The Free Farm

Celebration!

2012-01-29T02:21:00.000-08:00

Preparing food

Joyce and Pia prepare mixed greens salad

Stanley adds yellow color to bee picture in Tree's artwork of The Free Farm congregation

Vegan dinner menu: Thanks to Bi-Rite, Earl's Organics, Double Rainbow, Rainbow Grocery, and Veritable Vegetable for their donations

Appetizer spread includes Michael's hummus

Sufi dance of universal peace circle

Pam, Ruby, Lolita and John

Dinner line

Honorable mention to my neighbor Jonathan, a winemaker who gave this bottle of antioxidant-rich Syrah

Margaret uncorks wine bottles

Colorful dinner plate

Colorful appetizer plate

Abundant food

Kris, friend and Hannah

No comment :-)

Tree introduces Babar Jug Band

K and friend

Two wise women at this table: Golden Gate Gardening author Pam (http://www.pampeirce.com/) and award-winning filmmaker Karil (http://karildaniels.com/)

Forks over knives

Cheers :-)

The Phaetons

Alen serves up lemonade made with honey from The Free Farm

Ro and friend

Babar Jug Band

Tree and Pam

Artists Stanley and Pam

Margaret shares poem

Margaret and Page

Adelaja shares his thoughts on what The Free Farm means to him

Dessert time

As promised, Alen made her famous Scharffenberger chocolate chip cookies!

K plays Chopin

Yasue scoops up Double Rainbow soy vanilla ice cream

Stanley wrapped these truffle treats and got these cool peace buttons as mementos

Byron looks forward to filling up bowl with desserts

Beekeeper Pam (http://pamdeluco.com/) holds up memento of Tree's artwork (with Stanley's coloring of bee) printed on her homemade paper Pam and Valerie on dance floor

Pam gave complimentary massages after dinner

Claire writes thank you message to Tree on poster board

Tree and Eric

Drummer Ro and friend perform

Pam and Valerie

Dancin' the night away

Heather, Page and Byron

Tree, Claire and Angie

Junko band performs

Public Service Announcements:

Tues., Jan. 31, 2012, 5-7pm, Real Rural Launch Party
California Historical Society, 678 Mission Street, SF
The Bill Lane Center for the American West and Roots of Change are proud to announce the launch of journalist and photographer Lisa Hamilton's innovative multimedia project "Real Rural" — bringing California's rural life to the state's urban public. Hamilton's portraits of people and places, along with surprising, provocative quotes from the subjects, will be featured on BART trains throughout the Bay Area beginning in late January, and on an interactive web site. The California Historical Society will mount a related exhibition this fall of Hamilton's photographs shown in conjunction with relevant materials from the California Historical Society's vast collection. See a preview of the project and meet Lisa Hamilton. RSVP to rsvp@calhist.org or 415.357.1848, ext. 229.
http://californiahistoricalsociety.blogspot.com/

Wed., Feb. 1, 2012, 1:30-3:30 pm SF Food Security Task Force
City Hall - 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, Rm. 278, SF 94102
http://www.sfdph.org/dph/files/mtgsGrps/#foodsecurity

Wed., Feb. 1, 2012, 6:30-9 pm, Chinese Medicinal Herb Farms in the U.S.
ACTCM, 555 De Haro Street, Room H, SF
ACTCM hosts Peggy Schafer of the Chinese Medicinal Herb Farm in Petaluma, CA and Jean Giblette of High Falls Gardens in Philmont, NY. The evening will begin with a social and reception. Then Peggy and Jean will share information regarding their efforts to support the growth of Chinese medicinal herbs here in the United States. Peggy will also share information about her new book, The Chinese Medicinal Herb Farm: A Cultivator’s Guide to Small-Scale Organic Herb Production, which includes 79 detailed herb profiles, growing information, and medicinal use. The Chinese Medicinal Herb Farm is the first cultivation guide of its kind, and presents invaluable information for growers interested in producing high-quality efficacious herbs in all climates of the United States, with the historical connectedness of ancient practitioners. Please RSVP to leeswain@actcm.edu http://www.actcm.edu/events_detail.php?topmenu=5&root=5&id=776&eventsid=127

Sun., Feb. 5, 2012, 10 am-12 noon, Tu B'Shvat at The Free Farm
Join Congregation Emanu-El’s Young Adult Community, Contemporary Jewish Museum’s Contemporaries and Moishe House for this tree planting event!

Sun., Feb. 5, 2012, 1 pm Bees and Flowers
California Academy of Sciences, 55 Music Concourse Dr., Golden Gate Park, SF
Pollinators like bees are a crucial link in ecosystems and agriculture around the world, allowing flowering plants—from roses and sunflowers to cotton and strawberries—to reproduce year after year. Bees, who depend on these plants for nectar, communicate the locations of flowers to each other with dances. In this fun, interactive program, discover how these pollination partners help one another, and perform a bee-dance of your very own.
http://www.calacademy.org/events/

Welcome rain + sun + Baltimore Free Farmer!

2012-01-21T23:27:00.000-08:00

Our new year rains finally arrived on Thursday and continued with Friday night’s storm to fill our rain barrels (thanks to Kris’ rain dance last Saturday?), which had been empty since their installation in November. Today the sun came out as well as our dedicated volunteers and fellow free farmer, Don from Baltimore (http://www.baltimorefreefarm.org/)!
Dirty work, but somebody has to do it: SF Diggers Chris, Andrew, Don and Rocky spread steaming mulch over cold, wet ground.Greeter Joyce warmly welcomes Stanley and Page at The Free Farm entrance. Note board with Tree's poster for January 28th Volunteer Appreciation Party.
The Free Farm work ethic: Chris and Rocky hold up pitchforks (symbolizing hard labor) as they finish filling up wheelbarrows with mulch.
Pots for sugar snap peas overflow with rainwater.
Opened one of barrels filled with rainwater up to 2' high.
Ro, who will be drumming at our Volunteer Appreciation Party, brought yummy veggies stir-fried with ginger.
Cabbage is an excellent source of vitamin C for manufacture of collagen (prevent scurvy symptoms like bleeding gums and easy bruising) and immune function. It also has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that help prevent cancer.
White, red and yellow swiss chard has nutritional benefits similar to cabbage.
Workday leader Alen harvests lettuce for lunch salad.
Chris and Andrew plant kale.
Neighborhood volunteers Rocky and Ella plant lettuce.
Pia waters in greenhouse while chatting with Alen.
After his friends Bill and Allison visited The Free Farm last year, Baltimore Free Farmer Don decided to check us out in person to write an article for his new zine about urban farming and homesteading. Well, I ended up interviewing him for our blog :-).

Don and his friends, with fiscal sponsor Fusion Partnership that lends non-profit status, started Baltimore Free Farm (BFF) on a lot about the same size as The Free Farm on January 2010—also about the same time when The Free Farm and Hayes Valley Farm began. Unlike Hayes Valley Farm (which is expected to lose its city-owned lot to condo development this year) and The Free Farm (which may lose its church-owned space to development in the next two to five years), Don explained that he doesn’t foresee developers’ interest in their terraced lot on a 45-degree slope.

According to Don, Baltimore offers city-owned, abandoned lots for free under one-year, renewable leases for community use. BFF is part community garden with 4’ x 8’ lots allocated to individuals, and part raised beds with food grown for volunteers, give-aways and fundraising. Don explained that parts of BFF’s clay-like soil were contaminated with some heavy metals from industry so they have raised beds; they’re also able to grow food year-round with their greenhouse and hoophouse. In addition, BFF has bees for honey, and chickens (maximum four allowed by local ordinance) for eggs and manure. Don said his parents maintained a garden, beehive and chickens so he practically grew up homesteading. BFF coordinates DIY workshops with other gardens on canning, beekeeping, gardening, composting, soapmaking, biodiesel, aquaculture, etc.

Don mentioned that he cooks for Occupy Baltimore and Food Not Bombs. Wow, I asked Don how he was able to do all this? Don replied that many BFF members are urban farming and homesteading as their livelihood, which is unlike most of us volunteers who have work/school responsibilities with limited leisure time for The Free Farm.

In fact, Don said his weeklong trip to SF was the first time he’s been away from BFF since they began. Thanks, Don, for volunteering at The Free Farm during your vacation! I invited him to our Volunteer Appreciation Party next Saturday, but Don said he really had to return to work at BFF on Monday—our Lunar New Year holiday. Gung Hay Fat Choy!
Lunch spread prepared by Alen (harvested Hecka Local lettuce), John (stew) and Ro (veggie stir-fry with rice).
Joyce and Pia share a laugh with Baltimore Free Farmer Don.
Stanley and Rocky greet neighbors at The Free Farm Stand.
John, Jenni and Marie are very tight-knit neighbors :-) It's so cool to have more neighbors volunteer at The Free Farm!

Stanley dropped me off at Golden Gate Park (thanks for the ride, Stanley!), where I head over to SF Botanical Garden Society's Lunar New Year Flower Market. Missed Ernie Ng's 1 pm Asian Plants tour, but I picked up map for self-guided tour.
Chinese naturalist painting is yin-yang: balance, harmony and change.
Grow Plants to Eat Plants - Before sunset, I bump into vegetarian friends outside SF Botanical Garden: Greg, Sharon, Dixie (President of SF Vegetarian Society at http://www.sfvs.org/), Saurabh (President of Vegetarian Society of DC at http://www.vsdc.org/, “the nation’s oldest continuously running vegetarian society,” founded in 1927) and Tom meet at County Fair Building, site of this year’s 40th IVU International Vegetarian Congress/Vegfest on October 5-12, 2012 (http://www.ivu.org/congress/2012/ and http://www.sfvs.org/wvd/). Please save this date: Sunday, March 18, 2012, 12:15 pm, for annual Meat Out Celebration sponsored by SFVS and Unitarian Universalists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (UUFETA).

Rain or shine: Please join us on our volunteer days and let's appreciate/celebrate together on January 28th!

Public Service Announcements:

Wed., Jan. 25, 2012, 7:30 pm Occupy Everything
CounterPULSE, 1310 Mission at 9th St., SF 94103
Open discussion about the Occupy movement that started in September in the U.S. and has spread across the country, with dramatic events in Oakland, San Francisco, and other locales. Let’s examine the bigger issues, the deeper implications, the broad possibilities of radical reform to revolution, as embodied in this movement.
http://counterpulse.org/?tribe_events=shaping-sf-public-talk-occupy-everything-open-discussion/

GOMBS soup

2012-01-21T23:03:00.001-08:00

Rainy weather makes me wanna stay indoors and make soup! Soup is the ultimate comfort food and so easy to make with almost anything but the kitchen sink :-) Here’s my GOMBS* soup recipe (include whatever quantity suits your taste):

1. Soak barley/yiyi ren for 8 hours to break down gluten and make digestion easier. Discard soaked water. (See http://nourishingourchildren.org/Downloads_files/grains.pdf)
2. Cook soaked barley + kombu in water. Kombu adds mineral-rich nutrients and helps activate enzymes to neutralize enzyme inhibitors.
3. Saute in coconut oil: chopped scallions (Onions)+ minced garlic + chopped carrots + chopped celery (Greens) + sliced crimini Mushrooms.
4. Add cooked barley + water + chopped watercress (Greens) + cilantro (Greens) + apricot kernels/tian xingren (Seeds).
5. Top with goji/goujizi (Berries).

My soup is missing Beans because I forgot to soak them in advance, and I avoid canned stuff. Soaking grains, beans, nuts and seeds help break down and neutralize anti-nutrients like phytic acid, which bind with minerals (calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and zinc) and block their absorption. (See http://www.westonaprice.org/food-features/living-with-phytic-acid)

*GOMBBS is the acronym for Dr. Joel Fuhrman’s cancer prevention foods: Greens + Onions + Mushrooms + Beans + Berries + Seeds.

aliveness and newness moment by moment

2012-01-21T22:45:00.000-08:00

kris sent me her album of photos taken at the free farm over our warm, dry, sunny winter. it’s really cool to see some of her photos due to the absence of people—somewhat rare to get these glimpses inside the free farm’s wired fence, as i just show up during our activity-filled volunteer days. but kris happens to be one of our volunteers in the neighborhood who has access anytime to care for the free farm.

though our wonderful and energetic volunteers make the free farm happen, sometimes it’s just nice to experience the incredible aliveness and tranquility of nature in solitude—away from the distraction of other breathing human beings. it’s like knowing how to be with “aliveness and newness moment by moment,” according to ancient taoists, if we can experience energetic balance (qi flow) and adaptation to our environment.

kris’ still life photos brought to mind this powerfully moving poem by e.e. cummings:

i thank You God for most this amazing
day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday; this is the birth
day of life and love and wings: and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any-lifted from the no
of all nothing-human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axH9A28CTjw

kris also included these fun shots of our energetic volunteers who help make the free farm happen!

small world

2012-01-14T21:58:00.000-08:00

it's a world of laughter, a world of tears
it’s a world of hopes, it’s a world of fears
there’s so much that we share
that it’s time we're aware
it’s a small world after all
“it’s a small world” lyrics by the Sherman Brothers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jiaU0xbOKs&feature

Peace on Earth: Another warm, dry, sunny winter day at The Free Farm. Is Kris performing a Rain Dance? Lovely greeters Pia and Joyce welcome visitors.

Think Global, Eat Local

Seeing our friendly greeters Pia and Joyce made me think of a recent article about the World’s Friendliest Countries because The Free Farm would certainly qualify if it were a country (http://travel.yahoo.com/ideas/world-s-friendliest-countries.html). Based on the largest global survey of expats, the top 5 friendliest countries were English-speaking: New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Canada and United States. Friendly criteria included “ability to befriend locals, success in learning the local language, capacity for integrating themselves into the community, and ease in which they fit into the new culture.” Building friendly community is natural when we’re growing and eating food together at The Free Farm. And it's so much fun hosting visitors from all over the world!

