Winter Break…
By The Farm Team | December 22, 2008
Farm Friends:
Late December is vacation time here at the farm; a time for us to let the cover crop grow, the mulch settle in, and the new perennials establish deep drought-tolerant root systems. It’s also time for us to go on vackay–whether to visit our families across the country, or with a relaxed staycation here in the city.
So take it easy and we’ll see you in the new year, maybe at our first workday on Sunday, January 4th.
Thanks, as always, for your efforts,
The Farm Team
p.s. For those of you considering the 2009 Apprenticeship program: the deadline for submission of applications is January 1st, so get your application in now! We will be notifying applicants of acceptance a week prior to the first class, to be held on January 11th.
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2009 ECOLOGICAL HORTICULTURE TRAINING PROGRAM
By The Farm Team | December 7, 2008
UPDATE: 2009 Course is FULL and CLOSED. Thanks!
Alemany Farm’s 2009 Apprenticeship in Ecological Horticulture
Download the application here: PDF / Word
If you are eager to learn more about urban food production and wish to gain some of the skills to become your own food producer, you should enroll in Alemany Farm’s Apprenticeship in Ecological Horticulture.
The 12-month course will take participants through the seasons, covering key garden and orchard tasks that occur in Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. Workshops will teach core principals of food production such as soil fertility and composting, propagation and planting, seasonal tree care, water-wise irrigation, plant identification, integrated pest management, and crop planning. The hands-on training —using our vegetable gardens, herb gardens, and orchards — will cover several different methods of sustainable horticulture such as French Biointensive and Permaculture. In addition to gardening instruction, the classes will include discussions on social and political issues such as food security and government agricultural policies.
Our hope is that by learning the skills, concepts, and cultural context of urban agriculture, you are inspired to go out into the world as a “good food” activist. To this end, part of registering for the course includes committing to 40 hours of volunteer work, ideally at Alemany Farm or another sustainable food project in a low-income neighborhood.
Main curriculum for the Ecological Horticulture classes will be covered the second Sunday of every month, January through December, at Alemany Farm. The workshops will take place from 10 am to 5 pm, with a generous break for a potluck lunch. This core curriculum will be enhanced by 12 other workshops covering issues such as urban beekeeping, medicinal herbs, graywater systems, mushroom cultivation, and food preservation (drying and canning). Course participants have access to nearly 120 hours of instruction.
There is a suggested donation of $125 for the year-long course. No one will be turned away for lack of funds. Students will receive a course reader. Non-core curriculum classes are also open to pre-registered members of the general public, but preference will be given to students registered for the Ecological Horticulture program. Participants are encouraged to purchase their own hand pruners and trowels for the class.
To register for the Apprenticship in Ecological Horticulture, please visit www.alemanyfarm.org and download an application. Completed applications should be mailed to: Alemany Farm, 2715 22nd Street, SF, CA 94110. The deadline to submit applications is January 1, 2009.
Download the application here: PDF / Word
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Yelp for Strawberries!
By The Farm Team | November 24, 2008
Dear Farm Friends:
If you’re staying here in the Bay for the Thanksgiving weekend, please join us for our regularly scheduled community workday this Saturday, Nov 29. We’ll start around Noon and wrap up around 5 PM.
There will be plenty to do, including mulching paths and sowing cover crop in the main garden, prepping our permaculture garden, and continuing work on the orchard hillside to get ready for a lot of apple tree planting in Jan. Good times!
At the end of the workday, we’ll have plenty of winter greens to harvest and share. Also, if you like you can take home some strawberry plants to put in your home garden so you’ll have super-local berries in 2009.
Attention critics: If you’re a registered reviewer on Yelp.com, we hope you’ll add a review of your experience at the Farm to the posting that just went up at http://www.yelp.com/biz/alemany-farm-san-francisco
Thanks so much for your efforts to make SF more food secure. We hope you have an enjoyable holiday.
The Farm Team
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Weekend Change-up and Important Developments…
By The Farm Team | November 8, 2008
Dear Farm Friends:
First off, please note the switcheroo on the workday this weekend. Normally it would fall on Saturday, but due to a collaboration with the Green Festival, we will be having the workday on Sunday, November 9th instead. In addition to normal workday activities, there will be a tour and workshop on Medicinal Herbs (information below).
Second, some news of potential concern for friends of the farm:
The south slope of Bernal Heights (adjacent to the farm’s hillside orchard) is at risk of development. A brief history, from the the South Bernal Action Alliance:
The South Bernal Action Alliance (SBAA), established in 1991, is a group of concerned neighbors working together to improve the quality of life in South Bernal. In 2000, SBAA convinced the Planning Commission to comprehensively address the problem of piecemeal development on South Bernal’s undeveloped hillsides. At that time, the City agreed to perform the South Bernal Slope Study to examine vehicular and pedestrian access patterns and infrastructure needs for south Bernal where slopes are extreme and streets are underdeveloped or nonexistent.
