
Cost: $15- $30 sliding scale

Pre-registration is required, and space is limited, so sign-up soon. To pre-register, please call (415)750-5110, or email julia@sfpt.org

After you find a potential garden site, what’s next? In this session, learn how to successfully navigate the procedures and permits relevant to your type of site. Learn how to effectively build community support for your garden project and cultivate a committed volunteer group to ensure your garden thrives. A panel of successful garden-entrepreneurs will share how they launched their projects and lessons learned in the process. All participants should bring a bag lunch.

Garden City Workshop III: Digging In: Getting your Garden Started
Date: Sunday, November 15
Time: 10 AM – 2 PM
Location: Garden for the Environment, 7th Ave. at Lawton Street, San
Francisco, CA
Cost: $15-$30 sliding scale

Pre-registration is required, and space is limited, so sign-up soon. To pre-register, please call (415)750-5110, or email julia@sfpt.org

You’ve identified a site for your garden, you’ve completed all
appropriate permits and built community support, now it’s time to dig in and create your dream garden. The day will start with a tour of the GFE where we will begin to build our garden skills toolbox. We will assess potential challenges and gain techniques for overcoming those challenges through basic garden design practices, plant considerations, irrigation systems, soil, compost systems, and much more! Don’t forget to bring a bag lunch!

Alemany Harvest Festival Oct 24!

Dear Farm Friends:

Mark your calendars for Alemany Farm’s Fifth Annual Harvest Festival!!

On Saturday, October 24 we will celebrate another fantastic season at the Farm and all of the accomplishments we’ve had in the past year by growing organic food for SF communities and educating people about how to cultivate their own produce.

We will have a BBQ potluck with organic meats and veggie burgers, Farm-fresh salads and sides, bands and drumming, games for kids, and plenty of old-fashioned hanging out. Plus desserts from Mission Pie!

For those who want to get your hands dirty, we’ll be planting next year’s garlic and starting to sow our winter cover crop.

The festivities will start around 11 AM and go until 5 PM. The Festival is free, but donations are accepted to cover food costs and to help raise money for Farm materials.

Spread the word and keep it growing,

The Farm Team