Corey waters thirsty plants. Page and workday leader Hannah sport cool sunglasses.Busy harvest weighing station with Ro, Terence, Hannah and Getup interns Andrew and Christina. Artist couple from Rhode Island return to The Free Farm! John adds greens to compost pile while Jordan and Ro discuss aquaponics. Alen harvests herbs in labyrinth area. Andrew and Terence weigh harvested greens for The Free Farm Stand. Terence, who recently moved to San Francisco from Baltimore, noticed The Free Farm while riding the UCSF shuttle along Gough Street and joined us today for some urban farming fun in the sun! Tree, Alen and Christina discuss cookies for upcoming volunteer party; by popular demand, Alen will bake ScharffenBerger chocolate chip cookies!
Permaculture gardener Toos from Amsterdam stopped by The Free Farm to volunteer during her vacation! She suggested that we plant onions/leeks with our strawberries as they're good companions. Wow, look at all the different plants that can be grown in containers! Margaret painted colorful container plant signs: lettuce mix, borage, calendula, comfrey, rosemary, chives, marigold, mint, nettles, etc.Totally awesome volunteers take well-deserved lunch break . . . while I head out to Our Daily Bread: Eat-in with Deep Waters Dance Theater at CounterPULSE in response to this irresistible invite: ”Eat -In! Call in Hungry! Take off of work and reclaim your right to have time to eat a home cooked meal! We will cook, eat and engage in conversation and dialogue about how to eat home cooked meals on a regular basis. Share your insights and wisdom along with invited Food activists and artists who will be sharing their knowledge and wisdom on these issues. Food, music, good conversation.” http://counterpulse.org/We began our feast with praise and thanks to earth, sea, sun and water, as well as homage to the wisdom, knowledge and experience of all ancestors who figured out how to grow and cook food. Amara, serving Brazilian chicken stew, says: "have reverence for your food and where and how it comes to your table…Let your reverence for your food and the earth it comes out of be more important than whether it is cheap, quick and convenient.”
Home-cooked lunch of cheese corn bread, dumplings, collard greens, black-eyed peas, raw greens, Brazilian chicken stew and rice.
Michael compiles monthly “Broke but not bored in SF” listing of free stuff to do (“peppered with harm reduction propaganda”) on behalf of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. If you’d like to be added to the distribution list, email tmorris@sfaf.org. (Yours truly will follow-up with Michael to get The Free Farm's volunteer days listed.)
Storytelling childhood food memories: mmm, good! Deep Waters Dance (http://deepwatersdance.wordpress.com/about/) perform "Gumbo Adobo." Then suddenly I remembered that they performed a selection from “Our Daily Bread” at last year’s People’s Grocery Harvesting Justice fundraiser (http://www.peoplesgrocery.org/article.php/20101215112935637). As I get more involved in food justice, I realize it's a small world after all.

Hope to see you soon in our small world at The Free Farm and our not-to-be-missed volunteer party on January 28 (see details below)!

Public Service Announcements:

Mon., Jan. 16, 2012 Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service
Alcatraz, Lands End, Presidio, SF
Volunteer in the Golden Gate National Parks at our doorstep and help grow and restore these cherished national parklands. It’s fun, it’s healthy, and it makes a difference — the perfect way to pitch in on a momentous day. Bring the whole family and friends! For more info, please visit http://www.parkconservancy.org/

Beginning Tues., Jan. 17, 2012 Tai Chi for Health classes (noncredit)
Various times and locations in SF
Health 5018 Tai Chi Chuan is a stylized form of movement that promotes both mental and physical well-being. This course is an introduction to the Chinese style of exercises known as Tai Chi Chuan, and it will teach the student Yang style Tai Chi form.
http://www.ccsf.edu/Schedule/Spring/NC/health_education.shtml

Beginning Tues., Jan. 17, 2012 Consumer Ed/Health Nutrition classes (noncredit)
Various times and locations in SF (recommend http://www.ccsf.edu/Resources/Faculty/lyamashi/)
HOEC 6122 Practical information, effective strategies, and skills that teach the student how to practice good nutrition, manage personal health, and maintain an active, healthy lifestyle in the later years.
http://www.ccsf.edu/Schedule/Spring/NC/consumer_education.shtml

Tues., Jan. 24-.Feb. 28, 2012, 1-3:30 pm Healthier Living Workshop (6-week series)
Stonestown YMCA-Annex-Pracht Rm, 333 Eucalyptus Dr @ 19th Ave, SF 94132
Pre-Registration is required: Contact Elizabeth Bachrad (YMCA) at 415-242-7112 or Shelly Glazer (CCSF) at 415-452-5839
http://healthier-living-sf.eventbrite.com/

Tues., Jan. 24, 2012, 6-7:30 pm The Language of Flowers
Koret Auditorium, Main Library, 100 Larkin St., SF 94102
Reading and presentation by Vanessa Diffenbaugh, author of San Francisco Public Library’s January/February 2012 On the Same Page book selection.
Each year, nearly 20,000 young people “age out” of America’s foster care system, and many of them have nowhere to go. Writer Vanessa Diffenbaugh, who grew up in Northern California, has transformed this sad statistic into an extraordinary debut novel.
Set in San Francisco and the Napa Valley, The Language of Flowers tells the visceral and deeply touching story of Victoria, a teen who has been discharged from foster care, leaving her alone and emotionally barricaded. It’s also a compelling story about spiritual hunger and the power of nature—and human connection—to help heal hearts.
Ms. Diffenbaugh will read from her book and discuss her inspiration for the novel, as well as present a slide show about the Victorian language of flowers. She will be joined by Isis Keigwin, CEO of Camellia Network, a national non-profit co-founded by Ms. Diffenbaugh. The mission of Camellia Network is to activate networks of citizens in every community to provide the critical support young people need to transition from foster care to adulthood http://www.sfpl.org/index.php?pg=1009499001

Sat., Jan. 28, 2012, 6-10 pm The Free Farm Volunteer Celebration!
St. Mark’s Church, 1111 O’Farrell St. at Franklin, SF (http://www.stmarks-sf.org/index.php/about-st-marks/directions)
To volunteer/attend, please contact iamtree99@gmail.com.

Happy new year: We're back in action!

2012-01-07T22:07:00.000-08:00

It was a warm, dry, sunny winter day – perhaps, An Inconvenient Truth, but just perfectly beautiful to be outdoors at The Free Farm!
After our two week winter break, Monisha and Stanley greet an early visitor to The Free Farm Stand.
Check-in with workday leader Tree. If I had a hammer: Ro, Sukhi and John install wood frame to vegetable bed. Pretty peppers: red ones ready for harvest! Beautiful people Monisha, Ro and Sukhi hold up beautiful, colorful harvest of broccoli, collard greens, purple lettuce, red and yellow peppers.

Goji berry in hothouse. According to Briahn Kelly-Brennan, L.Ac. who teaches Everyday Healing Foods and Herbs (http://www.ccsf.edu/Resources/Faculty/bkelly/): “young goji berry plant leaves are edible. Traditionally the spring prunings are stripped of leaves, and the stems/twigs are bundled and used to make soup stock, then the leaves are added to the stock (after the stems and stock material is strained out) to make a soup. When the leaves are older they get quite bitter, so tasting before using is a good idea.”Helping to build soil: Go compost team! Corey harvests lettuce where it grows best in the shady labyrinth area. John with Claire and Tree sampling bitter greens to increase their joy! Occupy tent outside The Free Farm along Gough Street? Actually, three homeless neighbors told me that they set-up shelter after another group of homeless moved into their former space. I invited them to join us for lunch and to help themselves to produce at our 1 pm stand. Tree holds up groovy greens. Groovy greens grown here.
Tree harvests yacon from sandy soil.
In response to http://thefreefarm.blogspot.com/2011/05/gombs-pasta.html, Anonymous commented that I missed Beans in Dr. Furhman’s anti-cancer prescription. I first learned about GOMBS from http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/health/dr-joel-fuhrman-cancer-prevention-diet-20110228 (which left out beans), but the related link http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/good_day_ny/medical_headlines/eat-to-live-diet-20110111 included beans. For today’s potluck lunch, I made this gluten-free, low-sodium, cooling GOMBBS salad:
1. Cook 1 lb. sweet potato noodles.
2. Place 1 lb. mung Bean sprouts + 7 oz. enoki Mushroom + 1 cup napa cabbage (Green) chiffonade in colander.
3. Pour cooked noodles with water over sprouts, mushrooms and cabbage in colander. Drain and place blanched ingredients in bowl.
4. Mix ¼ cup chopped Green Onions + ¼ cup chopped cilantro (Green) with blanched ingredients in bowl.
5. Mix ½ cup sesame oil + ½ cup Bragg’s liquid aminos + ¼ cup balsamic vinegar + 1 Tbsp raw honey in jar for dressing.
6. Pour dressing into rest of ingredients in bowl.
7. Garnish with ¼ cup sesame Seeds + ¼ cup goji Berries.
No One Left Hungry with lunch prepared by Stanley, Tree and Wandering Veggie. During lunch, Tree mentioned that The Free Farm turns three years old this month! Please save this date: Saturday, January 28 at 6 pm, for our volunteer appreciation party/dinner celebration! We are looking for musicians that can get people dancing, vegan menu planners and anyone who wants to be on a team to make this event a big success. If you can help, please contact iamtree99@gmail.com.

Tree chats with neighbors who wear cool headgear. Sander plants chives and cilantro, but what's John up to with the wheelbarrow? John takes Sander for a wheelbarrow ride around The Free Farm! Michele harvests strawberries in wintertime! Kat continued work on rainwater catchment system (see http://thefreefarm.blogspot.com/2011/11/ready-for-rainwater-harvesting.html). Here, she lines raised vegetable bed, intended to capture overflow of rainwater.

Tree and Stanley are all smiles :-) :-) :-) Evan's dog Princess Polly is our unofficial mascot. Escargot anyone? Just simmer in butter, garlic, shallots and white wine. Bon appetit! John points out his favorite tree collards while leading tour for this visiting family of four seeking inspiration for planning their own edible garden! Elegance Tree holds up heart-shaped yacon.4 + 4 = Page's work of art to right of rain barrels. Kat explains how raised vegetable bed will receive overflow in rainwater catchment system. Love the sunshine, but would love for rainwater to fill our barrels! Artist couple from Rhode Island came to check out The Free Farm!Truffula tree from Dr. Seuss' The Lorax?

Finally, Tree mentioned that John of Growing Your Greens made a video tour based on his visit to The Free Farm last month at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDSGQYN8l48. If you love armchair travel, sit back and enjoy this 30-minute virtual tour. To experience more, come outside and join us during our volunteer days!

Public Service Announcements:

Wed., Jan. 11, 2012, 6 pm, Jack Norris on Vegan for Life
Book Passage, 1 Ferry Building, #42, Embarcadero, SF
Are you considering going vegan, but you're not sure how to start? Are you already committed to an animal-free diet, but are unclear how to get the proper nutrients? Come hear Registered Dietician and Vegan for Life author Jack Norris talk about the keys to maintaining a healthy vegan diet.
http://www.bookpassage.com/event/jack-norris-vegan-life-everything-you-need-know-be-healthy-and-fit-plant-based-diet

Thurs., Jan. 12, 2012, 7:30-9 pm What is a Mushroom Anyway?
Randall Museum, 199 Museum Way, SF
J. R. Blair is a past President of the Mycological Society of San Francisco. He is also a Lecturer at San Francisco State University and Director of the Sierra Nevada Field Campus. J.R. will be discussing how mushrooms fit into the scheme of things: what exactly they are, how they fit into the life cycle of the organism, fungal ecology, and how fungi form relationships with other life forms.
http://www.sfns.org/

Mon., Jan. 16, 2012, 7-9 pm The Ecology of Leadership Intro Workshop
Madrone Studios, 1417 15th Street, SF
We live in a time of tremendous global change. And, many of us are feeling significant shifts in our personal lives and the communities in which we live and work. And as unsustainable eco-social paradigms and systems are challenged and composted, we are called to seed and cultivate new visions for our future. But how do we do that effectively? To address that question, we invite you to join one of the powerful circles of change-makers discovering how a practice rooted in deep nature connection, inner transformation, and leadership skill development can revolutionize your life and service in the world. Join our free introductory evening at Madrone Studios - SF. RSVP online http://www.regenerativedesign.org/courses-events/ecology-of-leadership.

We'll be back in 2012!

2011-12-28T23:32:00.001-08:00

Note: This posting is longer than usual because this is our annual report without financial statements:-)

As 2011 draws to a close, it’s pretty awesome to look back at all that we’ve accomplished during this past year. Some highlights:
• Grew SLOW (Seasonal, Local, Organic, Whole) foods to share with the community
• Continued to promote garden education and build community with visiting educational, faith-based, non-profit and corporate groups as well as individuals
• Hosted MLK, Jr. Service Day and SF Refresh events
• Raised a greenhouse, hothouse, tool shed, office, terrace
• Installed sink and rainwater catchment system
• Won 2nd place in The Bay Citizen’s Citizen of Tomorrow contest
• Featured in a couple of documentary films in the making

We very much appreciate your support, and look forward to your ongoing support as we continue to “grow organic produce, foster garden education and build community”!

Get some unscented tissue before you read this announcement
As The Free Farm’s blog coordinator, I suppose I should delicately break the news about Saint Paulus’ decision to sell the land on which The Free Farm lies to a developer. According to Tree’s posting at http://freefarmstand.org/2011/12/19/this-land-is-meant-for-you-and-me/, we will have use of the land for another two to five years while the developer completes red tape procedures before construction for housing can begin.

Everyone responds to loss in his/her own way. My reaction has been a mix of gratitude and sadness. I feel gratitude for being part of our unique experience at The Free Farm, yet sadness because I was looking forward to growing a food forest so I’ll miss the land (sob-sob), but we’ve built such a nice community that should last beyond our physical space. I love The Free Farm, which will always have a special place in my heart, but I also have other things (such as my beloved rent-controlled apartment) going on in my life. Closer to home and before The Free Farm entered my life, Golden Gate Park was my garden (though I didn't grow any food there).
The Free Farm’s closed so I’m posting photos taken from SF Botanical Garden because hey, what’s a blog without photos? Take a virtual walking tour at http://sfbotanicalgarden.org/podcasts/?p=107
“Love goes where my Rosemary grows”

We received our “Dear John letter” from Saint Paulus a few weeks ago, which coincided with my own receipt of an unsigned “Dear Tenant” letter advising me that the owner of my apartment building hired a real estate company to manage the building and that all rent checks should be made payable to this company. While I wasn’t surprised about Saint Paulus’ decision, I was skeptical about the “Dear Tenant” letter (corporate takeover?), especially when a neighbor told me that he didn’t receive the same notice.