The study was never done. Now (2008), the SBAA has remobilized to demand that the City enact a moratorium on development of the hillside until the South Bernal Slope Study is completed. There are approximately 100 vacant and privately-owned parcels south of Crescent Street (at the ends of Moultrie, Andover, Bache and other streets). Private developers are currently attempting to obtain city permits for several disparate housing projects on these lots. The SBAA (and the Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center) believes that the piecemeal development of these 100 lots will degrade our neighborhood. Among the SBAA’s concerns are:
1. loss of local open space and a 20-year old children’s community garden
2. the sudden influx of additional traffic that may affect pedestrian safety
3. integration with Alemany Housing
4. the construction of large retaining walls that will affect the visual integrity of the hillside and degrade the character of the community
4. unanticipated impacts on city services such as fire and water service delivery
Please join us to stop the impending development projects and get the South Bernal Slope Study reinstated.
This week, Thursday, Nov. 6th at 1:30pm is a Planning Commission meeting at City Hall regarding this study.
If you can’t make this meeting, The Bernal South Slope legislation will be heard by the Board of Supervisors Land Use Committee on November 17th at 1pm (City Hall, room 263). This meeting is in addition to the hearing on November 6th at the Planning Commission. Because the Board makes the ultimate decision about the legislation, this is THE most important meeting for folks to attend. It is critical that the Board hear from neighbors, because the developers are flooding city hall with opposition. The Planning Commission is advisory to the Board of Supervisors, so that meeting (November 6th) is also important. But if you can only make one meeting, the Board of Sups meeting on the 17th is the one to attend.
If you can’t attend the meeting(s), please consider writing a letter to both the Planning Commission and the Board, urging the approval of the Bernal South Slope amendment to the Bernal Special Use District. Find a sample letter and contacts that include the Board of Supervisor at:groups.yahoo.com/group/southbernalheights
Thanks for helping us save this precious piece of open space, wildlife habitat, and potential future nut tree orchard!
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Medicinal Herb Garden Tour and Hands-On Workshop
Practice Using Herbs for First-Aid Remedies
and Do-It-Yourself Herbal Health Care
November 9, 2008 Sunday, 1-3pm
Come see Alemany Farm’s new Medicinal Herb Garden on a guided tour by Herbalist Cara Saunders of Bear Wallow Herbs. Join in a fun workshop where you will learn how to identify herbal medicine plants and how to use them as first-aid remedies. We will look at the plants in the garden, feel the plants in our hands, taste the herbal tinctures, test the herbal salves, and learn how to use these plants for cuts, scrapes, burns, sore muscles, colds, flu, and many other common injuries and ailments.
We will demonstrate how food can be your medicine as we enjoy sampling herbal appetizers and herbal drinks that are tasty and healthy! Food and drink handcrafted by Therapeutic Chef, Kristin Doyle. www.therapeuticchef.com
Alemany Farm, 700 Alemany Blvd in San Francisco
(map and directions at www.alemanyfarm.org, click on Get Involved)
Free Event! Donations are welcome.
All participants will get a FREE ticket to the San Francisco Green Festival.
Contact: Cara Saunders, Bear Wallow Herbs
cara@bearwallowherbs.com
(530) 462-4784
_________________________________________
Thanks, as always, for helping to make SF more food secure.
The Farm Team
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Harvest Fest and Party!
By The Farm Team | October 17, 2008
Dear Farm Friends:
We hope you can come to the Farm this Sunday, October 19 for our Fourth Annual Alemany Farm Harvest Festival. We’ll start the festivities at Noon with some work projects including saving our sunflower seeds for next summer and clearing beds in preparation for winter. Around 1 PM, the bands will start playing, and will spend the afternoon making music courtesy of some bicycle-powered amps.
Throughout the afternoon we’ll have bicycle hayrides, face painting, sack races, and other games for kids. At 3 PM we’ll fire up the grill. We will have organic hot dogs, hamburgers, and veggie burgers. Please bring a side dish or dessert to share. At the end of the day, we’ll do an especially large harvest so everyone gets to take home a head of lettuce, some greens, carrots, or greenbeans.
Also, please remember that next Wednesday, Oct 22, there will be a party at the Rickshaw Stop to benefit the Farm. The event, hosted by Party Corps (http://www.partycorps.org/proto/node/16) will include performances by B Brown, Brass Liberation Orchestra, and Afrolicious. Tickets are $10. Hope to see you at one of these events.
The Farm Team
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Farm Fest and Party - October 19!
By The Farm Team | October 2, 2008
Dear Farm Friends:
Fall is going to be plenty busy with Alemany Farm events, so mark your
calendars.
On Sunday, October 19, we will have our Fourth Annual Alemany Farm
Harvest Festival. We’ll have bike-powered hay rides and games for
kids. Live music, and plenty of food to share. We’ll also be planting
out our 2009 garlic. Festivities start at Noon. Spread the word.
