Meeting people where they are

Yesterday, my nutrition instructor Lisa (http://www.ccsf.edu/Resources/Faculty/lyamashi/) finally came to visit with her friend James. Our lives have been so busy, which happens when we’re so passionate about improving the quality of people’s lives through healthy eating—there is just no end to our work! (Lisa’s familiar face appeared at http://thefreefarm.blogspot.com/2012/04/grow-plants-cook-plants.html and her RD colleagues visited at http://thefreefarm.blogspot.com/2012/05/friends.html.)

Our volunteer workdays can become routine—planting, harvesting, watering, etc.—so it’s a real treat to have visitors to perk things up. I love to invite friends to meet me at The Free Farm. Goodness, what would I blog about each week without fresh faces to brighten our workdays?!  



While we do provide gloves, these first-time volunteers opted to get their hands dirty while planting more greens. Yay, let’s grow food security! 

Lisa’s friend James is an IT professional/hobby gardener with an organic apple orchard in Sebastopol, selling apples to an organic baby food manufacturer. James generously donated to us a shopping bag of sample seed packets ranging from beans to sunflowers. When I asked about the seeds painted in turquoise and pink, James explained that they were treated with fungicide. Unfortunately since we don’t know what kind of fungicide (not just milk, coffee, vegetable oil, detergent, white vinegar, etc. at http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/stories/s1484689.htm; see also http://www.ent.uga.edu/pmh/Hm_Fungicide&Organic.pdf), we’ll err on the side of caution and stick to using seeds of known organic quality. We really do appreciate donations, but we have limited growing space. In fact, Tree is still trying to find space for my second ashitaba (bush grows 4’ wide) . . . so we’d most appreciate donations of land to plant more :-)!

Lunch spread courtesy of Stanley (tabouleh, roasted beets and sweet potatoes), Tree (tossed greens with vinaigrette and calendula petals) and Wandering Veggie (I Am Giving GOMBS salad). Woops, complete protein is missing (other than sprinkle of sesame seeds; http://www.choosemyplate.gov/food-groups/protein-foods.html) but tofu/soybean samples were available at nearby Japantown’s http://soyandtofufest.org/. Lisa’s really cool—an RD who actually likes the taste of food beyond its nutritional content, but I still get self-conscious about meeting nutrition and food safety standards (I passed exam to become Certified Food Safety Manager thanks to Lisa’s excellent teaching) when I’m around RDs.

Based on Google analytics, this blog’s greatest views appear to be postings that mention GOMBS or GOMBBS (acronym for cancer-preventing Greens+Onions+Mushrooms+Beans+Berries+Seeds, . . . so due to anticipated popular demand, here’s my gluten-free, raw GOMBS salad recipe adapted from Café Gratitude’s Marinated Kale Salad aka I Am Giving:

4 cups kale (Green), chiffonade

1 cup carrots, shredded

1 cup cucumbers, julienne-cut

¼ cup hijiki (presoak 2 hours & drain)

1 cup shiitake Mushrooms, marinated (¼ cup lemon juice + ¼ cup Bragg’s liquid aminos)

Stir in marinade:

¼ cup e.v.o.o.

¼ cup orange juice

2 Tbsp Bragg’s liquid aminos

2 Tbsp rice vinegar

1 Tbsp sesame oil

Garnish with: chopped green Onions, goji Berries, sesame Seeds

After lunch when Stanley opens farmstand, Lisa recognizes her student Jean who attends nutrition class at Jewish Community Center.

I still remember my first visit to Lisa’s nutrition class at Golden Gate Park Senior Center (GGPSC), where the entrance door had a sign stating the facility was for seniors age 55+, but Lisa made me feel so welcome. She also promoted a safe learning community, so students were free to reveal their personal health issues and then Lisa would kindly suggest dietary changes.

Partly because women outlive men, Lisa’s GGPSC students are mostly women. But unlike the intensity, competition and consciousness-raising that I experienced while attending a women’s college (and I was required to live on-campus with the typical 17-22 age range), the exchanges and bonding among older women were so relaxed and often funny. Sure this was a noncredit class, but I also find most people mellow out from just going through life experiences (“been there, done that”). Since I grew up in a multi-generational household, I really value the diversity from interacting with a wide range of age groups and I’m especially enriched from the wisdom of our elders.

 

When Jean tells me that Lisa’s her teacher, I proudly tell her that Lisa’s also my teacher!