I eventually called my landlord, who confirmed that the notice was legit because he was, in fact, retiring and therefore delegating management responsibilities, though he was still owner and I could always call him. Whew, what a relief but not only because I live in a rent-controlled unit. Since I love the freedom of a low-maintenance lifestyle, I minimize ownership (except for my extensive reading and music collection) so I really am grateful for kind landlords offering use of rent-controlled and public gardening spaces. I already miss my landlord’s personal touches like his putting up fresh pine wreaths in our building at this time of the year (sniffle, tissue please).

While my landlord receives my rent, Saint Paulus (like The Giving Tree) has never asked The Free Farm for anything. Over the past year, Saint Paulus has been transparent about offers received and invited us to several meetings discussing the possible sale of its land so it’s not like we were jilted. My understanding is the housing development will include space for their Church as well as some low-income units. I hope they consider a rooftop garden as well. At our MLK Service Day earlier this year, I was really touched meeting Saint Paulus congregants as they shared memories of worshiping (and getting married in Pam’s case) at their old Gothic church. I commiserated with them over the loss of their beautiful church which burned down 16 years ago. Later, I read some expressions of their deep loss and yearning for a rebuilt Church on their original land, in the readers’ comments section at http://www.socketsite.com/archives/2010/09/free_farm_at_gough_and_eddy_in_full_bloom.html (which include speculation like “fire was quite possibly started somehow by some homeless people being sheltered” and a few unkind words about “hippy dippy garden is no match for a great building”).

Legacy of generosity and trust

Though it’s too soon to be writing an obituary for The Free Farm, I hope it won’t be something sensational like “The Free Farm evicted after land sold for $5 million” or in the manner of “The Billionaire Who Loved Bluegrass: Financier and philanthropist spread around his millions so ‘good things will grow’” (http://www.baycitizen.org/obituaries/story/warren-hellman-dies-77) I don’t think net worth makes a person so why bother emphasizing it (other than to encourage the 1% to make tax-deductible charitable contributions to San Francisco Free Clinic, a cause as worthy as The Free Farm)? It’s not like one should have material wealth to be a role model of generosity. We at The Free Farm make “good things grow” without millions.

Tree is so right-on when he says we have never made pleas for money (in contrast to the many year-end solicitations that I've received from other 501(c)(3) groups) nor sold anything—largely because we started with space and water generously provided by Saint Paulus, then volunteers generously donated time and resources to grow The Free Farm, and we attracted foundation grants, too – all in the spirit of Matthew 10:8: “You received free, give free.”

(By the way, I actually recall Hellman—not for his wealth, but because he was often jogging by my campus residence hall on a hilltop, while I was chasing squirrels and inhaling eucalyptus forest. “Better dead than co-ed” alum remember him as “Warren, Go To Hell-Man!” after he voted to admit male undergrads as President of our College’s Board of Trustees. After 16 days of Occupy Mills, he announced reversal of co-ed decision. He also pops up in my grad photos, but only years later did I even learn about his wealth because his venture cap firm was a client.) Squirrel at SF Botanical Garden in Golden Gate Park

During the commercial holiday season, I usually escape to a developing country that’s too poor for aggressive mass consumerism. In many developing countries, the governments are so corrupt that communities have to be strong for their survival. Where there’s less reliance on material wealth and no government safety net, people emphasize relationships based on mutual trust, caring and cooperation. This seems to ensure that people contribute to the best of their abilities so everyone’s needs are met, which promotes a more relaxed state of existence than an ostentatious, competitive, me-first, win-at-all-costs culture. And being green is a practical act of necessity and survival, rather than something political or hipster. Similarly, The Free Farm is based on a sharing economy so we cooperatively find ways to be resourceful; for example, volunteers take The Free Farm’s landfill and plastic recyclables to dispose in bins at their homes so we don’t pay the monthly garbage collection rate for the small amounts of waste that we can’t compost.

Saint Paulus has allowed us free reign to do just about anything at The Free Farm—and I imagine they’re pretty proud of how we occupiers have transformed their/our lot into gorgeous growing space! It’s really beautiful to focus on us sharing so I have moments of pinch myself, it would be so ideal to enjoy this same level of freedom and trust everywhere rather than an uptight litigious culture where people are unduly concerned about protecting themselves from liability. For example, even after I explain how the Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act (http://www.usda.gov/news/pubs/gleaning/appc.htm) limits donor liability except in cases of gross negligence, it’s sad but real that Americans continue to remain cautious about practicing generosity with strangers because they’re worried about getting sued by ambulance-chasing plaintiff attorneys if someone gets sick eating donated food. Similarly, landlords have liability concerns over guests on their property should someone be injured in common areas like garden and rooftop spaces. Of course, we (even deep pockets) all have to be wary of greedy sociopaths who really ruin community building efforts, but they seem to stay away from The Free Farm! Quickest way to a person’s heart is through the stomach

Unlike Free Farm Stand, which attracted complaints about crowding from public park patrons, I don’t think anyone has complained about The Free Farm – especially since we’re so low-key that we’ve never attracted enough visitors to form long lines and neighbors take what they need, so we’ve remained peaceful as feeding neighbors can silence potential complaints :-). I remember this advice dispensed by SF Permaculture’s Kevin, who comes from the “easier to ask forgiveness than permission” school when he told me about raising ducks outside of his Haight-Ashbury apartment, explaining that he makes a lot zucchini bread for his neighbors so they don’t complain!

Our intentions have been to have visitors join us for hands-on experience in cultivating our agroecosystem while connecting with nature where our food comes from and then sharing in tasting our freshly harvested produce locally. Yet we harvest more produce that could feed more than the stomachs that actually show up at The Free Farm.

Much of our food grown actually travels to Mission District’s Free Farm Stand on Sundays (http://stanfordglean.blogspot.com/2011/11/free-farm-stand.html explains why food is handed out to hipsters who probably can afford to shop at Whole Paycheck). Does giving away food liberally to anyone who waits in line create a sense of entitlement? Should we target needy populations by donating our food to nearby community soup kitchens and the homeless, even if this means people will miss the connection to nature? As a Getup student, I helped Garden For the Environment prepare its weekly CSA box that Food Runners takes over to Larkin Street Youth Services located just three blocks away from The Free Farm.
Garden For the Environment’s CSA box containing 10 lbs. of onions, celery, carrots, chard, kale, mustard, radish, lettuce, basil, squash, tomatillos, apples and flowers

“OH WOW, OH WOW, OH WOW”

When Steve Jobs died a couple of months ago, I loved his last words which I like to think are words of gratitude for an examined life that was worth living with passion and integrity. With announcement of his passing, the media often quoted excerpts from his 2005 speech delivered after his cancer diagnosis: “Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. . . .Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.” (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/05/steve-jobs-stanford-commencement-address_n_997301.html)

One upside to knowing we have a limited amount of time is developing humility and focusing on priorities; this process can lead us to be more thoughtful and appreciative (our eternal gratitude to Saint Paulus) for whatever precious time is left to make the best of circumstances before we leave a place. Since The Free Farm’s not going to be around for eternity at Eddy and Gough, what’s truly important for us to accomplish in the time remaining? Perhaps it’s time to make a bucket list? I used to plan trips to places after they landed on UNESCO’s World Heritage in Danger List, so hurry and visit us soon before we leave!

I have a special fondness for our labyrinth—mainly because I love herbs and appreciate their healing properties, so I hope to plant some medicinal herbs in the Spring and create materials on herb applications.
I heart patchouli . . . scent gives me a natural high like eucalyptus and pine :-)

What are your New Year’s Resolutions for The Free Farm? See you next year soon :-)!

P.S. Hopeful ending

While food shopping earlier this evening, I bumped into District 1 Supervisor and Land Use Committee Chair Eric Mar (who made his initial appearance on this blog at http://thefreefarm.blogspot.com/2011/04/free-farm-at-green-festival.html). When he mentioned efforts to get an organic farmers’ market in the Richmond District, I told him I didn’t think one was needed because our district (like Chinatown and Mission) is already oversaturated with affordable produce markets open 7 days a week, and Clement Street even has several shops offering organic produce so I can avoid the “dirty dozen” (http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/summary/). (Low prices result from oversupply without increase in demand.) In addition, our City has a glut of farmers’ markets (http://www.sfdph.org/dph/files/nutritionSvs/2011_Farmer_Market_Schedule_6162011_FINAL.pdf) that are hurting farmers because they now have to set-up at several smaller farmers’ markets in different neighborhoods (with associated travel and time costs) just to reach the same number of customers that used to shop at a larger farmers’ market like Heart of the City or Alemany (http://blog.sfgate.com/inthepeninsula/2011/03/10/local-growers-say-too-many-bay-area-farmers-markets-actually-hurts-business-video/). If people want to buy direct from farmers, they can subscribe to a CSA. Always the diplomat, Eric is a role model of active listening (using techniques like encouraging me to say more, clarifying, restating, reflecting, summarizing, validating) without ever opining because I’m just one of his many constituents.

When I mentioned getting more people involved in growing their own organic food would be a better way to promote public health, Eric said his assistant is looking into vacant lots for another community garden as he understands over 50 people are wait-listed for Argonne Community Garden (http://argonnecommunitygarden.org/ notes wait-list is “approximately one year”). Then I blurted: a community garden is not the same as The Free Farm, which we’ll lose in another two to five years. The Free Farm is like family (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3yFD1WaaPA&feature) because it’s a big shared space, not allocated plots like apartment units. Like Ecclesiastes 3, there is a time and place for every event under heaven: a time for privacy (especially in the bathroom) and a time for collective effort (like communal gardening). If you’ve been following this blog, you’re probably thinking yada yada. Eric, who’s actively concerned about public health, mentioned again that his office is looking into vacant lots. . . so we’ll follow-up to see if we can get some growing space for The Free Farm! No pressure, but we’re counting on you, Eric ;-)!

(Disclosure: I respect Eric’s position as Supervisor, but just very accustomed to being on a first-name basis with him because we go way back to my college days – interesting how I met Hellman and Eric while at a “women’s college without boys, not an all-girls’ school without men”!)
Singer-colleague Greg gave me this photographer box because I love photographing food (as you can see in this blog) and I thought posting this photo would be a cheerful way to sign-off :-) Happy new year!

Public Service Announcements:

What’s Cooking, Uncle Sam?
Learn about the history behind the Government’s involvement with food. Some interesting facts: During World War I, the Food Administration under Herbert Hoover promoted “Meatless Mondays.” With canned goods in short supply during World Wars I and II, people ate more fresh fruit and vegetables—many from their own back yards. During World War II, the U.S. government recommended eating from the butter and fortified margarine food group daily for health! http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/whats-cooking/preview/index.html

Tues., Jan. 3, 2012, 1 pm Pissarro’s People Docent Talk
Legion of Honor, Lincoln Park, 100 34th Ave. at Clement St., SF 94121
Pissarro’s paintings of townspeople, peasants, and farm workers stress their individuality rather than their mythic qualities, which so preoccupied Millet, his predecessor in the agricultural figural tradition. The cast of characters Pissarro represented reflects his unique engagement in contemporary political, social, and economic issues. The exhibition reconsiders Pissarro’s people within this rich contextual setting.
http://legionofhonor.famsf.org/legion/exhibitions/pissarros-people

Wed., Jan. 4, 2012, 1:30-3:30 pm SF Food Security Task Force
City Hall - 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, Rm. 278, SF 94102
Presentation by the Food Guardians from the Southeast Food Access Working Group.
http://www.sfdph.org/dph/files/mtgsGrps/#foodsecurity

Thurs., Jan. 5, 2012, 5:45-8:30 pm One Bay Area Public Workshop
UCSF Mission Bay Conference Center, 1675 Owens St., SF
Let’s plan together for a future that enhances the economy, environment and social equity, and our communities’ livability.
Last spring nearly 800 people attended public workshops in all nine Bay Area counties to learn about Plan Bay Area and offer feedback about future land development, housing growth, transportation investment options and policy initiatives.
It's time to talk about trade-offs. We have prepared several scenarios for what the Bay Area could look like in 2040. Now we need your help in selecting desired features among the alternative planning choices, and your help in prioritizing transportation investments and policies.
Plan Bay Area — one of our region’s most comprehensive planning efforts to date — is led by the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC).
MTC and ABAG will be hosting public workshops, one in each Bay Area county, to hear your opinion.
Space is limited. You must register to attend at http://onebayarea.org/spotlight_12-11.htm

Wed., Jan. 11-Feb. 15, 2012, 1:30-4 pm Healthy Living with Diabetes (7-week workshop series)
Community Room, Curry Senior Center, 315 Turk St., SF 94102
Pre-Registration is required by calling: Christian Intemann 415-346-6380 x111 or Jane Lev 415-255-3614
http://healthier-living-sf.eventbrite.com/

Food Justice: Conference Highlights

2011-12-28T23:31:00.000-08:00

OH WOW, I’m still processing all the information presented at Community Food Security Coalition's 15th Annual Conference in Oakland last month. Attending the four-day event with over 1,000 like-minded food justice activists nationwide was an incredible experience packed with film screenings, tours (see my posting about Black Panthers Legacy at http://thefreefarm.blogspot.com/2011/12/food-justice-all-power-to-people.html), awards ceremony, march to support human rights for farmworkers (with snacks provided by Chez Panisse restaurant, though I missed this to attend Oxfam luncheon described at http://thefreefarm.blogspot.com/2011/11/food-justice-hunger-banquet.html), soap box at Occupy Oakland, workshops, forums, networking and committee meetings, exhibits, etc.