Then on Wednesday, Oct 22, there will be a Benefit Party for the Farm
at the Rickshaw Stop. Musical acts that night will include:
B Brown, Progressive dance hop & afro-beat flavored house
http://www.myspace.com/thepeopleoakland
Brass Liberation Orchestra, Acoustic Balkan brass, New Orleans
second-line jazz and Samba beats
http://brassliberation.org
Afrolicious: Pleasuremaker & Senior Oz Spinning,
Afro-tropi-electro-samba-dub-disco-funk
http://www.myspace.com/afroliciousoriginal
Tickets are $10. Doors open at 6 PM.
… And if that’s not enough, please remember we have our regularly
scheduled community workday this Sunday, Oct 5, from Noon to 5 PM.
We’ll be clearing beds in preparation for planting our winter cover
crop and building compost.
Thanks, as always, for helping to make SF more food secure.
The Farm Team
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Beekiping and Volunteer Day on 9/21!
By The Farm Team | September 18, 2008
Dear Farm Friends:
Please join us at Alemany Farm this Sunday, Sept 21 as we do much of the planting of our winter crops. We’ll be digging and amending garden beds and then planting our three kinds of cabbage, kale, chard, and short-day onions.
Also, members of the SF Beekeepers Association will be hosting an urban beekeeping workshop from 1 PM to 4 PM.
Looking forward to seeing you at the Farm this weekend,
The Farm Team
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CALL FOR RECIPES!
By The Farm Team | June 20, 2008
Do you have a favorite recipe for winter squash? How do you use up that huge sack of kale you got from the farm last week? Does anyone have any idea on earth how to cook a loquat?
The Alemany Cookbook Team is looking for recipes of all types- vegan, raw, meat-loving, healthy, decadent, hearty and warm, cool and light, traditional, unusual, and everything in between. The only requirement is that the recipe feature one or more central ingredients either grown on the farm (fruits, veggies, herbs) or foraged in San Francisco (weeds!). We will use your recipes to create the second annual Alemany Farm Volunteers’ Cookbook, hopefully in an expanded format. A few guidelines:
• Please submit all recipes and questions to Ellen at egoodenow@aol.com by July 31. You can attach a MS Word document or paste your recipe directly into the email. This will ensure that the cookbook is printed and available at the next Harvest Festival in the fall.
• Submit as many recipes as you’d like, but be aware that we may not be able to print all of them.
• Please include original recipes only, as in, nothing copied directly from another printed source. If you have a favorite recipe from another cookbook that you want to share, tinker with at least two of the ingredients to make it your own– increase or decrease quantities, add or delete ingredients, etc. No one wants the farm to get sued for copyright infringement.
• If you have photos of the farm, are interested in taking photos of the farm, or would like to contribute illustrations to the cookbook, please let us know.
• Be creative!
The Alemany Cookbook Team
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Fun in the Sun Sunday
By The Farm Team | June 14, 2008
Dear Farm Friends:
The veggies loved the hot weather this week, and the garden is poppin right now. As you can feel from the fog, the weather is turning cooler, but Sunday is expected to be sunny.
During our June 15 workday (noon-5 PM) we’ll continue to clear the ground for the new medicinal herb garden. The Herb Team made a great start last weekend and we”ll keep pressing ahead in preparation for planting later this month. If you have special knowledge of medicinal herbs to share or would like more information about the herb garden, please contact Richard at 863-7720.
On Sunday there will also be opportunities to plant our next round of lettuces, bunching onions, and salad mix. We’ll also dig up and start to field-cure some of our many different garlics. As always, weeding to be done.
At the end of the afternoon we’ll harvest broccoli, squash, basil, lettuces, berries, and greens to share all around.
Maps, directions and cool photos available 24/7 at www.alemanyfarm.org
Thanks, as always, for your work to make San Francisco more food secure.
The Farm Team
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Join Us for Herb Planting
By The Farm Team | June 5, 2008
Dear Farm Friends:
This Saturday, June 7, we will begin the process of preparing the soil for our new medicinal herb garden at the Alemany Farm. We need your help to make it a success! We will be working on a prime new location at the Farm, perfectly suited for herbs – and we’re looking for people who want to be part of our Medicinal Herb Team! There will be a lot to do and learn about herbs over the coming weeks and months and we could especially use your help this weekend.
Of course there will be lots of other tasks to do at the Farm on Saturday if you’d like to help elsewhere. The Farm is beginning to show its beautiful summer bounty and we could use your help in any number of ways.
For more information about the Farm, go to www.alemanyfarm.org
For more information about the new medicinal herb garden, contact Jessie at jessyjeanin@gmail.com or Richard at r-k@prodigy.net.
Thanks, as always, for your efforts to make San Francisco more food secure.
The Farm Team
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