Back to work after lunch

“My family calls me Pancho” arrives with his father visiting from Mexico. 

Stanley and her childhood friend Jaye, who’s visiting from Massachusetts where he has a farm!

Beekeeper Pam with her beeswax candle creations

K offers samples of our first harvest of raspberries!

Growing food security

Tree asked whether Lisa teaches vegetarian diets. The answer is what Lisa often reminds us: You have to meet people where they are—and it’s challenging to restrict foods for someone already with limited food resources to meet nutritional guidelines of a balanced diet (grains + proteins + vegetables + fruits). The reality is that people know they should be eating more vegetables, but many seniors (almost 1 in 3 people age 75 or older in SF lives in poverty) and persons with disabilities are food insecure.

The consequences of food insecurity may mean malnutrition (low-cost, calorie-dense but nutritionally poor food intake of refined salt/sugar/flour--"poor quality vegetarian"), less variety of foods (8 foods are responsible for 90% of food allergies: milk, egg, peanut, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, soy, wheat), chronic disease (obesity, hypertension, diabetes), mental depression, etc.

Since there is a large population of seniors in SF who are unconnected with family and have limited mobility, their issues often fall under the radar. Two weeks ago, District 5 (which includes The Free Farm) Supervisor Christina Olague held a City Hall hearing about the “senior surge” as she was particularly concerned that her district had the City’s highest number of seniors in public housing. (http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/2012/05/parents-exiting-city-droves-leaving-older-relatives-their-own)

Sadly, when the time came for 2-minute comments from the public, many seniors were leaving the chambers so they could have their noontime senior congregate meals. At some senior meal sites, lunch may be the only meal of the day for many seniors. Fortunately, many senior services providers and advocates stepped up to speak on behalf of their clients.  Many seniors may qualify but cannot access food distribution programs because they cannot drive, stand in line, carry their food boxes up the stairs or hills in their neighborhood. Many find it difficult to go anywhere without assistance and a ride. In addition, even if seniors can access fresh produce, they may lack the facilities for storage and preparation (especially in SROs).

At the hearing, one senior in a wheelchair said he wanted to “de-retire” to be productive and pay taxes, not just receive a handout from the government or charitable organizations. According to gerontologists, people perform best when their environment challenges them to test their limits but not overwhelm them. However, if the environmental press is too low, then people suffer sensory deprivation, boredom, learned helplessness, and dependence on others. I thought about how our garden table could meet this senior where he is on his wheelchair. By meeting people where they are and actively engaging them in our gardening activities, our communities would be so much richer.

For other ways to help grow food security, see http://thefreefarm.blogspot.com/2011/11/food-justice-hunger-banquet.html

Thanks to all the volunteers and visitors who meet us where we are at The Free Farm to grow local food security!



Our neighbor Tenderloin + Streetopia!

Last week, I mentioned food insecurity in the Tenderloin, which is located just two blocks east of The Free Farm. But there’s more to the Tenderloin (home to my favorite banh mi :-) and non-starving artists), so I joined Peter Field of SF City Guides for a historical walking tour covering Tenderloin west of Leavenworth Street that includes Uptown Tenderloin Historic District. Our beekeeper Pam also got The Free Farm involved in Tenderloin’s Streetopia, so read on!

Most tour participants were SF residents, including several from the Tenderloin. It was a lively and interactive tour (one resident passing by told us “no photographs, no autographs”). As Peter worked in the Tenderloin as a psychiatric social worker, he shared his insights. During the 1970s urban renewal, the destruction of SROs in Western Addition and SoMa drove the poor to the Tenderloin, which has the world’s largest collection of historic SRO hotels and the largest concentration of homeless in the City. Here are some tour highlights:

We began at McAllister and Leavenworth Streets, facing the former William Taylor Hotel, which was built by Methodists as a church on the ground floor within a hotel (sounds similar to plan to rebuild Saint Paulus Church within housing tower at The Free Farm site). Shortly after its 1929 opening, the hotel suffered due to the Great Depression, so it was sold and remodeled as the Empire Hotel, SF’s tallest building at the time. A local law prevented building a saloon within 200 feet of a church, so the Sky Room lounge was built on the top floor. During WWII, the federal government used its eminent domain powers to acquire the hotel, which was converted to a federal building housing the IRS and draft board. In the late 1970s, the site was sold to UC Hastings College of Law, which converted it into student housing.