OH WOW, it was so challenging for me to select sessions to attend because I just wanted to absorb it all; fortunately, some of the materials are now posted at http://communityfoodconference.org/15/materials/ so we can see what we missed. (Unfortunately, I missed Monday evening’s A Taste of Oakland Reception featuring local foods--major foodie highlight!--because I decided to take a mid-term that could not be rescheduled.)

OH WOW, there were a lot of sessions about 2012 Farm Bill (covered in past blog postings) and food sovereignty (which probably should have been conference title instead of Food Justice). Instead of providing a play-by-play account of the sessions that I attended, I’ll just post some photos and then focus on one Voices from the Bay Area workshop that really stood out for me—“The Elephant in the Room: Food Access and Health Outcomes.” In other words, does provision of healthful food ensure consumption? How can we ensure food-insecure individuals receive and consume healthful foods, and have positive health outcomes? At The Free Farm/Free Farm Stand, we give away fresh fruits and veggies, but are recipients actually eating them?
Joined Getup classmate Eli Zigas, Food Systems and Urban Agriculture Program Manager at San Francisco Planning + Urban Research Association (http://www.spur.org/), in breakfast buffet line: scrambled eggs with fresh herbs, roasted potatoes, wheat & gluten-free breads, almond butter, pears & apples, persimmons, granola, dairy & soy milk, orange juice, coffee & tea. CFSC Board President Young Kim welcomes 1,000+ attendees to Conference.
Former CFSC Board & Staff members share stories of past conferences from 1st gathering in 1994 in Chicago to present day, the largest and most diverse in its history.
Honoring the Roots of the Food Movement in the Bay Area panel: Susan Clark of Columbia Foundation (http://www.columbia.org)/) discussed philanthropy from 1649 Diggers to present day; Larry Cohen of Prevention Institute introduced video,"We're Not Buying It: Junk Food Marketing to Kids" (view at http://www.preventioninstitute.org/notbuyingit); Food First Director Eric Holt-Jiminez translated for Luis who provided history and working conditions of Mexican farmworkers in U.S.; and Judith Redmond of Full Belly Farm talked about the challenges of maintaining a healthy and affordable supply of food with fair prices for farmers and farmworkers.
The Urban Food Revolution: Changing the Way We Feed Cities author Peter Ladner talks about regaining control over our food supply and quality by growing food ourselves foremost, and next buying it from someone we know.
Gavin Raders co-founded Oakland-based Planting Justice (http://plantingjustice.org/) as an income-generating nonprofit to make permaculture "relevant, accessible and affordable" for low-income urban residents. He shared his work at a free community workshop on Socially Enterprising Urban Agriculture Nonprofits.
Communities Putting Prevention to Work panelists talked about food access strategies such as farmers markets, farm to schools, healthy vending policies, healthy corner stores, etc.
Lunchtime march to support Campaign for Fair Food, led by Coalition of Immokalee Workers (http://www.ciw-online.org/) and Just Harvest USA (http://www.justharvestusa.org/), to demand fair wages and working conditions for Florida tomato pickers.
Occupy Oakland's Garden Supply Drop-Off Center
Took a break from power point presentation sessions to join hands-on cooking using Center for Ecoliteracy's Cooking with California Food in K-12 Schools (http://www.ecoliteracy.org/cooking-with-california-food). Our group prepared broccoli raisin salad. I've been so inspired working with Cheryl Davis (standing while holding walnuts) to deliver nutrition education through Network for a Healthy California's African-American Campaign; her former students will spot her on the street and thank her for showing them how to reduce high blood pressure and control diabetes through diet, exercise and other lifestyle habits.
5 quick & easy salads: asian cabbage, cucumber & jicama lime, broccoli raisin, tabouli, zucchini fettucine
Raul Lozano founded La Mesa Verde (http://www.sacredheartcs.org/our-programs/self-sufficiency/la-mesa-verde) to help low-income residents of San Jose grow their own organic vegetable gardens. His idea was to provide raised beds so people will garden. His 3 goals for participants: learn how to grow food, eat healthier and save money ($240-$720+ annual savings). 3 phases: empower people to create self-sufficiency, neighbors help neighbors, and seed saving.
San Jose State University Nutrition Professor Marjorie Freedman and her students conducted studies of food intake patterns of community soup kitchen clients to see if nutritional needs were met. They found that fresh fruits, vegetables and bread were mainly discarded. Protein was rarely thrown out. She said this might suggest that waste is a function of palatability so further research will be done on food preparation and menu patterns in relation to consumption patterns. She said findings are cause for concern because food is not nutrition until it's eaten. She raised the question: Can we talk about food security without talking about nutrition and health outcomes?

Freedman’s plan to study the “palatability” of prepared foods really intrigued me because of the Bay Area’s diverse population. Her presentation showed fresh raw salads, oranges and breads thrown out at the soup kitchen. Based on my experience working with senior congregate meal sites, here are some of my thoughts on why some foods are not eaten:

1. Preparing foods that are culturally appropriate. For example, traditional Chinese and Indian peoples don’t eat raw salads (other than pickled form; Chinese Chicken Salad is American-Chinese food, not authentic Chinese) but they believe in cooking high-fiber vegetables with some healthy fat to improve digestibility and nutritional quality. According to George Mateljan’s The World’s Healthiest Foods, the following foods should be cooked to enhance nutritional quality: carrots, spinach, mushrooms, asparagus, broccoli, cabbage, green and red peppers, potatoes and tomatoes. In addition, cooking helps prevent foodborne illness by killing salmonella, E. coli, listeria and other pathogens.

2. Respecting dietary needs, especially food allergies and sensitivities (“One man’s food is another man’s poison”). FDA’s top eight foods accounting for 90% of allergic reactions (adverse immune system response to protein) are: milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat and soy. Common food intolerances can be due to enzyme deficiency (e.g., most people other than those of Northern European ancestry have lactase deficiency making it difficult to tolerate lactose in milk) or chemical sensitivities (e.g., salicylates found in orange and other citrus fruits, peppers, tomatoes, etc.).

3. Considering health issues such as tooth problems (e.g., raw apples may be too hard to bite), less sensitive taste buds (possible zinc deficiency), drug interactions (limit garlic if taking blood thinners, limit grapefruit if taking cholesterol-lowering drugs), and depression (which suppresses appetite for some people).

Congregate meals remind me of airplane food, served to the masses with little customization for individual preferences, so uneaten food is wasted. To minimize waste, perhaps menus should be planned to avoid offending ingredients and to follow traditional food preparation methods? At The Free Farm, several regular volunteers have gluten sensitivities so we always try to provide gluten-free alternatives like rice or quinoa.

In addition to the problem of food-insecure people not eating fresh fruits and vegetables at community kitchens, let's examine the extent that they’re eating food provided by food-based safety net programs. And do they have refrigeration for storage and cooking equipment to properly prepare foods?

We already produce more than enough food for everyone to eat, but the poor go hungry because they cannot afford to buy food (http://www.foodfirst.org/pubs/backgrdrs/1998/s98v5n3.html). In the Bay Area, we have a safety net of community kitchens, food banks, food stamps (CalFresh), etc. to provide food to the food-insecure. However, some recipients aren’t eating what’s provided. For example, some elderly recipients are selling donated food from food bank pantries and Commodity Supplemental Food Program (http://missionlocal.org/2011/11/seniors-bag-eats-from-food-banks-to-sell-later/), and some food stamp recipients are converting food stamps to cash, to purchase non-food items (sometimes to meet other needs such as rent or medicine)(http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/11/19/state/n131134S51.DTL). AB 828 proposes to lift the lifetime ban on convicted drug felons from receiving food stamps (http://ca.opengovernment.org/sessions/20112012/bills/ab-828) but some are opposed due to concerns that they might resort to food stamp trafficking to support their drug habit (http://cafoodjustice.org/2011/08/19/calfresh-drug-felon-ban/).

The Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program, which distributes coupons to low-income participants to purchase fresh food/seeds at farmers’ markets, has redemption rates averaging below 60%; some barriers to participation are inconvenient market hours, location and lack of transportation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farmers%27_Market_Nutrition_Program).

As experienced by Lozano’s La Mesa Verde clients and we at The Free Farm, possibly the best way to ensure that people receive and consume healthful foods, and have positive health outcomes, is for everyone to grow and harvest produce (great exercise) at their peak of ripeness for the best flavor and nutrition. . . so let’s grow plants, eat plants! Mission accomplished :-)
Ally Akon, editor of Cultivating Food Justice, and grad student Megan Carney facilitate Food Justice Research networking forum. Eric Holt-Gimenez, who focuses on participatory action research, proposed forming a Society for Researchers of Food Justice. U.S. Food Sovereignty Alliance (http://www.usfoodsovereigntyalliance.org/) Forum: While food security is about how best to get food to those who need it, food sovereignty aims to address the root cause of hunger--poverty--by breaking up corporate control in favor of the people's democratic control of the food system.
Food First (http://www.foodfirst.org/) Director Eric Holt-Gimenez wears his message: Join the Revolution Eat Local. Check out his backgrounder on "Food Security, Food Justice or Food Sovereignty?" at http://www.foodfirst.org/sites/www.foodfirst.org/files/pdf/Food_Movements_Winter_2010_bckgrndr.pdf. He also mentioned that Food First will present People's Food Conference next year--definitely look forward to attending! Access to Healthy Food for Underserved Populations panel: Sara Padilla of Community Food Security Coalition (http://www.foodsecurity.org/) discussed urban agriculture barriers (seasonality, labor intensive, land tenure and access, skills and cultural barriers) and benefits of urban gardens (builds "social capital" aka community contributions, recreation, revitalizes neighborhoods, nutrition and environmental education); Autumn Saxton-Ross of District of Columbia Department of Public Health mentioned rule dating from 1980s for Enhancing Food Production and Urban Gardening to use vacant lots to produce food, but its implementation hampered because of policy language ("devil's in the details"); Alison Hagey of Policy Link's Center for Health and Place mentioned some resources online at http://www.policylink.org/ relating to Healthy Food, Healthy Communities, Urban Agriculture and Community Gardens; and Laila Goldberg of The Food Trust (http://www.thefoodtrust.org/) discussed healthy food financing initiative.
Future Directions for Community Food Movement Closing Plenary
Raj Patel said food sovereignty means ending all forms of violence against women because one-third of households are headed by females and 60% of hungry population are female. He added that we need to get used to Slow Politics because good decisions take time. Mills College student Maya Salsedo is youth advisor to Rooted in Community (http://www.rootedincommunity.org/) which helped create a Youth Food Bill of Rights. Some RIC students perform at conference closing.

Diggin' & jammin' at The Free Farm

2011-12-17T23:11:00.000-08:00

Talented pianist and volunteer K sent these awesome photos of last Saturday’s volunteer day.

Digging trench for electricity to greenhouse

Trench digging close-up

K jammin' with volunteers from InSPIRE

Earthworm wiggles to music :-)

Friendly reminder: The Free Farm will be closed the next two Saturdays, December 24 and 31. Thanks for all your support, and see you in the new year!

We're made of Star Stuff

2011-12-12T15:31:00.000-08:00

I wanted to add some more news about the Free Farm. For one thing, I have been wanting to share this information for a while since Meg, a new volunteer, generously brought us a solar oven a while back and showed us how to use it. I have been converted to becoming a true sun worshipper. Now part of my routine when I come to the Free Farm is that I set up the solar oven and start some water heating up for tea or to wash our dishes in. We have been lucky that for all the last workdays we have been getting a lot of sun and even though the winter sun is low on the horizon we are still able to heat up the oven with that nuclear power plant in the sky. Now I feel connected not only with the earth and the soil, but with the sun. Actually I feel I have been feeling I am totally connected with everything. When we installed the rain barrels in November I felt connected to the carbon cycle and the water that is recycled daily on our planet.

The solar oven arriving at the Free Farm has connected me with the idea that we are all made of starstuff. I picked that up from a talk I attended at the Casa de Paz house a few weeks ago where I heard Rev. Michael Dowd talk about the marriage of science and religion. Check out the videos at Symphony of Science http://www.symphonyofscience.com/videos.html and especially the one We are all Connected.
" The beauty of a living thing is not the atoms that go into it
But the way those atoms are put together
The cosmos is also within us
We're made of star stuff"

warming up rice (last week we cooked some potatoes but they unfortunately were not ready for lunch)

I learned that the secret to getting the oven to work is to make sure the angle is correct

Also, our star stuff inside us, that great warmth and beauty radiates all the time outward in the great number of volunteers who come and visit us and help out at our workdays. Here is something I wrote at another blog http://freefarmstand.org/: "An example of this kind of love work happened at the Free Farm last Saturday and really made my day. Rahul and Asha, friends through Pancho, brought 9 people they have been hosting who are involved in the west coast InSPIRE retreat. They put on “5-week immersion trips in India where the participants interact and work with a wide range of organizations and leaders in social change-- starting with Manav Sadhna at Gandhi Ashram. “ They were some of the best volunteers we have attracted at the farm and not only did they work really hard, but they took a break after lunch and played music, that filled the air with joy and celebration. Also, my long term friend David came by and worked with some of them, bringing electricity to the greenhouse. It was so great to be connected with all these people.

Also, another smaller group of people showed up, I can’t remember the name of the group, who works with troubled teen girls. They were on trip learning about farms and our watershed and helped out for an hour or so." Here are some pictures from the work day:

Pancho reminds us to connect with the inner stuff inside us by practice of receptive silence. It is such an important part of daily lives and service work.

seed planting

harvesting broccoli leaves

building a new box for our container garden

getting seeds for planting hothouse

Joyce radiates her star stuff all the time

Inclusiveness

2011-12-10T18:37:00.000-08:00

I am no better and neither are you
We are the same whatever we do
You love me you hate me you know me and then
You can't figure out the bag I'm in
I am everyday people, yeah yeah
There is a long hair that doesn't like the short hair
For bein' such a rich one that will not help the poor one
And different strokes for different folks
And so on and so on and scooby dooby doo-bee
Oh sha sha-we got to live together
”Everyday People” lyrics by Sly Stone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcMw5UGFCGE

Superstar Stanley volunteered at The Free Farm last weekend – both on our usual Saturday workday plus 1st Sunday of the month with Congregation Emanu-El! Busy as she was, Stanley also took some time to take these photos for our viewing pleasure :-)

notes on the pepper plants

K with persimmons gleaned from Stanford

sunchokes and peppers at the stand beautiful day pic Sunday morning members of Congregation Emanu-El transplanting lettuce seedlings in the greenhouse

It really takes a community to keep The Free Farm running beyond our Saturday volunteer days that are usually documented in this blog. And it takes wonderful volunteers to contribute photos covering our Wednesday (thanks Tree) and 1st Sunday (thanks Stanley) volunteer days for this blog.