(My background includes living in the Tenderloin for a summer, while I worked at now-defunct SF Redevelopment Agency (SFRA) in Western Addition and shared an apartment with a classmate at McAllister Tower (http://www.uchastings.edu/housing/). Like JFK said about working in the White House, the pay was good and I could walk to work :-). I worked at SFRA for two years: part-time during school and full-time during one summer break. SFRA’s use of eminent domain displaced many years before so I joined my supervising attorney to volunteer with Homeless Advocacy Project (http://www.sfbar.org/volunteer/homeless_article.aspx), which held a weekly clinic at Cadillac Hotel (http://www.cadillachotel.org/), the first non-profit SRO west of Mississippi.)

Tenderloin Housing Clinic (http://www.thclinic.org/) Executive Director Randy Shaw is working to create Uptown Tenderloin Museum (http://uptowntl.org/museum.php) inside Cadillac Hotel (http://www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=The_Cadillac_Hotel_Shaped_History_of_San_Francisco). The hotel also was home to Newman’s Boxing Gym, where George Foreman and Cassius Clay (before name change to Muhammad Ali) trained.

These banners remind us that Tenderloin is in the Heart of the City, with 409 historic buildings.

Streetopia (http://streetopiasf.com/) is a month-long show, run out of Luggage Store Annex (http://www.luggagestoregallery.org/) at 509 Ellis Street near Leavenworth, that expresses utopian aspirations including a Free Café, theater, gallery/studio, library, public murals, art on area billboards, installations in vacant storefronts, performances in the streets, and events at nearby community gardens. (See Public Service Announcement listing below.)

Next door to Luggage Store Annex, Cohen Alley was transformed into Tenderloin National Forest (http://www.luggagestoregallery.org/tnf/) with real and painted trees.

Love lung power!

Leaving the tranquility of the Forest, we returned to the concrete and noise of . . . Tenderloin Zoo, spray painted on this wall outside.

This Faithful Fools building was a former film exchange building. (At annual Meat Out, sponsored by SFVS and Unitarian Center in Western Addition, I volunteer with Chef Andrea of Faithful Fools (http://www.faithfulfools.org/) to prepare vegan lunch.)

Tenderloin’s entertainment included jazz (like Blackhawk), as well as theater and porn.

Food secure pigeons well-fed by residents

Peter holds up photo of 19th century old grocery saloon at Turk and Polk Streets, with side door entrance for single women. At the time, two-thirds of saloons were located in the back of grocery storefronts.

Das Deutsches Haus, aka California Hall, 625 Polk Street, is significant for its role in LGBT history (http://www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=San_Francisco_Police_Hold_a_Scandalous_Orgy).

From 1921 to 1925, Dashiell Hammett lived at 620 Eddy, in a two-room studio above his landlady bootlegger; seems 1920s Prohibition was as effective as today’s War on Drugs? Peter noted how prohibitions drive vices underground. He mentioned that some landlords prefer tenants involved in illegal activities so they can extort higher rents, so vice and corruption persist. (After tour, I was curious about rents at Hammett’s old building so I internet-searched the address and found studio #44 went for $1,250 in April 2012.)

Eye-catching mural

Entrance to Little Saigon, which brought many families into neighborhood and my favorite banh mi!

Not included in tour, but I volunteer at Project Open Hand, 730 Polk Street, so check out http://www.openhand.org/join-us/volunteer/. I remember this location was Sierra Club HQ before POH.

With a gap after the tour until afternoon Streetopia event, I headed over to Asian Art Museum for Phantoms of Asia exhibit about our place in the universe. This striking painting, "Dohatsu Shoten," by Hyon Gyon, reminded me of Edvard Munch’s "The Scream"; the plaque explained that it represents “anger that makes one’s hair stand on the end and even reach the sky”—an emotion that we feel but usually hold inside. Pretty intense, so time to step outside . .

I love looking up at the old Main Library’s engravings, like this Longfellow saying: “Nature is a revelation of God, art is a revelation of man.”

Back into the Forest sanctuary

Lisaruth sets up her Lovin’ from the Oven no knead bread making demo station with basics: flour, salt, yeast, warm water. Lisaruth’s utopian agenda is that “we slowly begin to understand ourselves more as bread MAKERS than bread WINNERS.”

Beekeeper Pam donated The Free Farm's Hecka Local Honey to accompany Lisaruth’s Seeding is Believing Bread. Honey + Bread combination is delicious!

Lisaruth’s Mobile Bread Bicycle Cart, almost like meals on wheels! Cob oven is heated to 450F to bake bread.

Sy Wagon presents The Free Cafe, which will take place daily, noon to 4 pm, at 509 Ellis Street and Tenderloin National Forest during the length of Streetopia’s run (May 21 to June 23). The cafe will provide a community kitchen for neighborhood residents to come together and share food and recipes. The cafe is looking for donations of produce. Contact sywagon@gmail.com (http://streetopiasf.com/2012/04/09/the-free-cafe-is-looking-for-recipes-volunteers-and-food/)

Free Café offerings include sautéed kale and onions, grated beets and peppers, waffles, butter, whipped cream, maple syrup, coffee and milk.

Returned to Asian Art Museum for armchair talk on Traditional Chinese Medicine. “Breathing flower” by Choi Jeong Hwa, sits outside.

More about Tenderloin's rich history and culture at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenderloin,_San_Francisco,_California. In addition to BeyondChron (http://www.beyondchron.org/), Tenderloin has a wonderful monthly community newspaper, Central City Extra, which featured May 2012 cover story, “Free Food for Sale” (http://www.studycenter.org/test/cce/index.html) and April 2012 article, “Farmers’ markets give away a ton of food” (http://www.studycenter.org/test/cce/issues/121/ccx.121-cp4.pdf).

Peter will present his fascinating Tenderloin walks again in October 2012 through http://www.sfcityguides.org/desc.html?tour=79 & http://www.sfcityguides.org/desc.html?tour=80. In the meantime, SF City Guides has two upcoming walks covering The Free Farm’s Western Addition neighborhood (see Public Service Announcements listing below for May 31 and June 2; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Addition,_San_Francisco,_California).

And check out Streetopia's events, which focus on community empowerment!

Public Service Announcements:

Thurs., May 31, 2012, 1 pm Sacred Places in SF Cathedral Hill
Meet at the main plaza entrance of St. Mary's Cathedral, Gough & Geary, SF
SF’s diversity is reflected in its places of worship. Visit churches, a temple, a cathedral and a synagogue. View the symbols and architecture and hear the history of the city’s religious institutions. http://www.sfcityguides.org/desc.html?tour=70

Sat., June 2, 2012, 2 pm Japantown, Urban Renewal & the Fillmore
Meet at the Japantown Peace Pagoda at Buchanan between Post & Geary, SF
SF’s Japantown dates from the earthquake and fire of 1906. Later, Japanese-Americans were uprooted in WWII and replaced largely by African-Americans who opened many jazz clubs. Then, in the 1950s, urban renewal changed the physical landscape. Today we see Japanese-style architecture next to classic Victorians and the birth of the Fillmore Jazz Preservation District. http://www.sfcityguides.org/desc.html?tour=45

Sun., June 3, 2012, 1 pm Every Block has a Story: The People’s History of the Central City
Meet at Luggage Store Gallery, 1007 Market St., near 6th St., SF 94103
Join Tenant Organizer James Tracey and Tenderloin native Lisa Cleis for walking tour and organizing. http://streetopiasf.com/Streetopia_calendar.pdf

More friends + beyond boundaries

As a follow-up to SF’s Farm Bill resolution (http://thefreefarm.blogspot.com/2012/03/local-food-2012-farm-bill.html), Getup classmate Susan is inviting us to attend “A Farm Bill for the 99%!” on Tuesday, May 29 (details in Public Service Announcement below).

Hayes Valley Farm (HVF), which was slated to relocate next month to make way for condo development, got a 6-month extension to continue farming in its birthplace through the end of this year. After that, HVF has plans to farm in more than just one location (http://localaddition.com/2012/02/17/hayes-valley-farmers-have-plans-for-the-future/ ) so maybe HVF will be renamed Hardly Strictly Hayes Valley Farm?! What’s important is to keep farming somewhere in the City, and I hope they continue to generously donate their harvest to Project Open Hand, which then ensures its distribution to cancer patients (http://www.openhand.org/2011/10/17/hayes-valley-farm-harvest-festival/).