And thanks to dedicated volunteers from the neighborhood who care for The Free Farm. . . like John, who has a busy work schedule so he tells me that he volunteers mainly outside of our regularly scheduled volunteer days, with occasional appearances when he can on Saturdays. While at the Bay Area Senior Health Policy Forum last week, I barely recognized John who was wearing a tie at this event! In addition to being near-sighted, I’m just so used to seeing him dressed in comfortable casual wear at The Free Farm that he actually had to identify himself for me. Seeing him out of The Free Farm context, doesn’t John appear to be separated at birth from Moby (http://www.moby.com/photos/moby-press-shots)? Like a good paparazza, I made sure to capture this rare appearance :-). Universal design

At the Forum, I enjoyed discussions about health care coming from our homes, communities and environment—not doctors, prescription drugs or insurance. Our environment should make it easy for everyone to make healthy choices: access to whole foods to eat, safe spaces to increase physical activity (which also provides mental acuity), etc. Since fatal crashes increase with age, we should support public transportation, walking and biking (see http://8-80cities.org/) – by making these safe and attractive options. We need to promote universal design that benefits everyone – for example, curb cuts help people in wheelchairs and toddlers in strollers.

Since I work with the elderly, I’ve wanted to share the experience of The Free Farm with them in-person. I learned much about gardening from my grandfather, and I always thought gardening (and eating fresh produce) kept him alive through nine decades. His legacy has been passing on love of gardening/food which is so life-affirming and yummy.

Elders often acquire disabilities as they age, and their limited mobility makes it challenging to visit The Free Farm in-person. Saturday’s stand is set-up close to the flat, paved sidewalk so it’s accessible, but the downhill slope leading to our farm appears steep – and potentially slippery on rainy days. As people age, they have slower reaction time, muscle weakness, diminished vision, decreased ability to orient themselves, etc. that makes it more likely for elders to lose balance, fall and injure themselves. While one solution is interdependence (holding on to each other for dear life!), some people want to maintain their independence.

Gardening for everyone!

I’ve been exploring ways to make gardening more accessible to elders and persons with disabilities (http://www.universaldesignonline.com/images/Mar_PN_Article.pdf). If they can’t come to The Free Farm, I need to reach them where they’re at, but this hasn’t been easy because I’ve had to let go of being such a groovy-wild-in-nature snob. I always loved Bill Mollison’s “designer turns into the recliner” by just letting nature be (http://www.downsizer.net/Projects/Growing_food/DESIGNING_TO_RECLINE%3A_Introducing_Permaculture_gardening/). I was completely won over the idea of growing plants in wild conditions to produce the best medicine, while doing my internship with Peg Schafer of Chinese Medicinal Herb Farm (http://www.chinesemedicinalherbfarm.com/) in Petaluma. Now, instead of judging gardening in open spaces as superior, I’ve shifted my perspective to appreciate the diversity in gardening (even in contained forms) to accommodate the spectrum of human differences – though I still maintain organic is superior!
As part of my gerontology studies, I participated in service learning at 30th Street Senior Center (http://www.onlok.org/30thsite/index.asp), which has this terrific garden with raised beds on the 3rd floor and concrete pathways – setting for tai chi classes and very accessible to people using wheelchairs, walkers and canes.
Though The Free Farm has a container gardening area near our entrance, I find it somewhat cramped like a plant zoo. As an apartment dweller, I really should be more receptive to container plants. It’s embarrassing that I’ve actually managed to kill houseplants for unknown reasons, but I grew up believing that plants are happier outdoors communing wildly with other plants and bugs . . . or, maybe I’m just projecting my own preference not to be stuck indoors?

Finally I forced myself to register for a container gardening class, which opened me (food obsessed person that I am!) up to ornamental plants like drought-tolerant succulents. For my final project, mainly to amuse myself, I created this yin-yang piece held in a bowl atop a rice cooker (broken, but has sentimental value as my going-away-to-college gift from godparents). My PG-rated explanation: Echinopsis lageniformis (looks like phallic symbol) represents yang (mountain, sunny, south slope, daytime, hot, dry, hard, male) and Lithops represents yin (valley, shady, north slope, nighttime, cold, wet, soft, female). They seem to complement one another and they’re still alive after two months in my kitchen! Can this be the beginning of a new, more loving relationship with container gardening?

Make it real: everyday gardens for all abilities!

This past week, I received an email message from the Director of UC Botanical Garden (check out http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu/collections/sections.shtml#chinese_coll) who related how much he missed the garden because he was homebound for three weeks recovering from knee replacement surgery. Well, universal design can help bring the outdoors in . . . get inspired:

The Garden Incorporating Principles of Universal Design:
http://www.post-polio.org/edu/pphnews/PPH25-2sp09p6-8.pdf
Madison’s Inclusive Community Gardens: http://www.cacscw.org/downloads/CommGardensFinal_UnivDesign.pdf
Universal Design for the Garden: http://seniorscapes.me/?p=193
Universal Design Gardening from a Wheelchair:
http://www.scioto.com/universal-design-gardening-from-a-wheelchair/

And check out this insightful article, “Occupy Your Food Supply,” with cool artwork, at http://www.alternet.org/story/153335/.

Winter break at The Free Farm

The Free Farm will be getting some rest with Saturday closings on December 24 and 31. In our absence, consider volunteering to make gardening accessible at our senior centers that will be open (http://www.sfhsa.org/131.htm)!

Public Service Announcement:

Wed., Dec. 14, 2011, 5:45 pm Taking Root film & Resource Fair
SF Main Public Library, 100 Larkin St., SF
Screening 5:45-6:45 pm
Resource Fair 6:45-7:30 pm (The Free Farm will have a table!)
Free tree seedlings for those who RSVP on Eventbrite http://takingrootsf.eventbrite.com/
Please join The Free Farm and a host of local organizations involved in urban restoration, farming and community gardening at this free event!
Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai tells the story of Kenya’s Green Belt Movement and follows Maathai, the movement’s founder and the first environmentalist and African woman to win the Nobel Prize. Maathai discovered her life’s work by reconnecting with the rural women with whom she had grown up. They told her they were walking long distances for firewood, and that clean water was scarce. The soil was disappearing from their fields, and their children were suffering from malnutrition. “Well, why not plant trees?” she suggested. Maathai soon discovered that tree planting had a ripple effect of empowering change and the Greenbelt Movement found themselves working against deforestation, poverty, ignorance, embedded economic interests, and government corruption; they became a national political force that helped to bring down the country’s 24-year dictatorship. http://www.itvs.org/films/taking-root http://www.sfpl.org/index.php?pg=1005635501

Food Justice: All power to the people!

2011-12-03T21:58:00.000-08:00

Multiple choice (select best answer) The Black Panthers
A. sold copies of Mao’s Little Red Book to earn money to buy guns, which became part of their uniform while “policing the police”
B. led an armed march to the California State Assembly to protest the Mulford Bill (prohibiting the public carrying of loaded firearms, which was enacted in 1967)
C. were called “the greatest threat to the internal security of the country” by FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover
D. had a government in exile in Algeria
E. were among the original leaders of the U.S. food justice movement
F. all of the above

Correct answer: F. Not many people know the Black Panthers as food justice activists?

At last month’s Food Justice conference presented by Community Food Security Coalition (CFSC), the legacy of the Black Panther Party (BPP) was recognized during the Food Sovereignty Prize ceremony. (See video at http://cafoodjustice.org/2011/12/01/third-annual-food-sovereignty-prize-food-for-the-people-and-by-the-people/)

On Bank Transfer Day (November 5, 2011), a Saturday afternoon that went from overcast to rainy, I joined the pre-conference “Panthers to Pitchforks: Black Panthers Legacy Tour"(http://www.foodsovereigntytours.org/u-s-tours/cfsc2011/panthers/) led by former BPP Chief of Staff David Hilliard.

This school bus was our “roving classroom” for the 4-hour tour. (I’ll just focus on the food aspects for this posting.)

Like many idealistic college students in the mid-1960s, Huey Newton and Bobby Seale wanted to help the poor and hungry neglected by the government. They were impatient with the civil rights movement’s preaching of moderation and nonviolence, as dreams and promises for equality remained unfulfilled. They wanted radical change and did their homework before taking up arms, learning that California allowed one to carry an unconcealed, loaded rifle or shotgun in public at the time. (Newton studied at San Francisco Law School.) On October 15, 1966, Newton and Seale founded the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense in Oakland. Self-defense included the constitutional right to bear arms and defend against racially-motivated police brutality, as well as their Ten Point Program’s self-defense against hunger, homelessness, joblessness and poverty.

We made a stop into the site of the first BPP Office, which now houses a bakery (http://itsallgoodbakery.com/black-panther-party.php) owned by a former beneficiary of the Panther’s Free Breakfast Program.

BPP weekly newspaper collage inside bakery wall

“What We Want, What We Believe”

Beginning in 1969, and inspired by Mao’s advice to “serve the people,” the BPP offered at least 65 free community “survival pending revolution” programs including free food and hot breakfasts for children.

Our tour included a drive-by across the street from St. Augustine’s Church, original site of the Free Breakfast for Children Program, which expanded to feeding 100,000 schoolchildren daily across the country. According to Hilliard, the BPP started food programs as a way to show the community that they did more than “shoot it out with cops.”

Three years before the BPP’s Free Breakfast for Children Program began, President LBJ had signed into law the Child Nutrition Act of 1966, which initiated the federal government’s pilot School Breakfast Program to feed “nutritionally needy” children because “good food is essential to good learning.” (http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/breakfast/AboutBFast/ProgHistory.htm)

However, according to http://www.blackpanther.org/Legacy9.html (which claims to be “the most accurate and comprehensive source for all things BPP”): “the Free Breakfast for Children Program, which spread from being operated at one small Catholic church, in the Fillmore district of San Francisco, to every major city in America where there was a Party chapter. Thousands upon thousands of poor and hungry children were fed free breakfasts every day by the Party under this program. The magnitude and powerful impact of this program was such that the federal government was pressed and shamed into adopting a similar program for public schools across the country, while the FBI assailed the free breakfast program as nothing more than a propaganda tool used by the Party to carry out its "communist" agenda.”

St Augustine Episcopal Church (now St. Andrew’s Baptist Church) stop
BPP members included high school and college youth activists. They studied price supports and learned that farmers were dumping milk in order to guarantee a market price. As a result, the BPP began sending out members to dairy suppliers, supermarkets and convenience stores to ask for donations of perishable food that otherwise would be thrown away.

Hilliard’s home stop: Hilliard said he didn’t like carrying a gun, but his focus was on organizing programs to “serve the people, body and soul.” Yes, that’s Stuffed and Starved author Raj Patel (http://rajpatel.org/) seated next to Hilliard standing in the bus. Patel wrote, "What the Black Panthers Can Teach the U.S. Food Movement," a chapter in the book, Food Movements Unite!, at http://rajpatel.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/patel-2011-food-movements-unite.pdf

The BPP’s second office was the site for free vegetable distribution, which was delivered by Emmett Grogan and the Diggers from SF Farmers Market to low-income residents daily.

In addition to free distribution of food, the Panthers offered other survival programs that were also free: medical clinic to test for sickle-cell anemia; clothing distribution; education; and assistance for the elderly. Since I work with the elderly, I was interested in learning more about Seniors Against a Fearful Environment (SAFE). When Hilliard said the Panthers would escort seniors to banks to cash Social Security checks, I asked why they were helping seniors do business with commercial banks instead of credit unions? Hilliard explained that was just the situation with seniors in the 1970s.

The BPP dissolved in 1982.

BPP fist: "All power to the people!"

Parallels to Occupy movement

Like the BPP, the Occupy movement is a response to injustice. Hilliard reminded us that the BPP’s survival programs were put in place so “we could live long enough to bring about transformation.” He mentioned that he met with Occupy Oakland campers, discussing the need to deliver something on a real program level so that the community gets involved. He thought Occupy Oakland lacked concrete programs so the masses are just not as concerned; the working classes are not in Occupy because they don’t have time to “hang out” when they’re hustling to get their basic needs met. He added that while there’s no need to tell them how oppressed they are, there’s a need for solutions and an agenda for progress to get the attention of the media. Hilliard reminded us of Egypt’s 10-year struggle because “revolution is not an event, but a process that involves talking to politicians in control and being savvy in the long haul.”

Just prior to joining the tour, I admired the gardening activities at Occupy SF and Oakland (http://thefreefarm.blogspot.com/2011/11/occupy-gardens.html). I’ve always viewed organic farming as essential for survival: a solution and an agenda for all times, because the practice of farming satisfies so many needs in Maslow’s hierarchy: physiological (food), safety (health), love/belonging (friendship/community), esteem (respect) and self-actualization.

Did the Panthers progress to pitchforks for farming? I don’t see that organic farming was included in BPP’s survival programs listed at http://www.stanford.edu/group/blackpanthers/programs.shtml, but I found an article about an ex-Panther who mellowed out while farming in exile in Tanzania (http://www.nytimes.com/1997/11/23/world/a-black-panther-s-mellow-exile-farming-in-africa.html). I’m actually relieved that the Panthers weren’t inspired enough to copy Mao’s Down to the Countryside Movement, which forced urban youth to work in farming villages. Tanzania’s similar policy of villagization under Nyerere’s Arusha Declaration was a failure.

The Free Farm succeeds because we’re urban farming based on our own free will :-) We invite you to join us in our community survival without firearms.