This piece of great news got me thinking about The Free Farm’s own future, which is subject to housing development plans. While farms like Alemany and Hayes Valley have names that identify with their respective neighborhoods, The Free Farm name is generic, which is cool because then we have the potential to be anywhere and everywhere! The name Western Addition Farm is a real mouthful, though it suggests we can expand to Eastern, Northern and Southern Additions?

Anyway, when my classmates and I presented our fabulous garden table + food production team project during our last day in horticulture class, our instructor Malcolm asked whether our project experiences made us want to pursue horticulture professionally. After quick reflection, I thought yes, let’s build more of The Free Farm garden tables at every senior center in the City! The senior moment is now :-)

We had another great turnout of volunteers to join us on another warm, dry sunny workday yesterday. Many returning volunteers also brought their friends/relatives so check out these fresh faces!

Returning Stanford volunteer Michael (with harvest) and greeter Joyce (with her usual light reading).  Imagine our garden table will be moving soon to where the farmstand is, just behind them.

So glad to see horticulture classmate Wendy return, and this time with her sister Rachel, a Lick-Wilmerding student who also volunteers at Alemany Farm (http://thefreefarm.blogspot.com/2012/04/do-you-know-way-to-alemany.html)! Because I had to attend another appointment, they offered to transplant ashitaba plants.

Alemany Farmers John and Jason gather bamboo, while Monroe recognizes ashitaba plants (in green hands of Wendy and Rachel) as relative of wormwood.

First-time volunteers from Stanford join Jason with cutting flowers.

Tree looks for space to plant ashitaba

. . . and decides we should harvest mugwort plants for farmstand. Mugwort leaf (ai ye) is bitter, acrid, warm; stops bleeding; disperses cold and stops pain; use topically for damp itchy skin lesions. Acupuncturists burn mugwort leaves when practicing moxibustion. Since many herbs have contraindications, consult with herbalist before use (http://www.acupuncturetoday.com/herbcentral/mugwort_leaf.php & 
http://www.best-home-remedies.com/herbal_medicine/herbs/mugwort.htm)

First-time Stanford volunteers build compost pile—nice study break before they take their finals in three weeks :-)

Margaret waters container plants

At the end of the workday, I returned to The Free Farm to find ashitaba plant nicely grounded in its new home outdoors

Sadly, we had to uproot/evict some mugwort plants and a mango-looking tree in order to make growing space for ashitaba plant that can grow 4 ft in width.  

 

Thanks to Wendy, Stephen and Rachel for nice work in making space and planting ashitaba.

Pam decided to transplant her dye plants outdoors, but (again) finding growing space was challenging. Finally, Pam spotted space (though shady) near beehives for weld plants.

Other dye plants found a home squeezed in our sunny terrace near our gathering space. Afterwards, we went over to Pam’s to plant the remaining dye plants in her side garden—a satellite of The Free Farm?

We’ve been blessed with so many ingredients for life to thrive: clean air, water, nutrients, sunlight, warmth, loving attention, space . . . perhaps a bit tight on this element, but it’s really awesome how we are growing beyond our boundaries as volunteers and visitors begin growing their own!

Finally, before I take off: We realize you have a choice when it comes to activities this Memorial Day weekend—75th anniversary of Golden Gate Bridge Celebration, Carnaval, Hayes Valley Farm’s Homestead Skillshare Festival, etc.—so we especially would like to thank you for choosing to farm with us in the Western Addition!

Public Service Announcements:

Tues., May 29, 2012, 6-8 pm A Farm Bill for the 99%!
Mission Pie, 2901 Mission St. at 25th St., SF
How the Farm Bill impacts what you eat—and what you can do about it! Come learn how local leaders and communities are pushing for a healthier, more sustainable food system. Featuring Supervisor Eric Mar (D1), Supervisor David Campos (D9); Susan Kuehn and Adam Scow of Food & Water Watch; Author and Journalist Christopher Cook; and members of Occupy the Farm. Co-sponsored by the Center for Political Education and Food & Water Watch. http://missionpie.com/?p=798

Sat., June 2, 2012, 2-7 pm University of the Commons Launch Celebration
ATA, 992 Valencia St., SF 94110
Collective of teachers, artists, activists, scholars, writers, and students dedicated to the idea of education for the sake of education. Learn about upcoming classes, always free, including Science Literacy, taught by Barbara-Ann Lewis, PhD Soil Science from UC Berkeley. http://www.uotc.org/wordpress/