Public Service Announcements:

Wed., Dec. 7, 2011, 1:30 - 3:30 pm SF Food Security Task Force
City Hall - 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, Rm. 278, SF 94102
http://www.sfdph.org/dph/files/mtgsGrps/#foodsecurity

Wed., Dec. 7, 2011, 12 noon-1:30 pm
Working in the Shadows: A Year of Doing the Jobs (Most) Americans Won’t Do
UC Berkeley Labor Center, 2521 Channing Way, Berkeley
RSVP to rgraham@berkeley.edu
What is it like doing the back-breaking work of immigrants? To find out, Gabriel Thompson spent a year working alongside Latino immigrants, who initially thought he was either crazy or an undercover immigration agent. Combining personal narrative with investigative reporting, Thompson shines a bright light on the underside of the American economy, exposing harsh working conditions, union busting, and lax government enforcement—while telling the stories of workers, undocumented immigrants and desperate US citizens alike, forced to live with chronic pain in the pursuit of $8 an hour.
http://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/events/index.shtml#thompson

Mon., Dec. 12, 2011, 9:30 am-3:30 pm Be a “Community Connector”
Eastern Park Apartments -711 Eddy St., SF 94109
Register at http://communityweaver.eventbrite.com/ or call 415-821-1003
This workshop is designed for individuals who want to create neighborhoods where individuals can age in community. It will be both practical and inspirational, exploring the connection between hospitality and social networks, the basic elements of strong social networks, how network analysis can assist making durable community connections and the role of Tyze and other on-line social media in promoting contribution and inclusion.
The Community Living Campaign (CLC) engages the power of relationships to eliminate barriers to aging in community by strengthening networks of support - for individuals and across neighborhoods.
CLC will soon be providing training and support on how to use social media at senior and community centers across SF as a part of the City's BTOP technology grant. Expanding the team of trained and supported Community Connectors is key to success. This workshop builds on the work of the PLAN Institute and Tyze Personal Networks of Canada, as well as the experience of CLC's Community Connectors in San Francisco.
http://sfcommunityliving.org/

Food Justice: Hunger Banquet

2011-11-27T16:00:00.000-08:00

“Hunger is about power. Its roots lie in inequalities in access to resources and opportunities.”
-- Oxfam Grow Campaign (http://www.oxfamamerica.org/campaigns/food-justice)
As part of this month’s Food Justice conference in Oakland, I attended Oxfam's Hunger Banquet: An Interfaith Call to Action to “experience the inequities of food resources in the Bay Area.” This event was hosted by East Bay Jewish Community Relations Council, First Unitarian Church of Oakland and California Food & Justice Coalition. When I checked in, I learned that I would assume the identity of a high-income person and was promptly escorted to be seated with other guests assuming high-income identities.

Before our meal, MC Anne Quaintance, Senior Director of Programs and Services at Meals on Wheels and member of the SF Food Security Task Force, delivered the following statistics/facts:
• ¼ of all children suffer hunger
• Malnutrition and obesity are leading causes of death
• Two-thirds of income is concentrated in the wealthiest 1% of our population
• Many live a paycheck or illness away from hunger

She continued, saying there should be a human right to food. Everyone has the same basic needs, only our circumstances are different. The Great Recession has pushed many to lower-income brackets.

In the Bay Area, we see the following income distribution and household characteristics:

27% are high-income: >$100K/yr for family of 3; many food choices; access to the best medical care and nutrition information; it’s a given that children attend school; comfortable home and security; access to everything needed

50% are middle-income: $55K-$100K/yr for family of 3; lost paycheck/illness may throw them into poverty; some savings

23% are low-income: <$55K for family of 3; everyday is a struggle to meet basic needs—work, food, home; frequently hungry; lack access to healthy foods, often forced to decide between healthy food and rent/utilities

Anne asked some guests to read their character tickets. I learned that I made partner in my law firm and earned a bonus! (I told Anne that I would be happy to donate my bonus to share the wealth!) Other guests were not so fortunate, with many facing challenges like accidents, natural disasters, sudden illness, death of a family breadwinner, unemployment, etc. so they joined the low-income guests . . . seated on the floor.

This reminder of how precarious life is . . . so we’re all vulnerable to poverty and homelessness. The 1% could easily join the 99%, so it’s really in our best interests that we all look after one another. I remember Finn telling us, as new volunteers last year, about the displacement of homeless persons who formerly occupied our site before we grew The Free Farm. Now the homeless are fenced out except for our volunteer days when we’re open to everyone. Saint Paulus Church, which has been graciously allowing us to use their space, receives offers to sell . . . so The Free Farm could end up like our homeless predecessors and Hayes Valley Farm (http://thefreefarm.blogspot.com/2011/03/si-se-puede-yes-it-can-be-done.html)?

Before losing our appetite, the food came out . . . First to be served were the high-income guests, seated around linen-covered round tables: grilled chicken, mashed potato, mixed green salad on each ceramic plate, with stainless steel fork and knife, sparkling cider served in plastic tumblers. Next, the middle-income guests, who were seated around plastic-covered rectangular tables, were called to stand in line to pick-up their lunch: spaghetti and tomato sauce on paper plates with plastic forks, and root beer/pomegranate soda in paper cups.Finally, the low-income guests, who were seated on the wooden floor, helped themselves to jars of peanut butter, loaves of white bread, and tap water in paper cups. No plates/utensils.

Since I was role-playing a high-income guest, I had the luxury of asking whether the chicken was free of hormones and antibiotics. As vegetarian, I actually offered my chicken to the middle-income and low-income guests. As a nutrition educator, I found the high-income meal lacking grains; the middle-income meal lacking veggies (remember, tomato is a fruit) and certain essential amino acids (grains are low in lysine and isoleucine, so vegetarians combine them with legumes or milk/eggs during the course of a day); the low-income meal also lacking in veggies (though the peanut butter sandwich was a good legume+grain protein combo).
This charming boy, with hearty appetite, seated at my table had the most balanced lunch as he ate all three meals!

In exchange for our free lunch, we were asked to reflect: What does the Hunger Banquet represent in the real world, and what can be done to change things for a more fair distribution of resources?

Since I was a tax advisor who actually worked on behalf of the 1% for several years, I’ve seen how tax policy motivates human behavior to redistribute resources: offer deductions and the 1% will give to charity and offer tax-qualified employee benefit plans! Alternatively, melancholy Scandinavians pay relatively high taxes to finance a cradle-to-grave welfare system so they seem to collectively enjoy a decent quality of life. Unfortunately, while taxes are as certain as death, I often get the MEGO (My Eyes Glaze Over) response whenever I mention taxes . . . oops, guess I better stop here or I’ll lose blog readers soon!

Anyway, our banquet ended with a Call to Action:
• Advocacy for SNAP funding: http://www.fightingpovertywithfaith.com/
• Volunteer at a local Food Bank: Suzan Bateson of Alameda County Community Food Bank http://www.accfb.org/ told us that her agency serves 1 out of 6 residents, and gave out orange rubber “Hope Not Hunger” bracelets
• Volunteer at a local Garden: Barbara Finnin of City Slicker Farms http://www.cityslickerfarms.org/ talked about turning vacant lots to backyard kitchen gardens

For San Francisco, I propose the following Call to Action sites (and I have volunteered with each):
• The Free Farm (of course!)
• Community Living Campaign OMI Food Network: http://sfcommunityliving.org/omi.html
• Meals on Wheels SF: http://www.mowsf.org/
• Project Open Hand: http://www.openhand.org/
• SF Food Bank: http://www.sffoodbank.org/

Hope to see you at The Free Farm, and we can grow veggies to feed the middle- and low-income classes at the next Hunger Banquet!

Public Service Announcements:

Wed., Nov. 30, 2011, 6-7:30 pm
Film & Discussion: "DIVE! Living off America's Waste"
Koret Auditorium, SF Main Library, 100 Larkin St., (at Grove), SF
Every year in America we throw away 96 billion pounds of food. That's 263 million pounds a day. 11 million pounds an hour. 3,000 pounds a second. Inspired by a curiosity about society's careless habit of sending food straight to landfills, the multi award-winning documentary DIVE! follows filmmaker Jeremy Seifert and friends as they dumpster dive in the back alleys and gated garbage supermarket receptacles. In the process, they salvage thousands of dollars worth of good, edible food - resulting in an eye-opening documentary that is equal parts entertainment, guerilla journalism and call to action. DIVE! has garnered critical praise while raising important questions about hunger and waste in society. This is Seifert's first film and has been warmly received by audiences across the country, winning nineteen festivals thus far, including the Boulder International, Sedona International, DC Independent, and the Green Film Festival in Seoul. Discussion following the film. This is a Stegner Environmental Center, San Francisco Green Film Festival and Green Stacks Program.
http://www.sfpl.org/index.php?pg=1007345701

Wed., Nov. 30, 2011, 6:15-8:45 pm
How to Turn the Food Movement into a Force for Social Transformation
Hotel Shattuck Plaza, 2086 Allston Way, Berkeley
Each Rooted and Rising event begins with an intergenerational dialogue on a particular topic that will transpire between a youth leader or activist and a seasoned activist or professional. After the dialogue, we facilitate a Solutions Salon, which encourages participants to utilize each other as resources. Each will be encouraged to share with the group what they are currently working on and/or what challenges they face on a personal or professional level that pertains to the topic at hand, with opportunity to give and receive feedback and resources. In Convergence in Diversity: How to Turn the Food Movement into a Force for Social Transformation, we bring prominent figures and youth visionaries from different sectors of the food movement together to discuss ways that we can fortify one another with ideas, resources and strategies. Be sure to join us at this very special Rooted and Rising. Speakers Include: Eric Holt-Giménez, Executive Director of Food First; Hai Vo, Brower Youth Award Winner 2009; Dana Harvey, Executive Director of Mandela Marketplace; Bettina Ring, Executive Director of Bay Area Open Space Council; Tania Pulido, Brower Youth Award Winner 2011.
http://convergenceindiversity.eventbrite.com/

Thurs., Dec. 1, 2011, 7-9 pm
City Chicks, Book Event with Author Patricia Foreman
Ecology Center Store, 2530 San Pablo Ave., Berkeley.
Meet author Patricia Foreman for a discussion on chickens and how they can help city-dwellers live more sustainably. Pat's new book, "City Chicks", describes in detail how to develop your own "Chicken Have More Plan" for increased self-sufficiency. Learn how to create hyper-fertile soils to produce nutritious food from your garden. Instead of using petroleum-based products, chickens will help produce organic fertilizer and compost. They can turn yard waste into garden soil and can be employed to control weeds and pests without toxic chemicals. Chickens also perform community and civic service by diverting yard and food biomass waste from municipal trash collection.
http://ecologycenter.org/

Sun., Dec. 4, 2011, 5:30-9 pm
Label GMOs for 2012 CA Ballot Campaign Volunteer Welcome

Archstone Apartments, "Library" Room, 3rd St & Folsom St, SF
5:30 pm Non-GMO potluck; 7 pm Educational program covering basic facts and talking points around GMOs, tips for gathering signatures.
RSVP: SF Regional Co-Coordinator Liz Kroboth at LabelGMOsSF@gmail.com
This grassroots movement of concerned consumers, farmers, businesses, food safety experts all around California are working to put an initiative on the CA 2012 ballot that would require labeling of genetically modified foods (GMOs). Learn more at http://www.labelgmos.org/
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=192057214212062

Tues., Dec. 6, 2011, 6-7:30 pm
Cultivating Food Justice: Race, Class and Sustainability
UC Berkeley, Berkeley 94720
Reception: 5:00-6:00 pm, 2nd Floor Lobby, Wurster
Lecture: 6:00-7:30 pm, Wurster Hall 112
Discussion featuring book editors Alison Hope Alkon and Julian Agyeman and chapter authors Eric Holt-Giminez, Julie Guthman, Laura-Anne Minkoff-Zern, A. Breeze Harper and Sandy Brown.
http://cultivatingfoodjustice.com/wordpress/?page_id=34

Autumn: we eat what we have sown

2011-11-27T15:40:00.001-08:00

Back in the ol’ days when most people farmed, the season marking the transition from summer to winter was called harvest—the end of the growing season. As people moved away from farms into cities, the words autumn and fall began to replace harvest, which now refers to gathering mature crops from fields and enjoying the fruits of our labor. Any surplus produce can be stored by dehydrating, fermenting (probiotic power!) or freezing.
Friend Ruby gave me a bag of “irregular” (not sold in markets) kiwifruits (aka Chinese gooseberry, or National Fruit of People’s Republic of China) for dehydrating, which intensifies flavor

Because of our Indian summer (late September to early November), the air just didn’t feel like autumn/fall until after Daylight Savings Time ended. Now with leaves falling and a slight chill in the air, I really should discuss autumn/fall seasonal eating before winter arrives on December 22. The Free Farm was closed yesterday so I could do some catching up and share cooking photos :-)!

According to Chinese Medicine’s Five Element system, the autumn/fall season is associated with metal (element), white (color), grief (emotion), spicy/pungent (taste), lungs/large intestine (body organs), and dryness (climate).

Autumn is about balance (slowing down as we transition from busy summer and getting more rest as our days get shorter) and elimination (knowing what to let in, what to let go; give and take). Spicy/pungent foods act to disperse and move qi (energy): easing digestion, strengthening the lungs (clearing cough/phlegm), distributing energy (releasing cold) and stimulating circulation to treat qi or blood stagnation. But moderation is in order because too much spicy foods can dry out lungs and result in imbalance.

As autumn prepares us for the season of rest, our nights become longer than days and we begin our cycle of introspection. Lungs and large intestine are associated with the emotions of grief and melancholy, which are not usually expressed in wood (anger)/fire (joy-excitement) dominant American culture. However, holistic Chinese medicine (unlike the Cartesian mind-body split) views the suppression of emotions as damaging so one may manifest ill physical symptoms when out of balance with nature.

Lung dis-ease includes allergies, asthma, bronchitis, chronic cough, colds, runny nose, sinus congestion, suppressed immune system, etc. Since the grief emotion, like Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), surfaces during autumn, it should be acknowledged and expressed in constructive ways, such as cathartic bawling out (watch tear-jerker “Though nothing can turn back the hour of splendor in the grass,. . . we will grieve not, rather find strength in what remains behind” farm scene at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOW8ZDgTJdo), confiding in family and friends, journaling (got blog?), meditating, praying, singing out loud:

Apples peaches pumpkin pie
Who's afraid to holler I?
That's a game we used to play.
Hide and seek was its name.
Oh ready or not, here I come,
Gee that used to be such fun.
I always used to find a hiding place,
Times have changed.
Well I'm one step behind you, but still I can't find you.
Apple peaches pumpkin pie,
You were young and so was I.
Now that we've grown up it seems
You just keep ignoring me. . .
“Apples, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie” lyrics by M. Irby
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaENxilZe60&feature

People who don’t express, or hold on to, grief tend to suffer from lung imbalances that weaken their energy (shallow breathing, pale skin). Rather than be burdened by grief, those who have strong lungs (deep breathing by inhaling through nose, exhaling through mouth) can release the past and maintain a balanced emotional perspective. Clear thinking is associated with healthy elimination (breathing, bowel movements).

Our lungs are the only organ in direct contact with the outside so we need to take special care. Cold can injure lungs; to stay warm and hydrated in chilly climate: eat warm soups and cooked foods (including steamed fruits).

Breakfast: ginkgo nut + 5-bean/yam/taro jook (rice porridge), steamed rice noodle (soy/hoisin/sesame/chili sauces), kale/carrot salad (Prepared by Mary Fok)
Clear up lung problems by eliminating/reducing phlegm-inducing foods like dairy, eggs, high-fat meats. Bland rice has the greatest healing effect on the large intestine because its fiber speeds up intestinal transit time, while cleansing/eliminating the colon of accumulated fat and stored up waste.

Rice dishes: apple/carrot/parsley salad, steamed zucchini, bok choy/enoki mushroom (moist stir-fry), bean sprouts/red pepper/garlic chive (dry stir-fry) (Prepared by Mary Fok)

Metal seasonal whole foods: grains (rice); vegetables (broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, celery, mustard greens, turnip greens, onion, watercress); roots (carrot, daikon, lotus root, ginger, sweet potato, taro, turnip); beans (navy, soybeans, great northern, tofu, tempeh); fruit (apple, butternut squash, chestnuts, grapes, pears, peaches, loquat, pumpkin, tangerine); herbs (basil, bay leaf, black pepper, cardamom, cinnamon, coriander, dill, fennel, garlic, horseradish, Job’s tears, licorice, nutmeg, thyme); and mushrooms!

Herbal soup: goujizi (wolfberry), dangshen (codonopsis), qianzhi (foxnut), lianzi (lotus seed), yiyi ren (Job’s tear barley), dazao (Chinese date); vegetable stock made with ginger, chestnuts, dates, mushrooms (Prepared by Mary Fok)

Chinese herbs to strengthen lungs: apricot seeds (spicy-sweet tian xingren moistens dry cough; spicy bitter ku xingren stops cough by circulating qi), astragalus, sword flower, white wood ear

Soothing steamed pear stuffed with honey + ground up sweet apricot seeds/sinkiang fritillary bulb/lily bulb/dried lotus root (Prepared by Nam Singh)
Lifestyle tips to keep lungs strong, reduce stress/grief, increase stamina and support rest/relaxation:
• Prioritize and set boundaries (just say, no thanks!) so you have time for self-care (including slow, deep breathing for energy, peace and focus) -- then later you’ll have more energy to care for others
• Let the sunshine in to stimulate production of vitamin D, replenish adrenal glands, increase serotonin levels
• Exercise gently to move qi through system – as in tai chi or gardening at The Free Farm!
• Be mindful: when in grief (as in loss), think gratitude (as in value what we have) and acceptance (as in Kubler-Ross’ grief cycle resolution)

And when the going gets rough, the tough eat well and get rest!

Taoism (“way of nature”), the basis of Chinese medicine, is about balanced living within nature—through meditation, breathing, exercise and diet. When the mythical Yellow Emperor asked how one can achieve a long and healthy life, his trusted health advisor Chi Po responded: “Observe your environment, don’t get chilled or hot, balance the emotions, remain calm, and know yourself.”

Seasons are cyclical and thus continue . . .
Winter (water, black, fear, salty, kidney/urinary bladder, cold): http://thefreefarm.blogspot.com/2011/01/healthy-eating-for-winter.html
Spring (wood, green, anger, sour, liver/gall bladder, wind): http://thefreefarm.blogspot.com/2011/05/spring-cleaning-time.html
Summer (fire, red, joy, bitter, heart/small intestine, heat): http://thefreefarm.blogspot.com/2011/07/summer-breeze.html

In addition to the four seasons, Chinese Medicine recognizes Late Summer as a transitional season. Late summer, which is equivalent to our Indian summer, is associated with earth (element), yellow (color), worry (emotion), sweet (taste), spleen/stomach (body organs) and humidity (climate). Learn more from Briahn Kelly-Brennan’s Everyday Healing Foods (which includes Mary Fok’s cooking demos and recipes) at http://www.ccsf.edu/Resources/Faculty/bkelly/.

Public Service Announcement:

November is Lung Cancer & COPD Month: Spare the Air!
Lung cancer is the leading cancer killer in both men and women in the United States. In fact, more people die from lung cancer than colon, breast and prostate cancer combined. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) – which includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis – is the 3rd leading cause of death in the U.S. Learn more at http://www.lungusa.org/about-us/our-impact/top-stories/lung-cancer-and-copd-2.html

Ready for rainwater harvesting!

2011-11-19T23:11:00.000-08:00

Here’s a special shout out to our volunteers who are mostly unseen on this blog, which usually focuses on our Saturday volunteer days. Led by Kat of the SF Green Schoolyard Alliance’s Tap the Sky program (http://sfgreenschools.org/) and with rain barrels donated by SF Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC), they began installation of our rainwater catchment system on Wednesday. Thanks to Tree for sending these action-packed photos of this memorable workshop! Rainwater system components: barrels, spigots to access water, overflow pipe, screen lid to attach to downspout, screens on all vents Kat watches Byron measure out trough Lining up rain barrels on stable, flat area snuggled up to toolshed wall Kat & Tree figure out how to set-up catchment systems using rooftops of toolshed & office
Rick & Byron install gutter to capture rainwater runoff from office roof

Putting parts together First flush diverter keeps dirty water out--carrying away most of the dust, pollen & other contaminants that settle on rooftops & collect in gutters--to ensure that we harvest only the cleanest rainwater for our edibles! Byron admires fitRain barrel size considerations:
1 inch of rain on 1000 sq ft roof collects 600 gallons of rainwater
SF averages 21 inches of rain per year (in rainy months, then drought-like from May to October)
Do the math: (1000 x .6) x 21 = 12,600 gallons/year can be collected on 1000 sq ft roof!
Installing piping to connect spigots Maintenance
Clean gutters regularly
Check screens to make sure that they are securely in place
Flush system with vinegar/water solution once a year, before rainy season begins
Check connection points
Make sure that users are familiar with system

“It was a dark and stormy night”

Today I arrived at The Free Farm much later after running errands like getting laundry done during the break between rains. Since I missed Wednesday’s workshop, I was happy to see Kat, Tree and volunteers continuing installation of the catchment system for our office. Here are some photos taken today with overcast skies above.

Stanley & Sophie with new volunteers
John explains daisy-chained catchment system Kat & Rick set-up catchment system for office roof Tree smiles when I compliment his SF Beekeepers Association cap :-)Stanley donated this handy, foldable table to The Free Farm

In the beginning . . .

Rainwater harvesting was used throughout ancient times, but this tradition shifted when technologies to access, pump and transport secondary water sources (groundwater and surface water) were introduced 150 years ago. Instead of valuing rainwater collection, rain came to be viewed as a source of flooding that needed to be drained away through gutters and downspouts. Water expert Peter Gleick raised the specter of “peak water” at http://www.circleofblue.org/waternews/2011/world/is-the-u-s-reaching-peak-water/

After experiencing the scarcity of water during years of drought, it has become necessary to conserve water by returning to our traditions. California spends 20% of its energy budget on transporting water so capturing rainwater where it falls saves money. In particular, SFPUC (http://sfwater.org/index.aspx?page=178) has done extensive public outreach, including rain barrel give-aways, with the goal of capturing storm water before it reaches the sewer system.

Rainwater is best for growing plants

Precious rainwater is our primary source of fresh water, one of the purest sources of water (untreated with chlorine and fluoride). Rain is a natural fertilizer, containing sulfur (helps form plant amino acids), beneficial microorganisms and mineral nutrients collected from dust in air (for plant growth) and nitrogen (helps green plants). Rain’s low salt content is a superior water source for plants because soils with high salt concentrations inhibit plant growth by reducing the ability to take up water and conduct photosynthesis. Last but not least, rainwater comes to us free!

Reminder: The Free Farm will be closed next Saturday, November 26. We look forward to having you join us next month!

Public Service Announcements:

Now: Falls prevention and Chronic Disease Self-Management Programs (CDSMP)
Each year, 1 in 3 Americans aged 65+ falls, costing over $28 billion and causing about 20,000 deaths. Many of these falls can be prevented.
Chronic diseases account for 75% of our nation's health care costs, yet only 1% of health care dollars are spent on public efforts to improve health.
By providing seniors with tools to improve self-care, the CDSMP is a low-cost, evidence-based piece of the solution in the fight against rising health costs. CDSMP is a proven program that helps older adults with chronic conditions stay healthy and independent. Funding cuts will make it significantly harder for people in need to access these cost-effective and valuable healthy aging programs.
The Senate Appropriations Committee recommended that falls prevention and CDSMP each receive $10 million next year. The House did not include this recommendation. We are very concerned that the House-Senate compromise, which is being negotiated now, may not include this important funding for vulnerable seniors.
There is a great deal of pressure to reduce federal funding for programs like these, and unless key members of Congress hear from their constituents that these programs are important, the programs are in great jeopardy of being de-funded.
To take action on this issue, click on the link below:
http://waystohelp.ncoa.org/site/Advocacy?s_oo=EA0ay8mGW4EXfxsCbAWOdw&id=227
For more information about FREE CDSMP workshops in SF, see http://healthier-living-sf.eventbrite.com/

Fri., Nov. 25, 2011 Buy Nothing Day!
Canadian Adbusters, which brought Americans the Occupy Wall Street campaign (http://www.adbusters.org/blogs/adbusters-blog/occupywallstreet.html), reminds us to Buy Nothing on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. http://www.adbusters.org/campaigns/bnd Instead, plant a garden! Breathe deeply and meditate: “the fruitage of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, mildness, self-control . . . for whatever a man is sowing, this he will also reap . . . let us work what is good toward all” (Galatians 5:22; 6:7, 10)

Getup, STOP, Bee-ing & Nothingness

2011-11-12T23:52:00.000-08:00

Welcome interns from Getup class of 2011! Stanley recruited Andrew & Kim from 2011 Getup class

Each fall, Garden For the Environment’s Gardening and Composting Educator Training Program (Getup) students attend a project planning session to hear from representatives of garden-based projects throughout the City. Last year, Stanley, Sophie and I were among the Getup students who heard about The Free Farm from Getup grad Finn and decided to dedicate our 40 hours of community service with The Free Farm. . . got hooked and still here today!

At this year’s project planning night, Stanley represented The Free Farm and recruited four interns. We were delighted to have Andrew and Kim join us today. After they complete Getup classes next month, they will rejoin us in January to commence their community outreach hours. (Getup grads can be found building the local food movement. Our very own Lauren is profiled at http://gardenfortheenvironment.org/pages/graduates-at-work.html)

STOP! In the name of love!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltIhcbwYUHc

Margaret with Stanford STOP members Vannida, Lily & Nina, plus April from Santa Clara
Founded by Stanford students in 2006, Students Taking On Poverty (STOP) (http://www.stanford.edu/group/stop/STOP/Welcome.html) is a community service and campus awareness group active in the fight against poverty by focusing on hunger and homelessness. Today, they joined us in growing food to combat hunger.

Bee-ing: “Honey, honey, how you thrill me”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vg7ZsOFSV7c
Beekeeper Pam, who lives in neighborhood, will begin extracting small amounts of honey, but no decision on how to distribute this limited resource to non-vegans and those older than 1 year old.

Nothingness: Yoga + Receptive Silence
Pancho and Tree would like to make yoga + receptive silence more consistent practices at The Free Farm. Apparently, these practices have been going on for sometime though I wasn’t aware until Pancho told me and I promptly reported this in our August 6 blog posting. Jet even created signs at our entrance to publicize these pre-workday activities. If anyone is interested in leading yoga + receptive silence at The Free Farm, please contact Pancho or Tree, or thefreefarm.sf@gmail.com

T'is the season for rainwater catchment
Tree reports that we’re getting 11 rain barrels for The Free Farm! You’re welcome to join us for an installation workshop at The Free Farm during our Wednesday workday, November 16. The Free Farm break on Nov. 26
The Free Farm will be closed on Saturday, November 26. However, I plan to update this blog with postings from my participation at this past week’s Food Justice conference so stay tuned!

Greens galore

Pia cooks quince with apples, lemon peel, cinnamon & cloves

Stanley chats with neighborhood regulars

Pia discusses dental issues with dental student Andrew

Majestic magenta

Food First!
When I mentioned that I was leaving The Free Farm early to head over to the Green Festival to check out Frances Moore Lappe, volunteers asked Who?! Frances Moore Lappe’s Diet for a Small Planet (published 40 years ago!) persuaded me to adopt a plant-based diet, which uses fewer resources than animal production so more people can be fed, and is better for the environment and our health. She also founded Food First (http://www.foodfirst.org/) to “eliminate the injustices that cause hunger.”

Frances Moore Lappe talks about her latest book, EcoMind: Changing the Way We Think to Create the World We Want (http://www.smallplanet.org/)

Public Service Announcement:

Sun., Nov. 13, 2011, 5:30-7:30 pm Famine Film & Oxfam Hunger Banquet
David Brower Center, 2150 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA 94704
RSVP: sanfrancisco@oxfamactioncorps.org
Screening of Africa's Last Famine, a co-production of Oxfam America and LinkTV:
Sadly, World Food Day 2011 was marked by one of the worst famines in recent history. But, with the right planning and a few new ideas, it could be the last. This 22 minute film features recent stories from the Horn of Africa and beyond, and including solutions being implemented around the world to prove that hunger isn't inevitable.
Oxfam America Hunger Banquet:
Guests randomly draw tickets when they arrive that assign them to different income levels, based on the latest statistics about the number of people living in poverty. While not all guests leave with full stomachs, many will gain a new perspective on the root causes of hunger and poverty-and will feel motivated to do something to help.
Why?
Everyone on earth has the same basic needs; it is only our circumstances- where we live and the culture into which we are born-that differ. Some are born into relative prosperity and security, while millions, through no choice of their own, are born into poverty.
We are all tied to a global food system that is broken. Yet there is a strong and growing movement of individuals and organizations working to repair and improve the system. In a world facing the challenges of the current famine in East Africa, constrained land and water, and an erratic climate, one of the best ways to combat global food insecurity is to invest in farmers and remove the barriers that limit their productivity. Please join us to learn more about the issues, the solutions, and how you can help!
http://sfbay-oxfamactioncorps.blogspot.com/2011/10/free-film-screening-and-oxfam-hunger.html

Occupy gardens

2011-11-06T00:38:00.000-07:00

We gain an hour this weekend so here’s another posting :-)

Stanley sent this photo of friends at The Free Farm on their way to Occupy SF.

While on my way to the Food Justice conference in Oakland, I took these photos of inspiring artwork and gardening activities (sort of like mini versions of The Free Farm!) at Occupy SF and Occupy Oakland.

Time to fall back :-)

2011-11-05T23:03:00.000-07:00

Kris sent her awesome album of photos from today's volunteer day for our viewing pleasure :-)

Alen & Jordan with chard

Sitting pretty

Page constructing

Broccoli

Clover in labyrinth

Unofficial mascot
Kris found 4-leaf clover :-)

Lettuce mix

Clover patch where 4-leafer found

Happy lettuce harvesters

Hannah and squash family

Zinnias

Flower power

Bok choy & lavender

Baby snail in bok choy

I took a few photos of this afternoon's activities following lunch:
Gorgeous greenhouse

Sophie & Stanley brought today's delicious lunch

Kris with mint bouquet

Myles & K enjoy weeds

Stanley & Sophie hand out produce to visitors

Purple & green

Enjoy the extra hour after we fall back Sunday at 2 am :-)

Food Justice

2011-10-30T22:51:00.000-07:00

Public Service Announcements:

Wed., Nov. 2, 2011, 1:30–3:30 pm, SF Food Security Task Force
City Hall - 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, Rm. 278, SF
http://www.sfdph.org/dph/files/mtgsGrps/#foodsecurity

Fri., Nov. 4 – Tues., Nov. 8, 2011 Food Justice Community Events in Oakland
http://cafoodjustice.org/community-events/

Sat., Nov. 5, 2011, 6:30-9 pm Food Movements Unite!
Pro Arts Gallery, 150 Frank Ogawa Plaza, Oakland 94612
Food First celebrates 35 years of fighting the injustices that cause hunger with the release of a groundbreaking new book, Food Movements Unite! Strategies to Transform Our Food Systems. Joining us will be many of the book’s authors including Food First fellows Raj Patel and Brahm Ahmadi, as well as Slow Food’s Josh Viertel, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers’ Lucas Benitez, Crossroad Center’s Ken Meter and one of Food First’s newest board members, Rosalinda Guillén of Community to Community. They will share their visions of what we can do to unite our diverse food movements into a force powerful enough to transform our food system.
If just seeing this stellar cast of world changers isn’t enough to pique your interest in participating, please visit http://www.foodmovementsunite.org/ for a sampling of some of the ideas presented in this exciting new Food First book.
RSVP to: anniversary@foodfirst.org or call 510-654-4400 ext 234.
https://www.foodfirst.org/en/35th+Anniversary

The Free Farm keeps flourishing

2011-10-24T00:30:00.001-07:00

In case you missed last Saturday’s volunteer day (like I did to attend a Disability Awareness Month workshop), Hannah sent this wonderful write-up and photos so we can vicariously experience or re-live the sunny day outdoors!

Even though the days are getting shorter, all the sunshine and warmth lets the Free Farm to keep flourishing, especially, this week, the lettuce. Using two washing stations and having dedicated volunteers made getting all the bins of lettuce ready to be given away possible.

Meanwhile, the bean vines came down, and the beds are ready for something new. According to Tree, the goal is to put in something from a different plant family, so the soil gets different nutrients. Carrots, maybe? Here's Nicki holding the last of the purple beans. We had 26 volunteers this week, including 6 Stanford students. Little City Garden gave us the lettuce for a gorgeous salad that helped feed everyone and its always wonderful to be able to share in the bounty from other urban gardens.

Happily, our greet, Joyce, was back to greet everyone, sporting a fabulous hat, and Tom picked a beautiful kale bouquet.

Tree gave a workshop on building potato towers, which let you grow potatoes in large containers, perfect for urban gardening. One more note: St. Paulus Church, which donates the land and water for the Free Farm, has had a generous offer from a developer. The church is supportive of the Free Farm's work and also realizes that selling the lot will give them proceeds they can use for other programs. The church is still considering what the best decision is. For now, let's send a message out to the universe for some guidance about the future of the free farm. Updates to follow.

For those of you interested in more info about the Free Farm, here's a link to a recent article, written by Valerie, our tireless schedule coordinator: http://sfcare.blogspot.com/2011/10/ode-to-anarchists-hut.html

From Hannah

Public Service Announcements:

Mon., Oct. 24, 2011 Food Day events in SF
http://fooddaysf.wordpress.com/calendar-for-sf/

Sat., Oct. 29 – Sun., Nov. 6, 2011 Bay Area Science Festival
http://www.bayareascience.org/

iBlog for The Free Farm

2011-10-16T23:27:00.001-07:00

Photo taken at Occupy SF on Friday

Now almost a month since Occupy Wall Street and Occupy SF began, these movements are based on consensus and remain leaderless, which may be frustrating to some accustomed to conventional accountability (like Harry “The Buck Stops Here” Truman).

As an all-volunteer group like the Occupy groups, The Free Farm gets things done by consensus, which involves anyone who shows up during our volunteer days and meetings. We also get things done regardless of what nature hands to us – like the unexpected downpour of rain on our uncovered compost pile that turned anaerobic last week. Some plant leaves turned yellow indicating over-watering, but we’re still harvesting lots of Hecka Local produce!

Sometimes The Free Farm gets neglected like my recent 3-week absence from blogging. But hey, I made up for it with 3 separate postings last weekend, plus a bonus this past Thursday! Though I provide advance notice and request for volunteer bloggers during planned absences, it can be hit-or-miss if a substitute comes through. I even prepared the following template:

“During today’s workday, ___ volunteers showed up to plant/weed/water/compost. We harvested __ pounds of produce, which included _________. The weather was ________ and we enjoyed lunch (outdoors/indoors). At our farm stand, we gave away __ pounds of produce to __ visitors.”

At yesterday's volunteer day, The Free Farm hosted 20 Stanford students from Margaret’s Food & Community service learning class. Our summer intern Brittany returned with her classmates and Pancho led guided tour.Planting garlicHarvesting beans

Tom harvests basil in greenhouse

Stanford group walks labyrinth

Kris deadheading spent sunflowers

Tomato harvest

Preparing to plant artichokes

Tree points out plants that need pruning

Quick learner shows pruning technique

Jerusalem artichoke harvest

Claire holds up elephant garlic to be planted

When experienced gardener and first-time visitor Sam arrived, we invited him to join tour with Stanford group but he chose to get dirty immediately. Here, he harvests collard greens.

Harvesting kale outside hothouse

Glorious green

As we go about our farming activities, it’s rather un-eventful so I was surprised to hear a few blog readers missed the weekly postings. While I miss being present in The Free Farm (great place to chill out because it’s un-eventful), I don’t miss blogging at all but enjoy the freedom of being off-the-grid. According to my acupuncturist, the difference is being in nature (The Free Farm) supports the flow of my qi (energy), while artificial EMF (electromagnetic fields from electronics) pollution drains qi.

Logging on to blogger to upload photos with my slow internet connection is tedious because just looking at a computer screen tires out my eyes so I usually have to blast some rock music to keep me awake (neighbor, forgive my trespass) – hence, the occasional song lyrics pop up in my postings. Today I liked listening to this one-hit wonder:

Life is a rock but the radio rolled me
Gotta turn it up louder, so my DJ told me (whoa whoa whoa whoa)
Life is a rock but the radio rolled me
At the end of my rainbow lies a golden oldie
“Life is a Rock (But the Radio Rolled Me)” lyrics by Norman Dolph
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16kh-AP4OCU

SF Newbies Sam & Bekah

Alena signals lunchtime

Margaret brought chili & salad for lunch

Hecka Local Produce

Margaret & Tree set-up produce stand

Sander rinses veggies & Mike plants veggies

My relatives and friends who really know me find it amusing that I’m coordinating this blog (which was assigned to me for my Getup service). After all, I’m low-maintenance, but technology demands maintenance so I limit online time and I don’t even own a TV, cell phone, Kindle, car, etc. I won an iPod, but have never used it. I crave privacy, so I don’t belong to any social networking sites.

But recently, to raise more awareness of GMO’s threat to organic food production, I felt the urge to blog about recent events regarding the risks of GMOs and need for GMO labeling so consumers can make informed choices – an important public health issue that has been largely ignored by mainstream media.

Adding to newest compost pile

Shoveling horse manure

K says "weeding is therapeutic"

Tree with latest farm tool

Green tomatoes

Busy farm stand

Anyway, life happens and we all have other responsibilities, obligations and distractions beyond The Free Farm. But it would be awesome to see more returning volunteers become regulars and take on coordinator roles. Since we are based on a sharing economy, we don’t “pass the buck” but volunteers help make things happen so let’s Occupy the Food System with our Hecka Local produce!

Happy faces of volunteers along with our uncommonly beautiful plants always brighten this blog . . . so unplug and come grow with us soon! We appreciate all your support!

Wrenn samples pineapple guava

Happy faces always welcome!

Public Service Announcements:

Mon., Oct 17, 2011, 4-6 pm Biological Science Literacy
Greenhouse Café, 1722 Taraval St., SF
Biological Science: Application to Ecosystems, Biological Adaptation, and Genetically Modified (GM) Crops. Offered through Free University of SF, 5-week class taught by Barbara-Ann Lewis. Email b-lewis@northwestern.edu. http://freeuniversitysf.org/

Tues., Oct. 18, 2011, 6:30 pm Seeding the Future
@ internet archive, 300 Funston St, SF
seeding the future: a town hall meeting for small scale agriculture. featuring a fall harvest potluck, screening of the greenhorns, and roundtable discussion.
debate and collaborate on 2012 farm bill action strategies, decentralized food production, and new strategies for urban farming. music by ed masuga and friends. panelists: Severine Von Tscharner Fleming, Director, The Greenhorns; Rick Prelinger, Founder, Prelinger Archives; Ned Conwell, Farmer, Pescadero, CA; Ed Garrett, Found of Fresh Spin Farms, Davis, CA
http://www.thegreenhorns.net/events.html

Thurs., Oct. 20, 2011, 7:30 pm Keeping Nature in the City
Randall Museum, 199 Museum Way, SF
Nature in the City’s founder Peter Brastow shares his vision of how we can more meaningfully interact with the wild in our city: restoring natural areas in our neighborhoods and backyards and through projects like the Twin Peaks Bioregional Park and the Green Hairstreak Corridor. Peter Brastow founded Nature in the City in 2005 with the idea of connecting urban people to where we live. Doing this would help the growing movement to conserve San Francisco’s natural areas and biodiversity, helping to carry ecological restoration and stewardship further. Peter had previously served as the Presidio’s National Park Service Ecological Restoration Specialist.
http://sfnhs.wordpress.com/2011/10/01/keeping-nature-in-the-city/

Sun., Oct. 23, 2011, 2-5 pm Community Open House of Aldea Center on Mount Sutro
155 Johnstone at Medical Center Way, SF
Learn more about ongoing open space programs in the UCSF Mount Sutro Open Space Reserve. Hors d'oeuvres and beverages will be served. A brief walking tour of Rotary Meadow and the Aldea seed propagation area will depart at 3 PM.
http://sutrostewards.org/events/community-open-house-at-the-aldea-center-on-mount-sutro

Mon., Oct. 24, 2011, 1-6:30pm Food Deserts: Legal, Social and Public Health Challenges
Hastings College of Law, 198 McAllister, Louis B. Mayer Room, SF
Two Panel Discussions:
1. Nourishing our Neighborhoods: Insights from Law, Planning, and Industry (moderated by Hilary Seligman)
2. Food and Nutrition in Correctional Institutions (moderated by Brie Williams)
Keynote Address: David Kessler, JD, MD, Former Commissioner of the FDA and UCSF Dean and Vice-Chancellor
This conference will address medical, legal and political challenges of food scarcity and food insecurity, and highlight how medicine, law and politics come together to influence a critical topic in public health.
http://ucsf-hastingsconsortium.org/event/consortium-sponsored-conference-food-deserts-legal-social-and-public-health-challenges

Occupy the Food System: Farmers & Eaters Unite!

2011-10-13T23:26:00.000-07:00

The occupation continues with Occupy Wall Street, Occupy SF and now Occupy the Food System (http://www.facebook.com/OccupyTheFoodSystem)!
As a follow-up to Justice Begins with Seeds conference, California Biosafety Alliance held a press conference at SF City Hall's entrance for the West Coach launch of A Global Citizens Report on the State of GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms)-False Promises, Failed Technologies.
Supervisor David Campos came out of a Committee meeting to announce that Supervisor Eric Mar planned to propose a resolution to support GMO labeling at next Tuesday's Board of Supervisors meeting.
Debbie Barker, Center for Food Safety's International Program Director, holds up a copy of the Report that she helped coordinate with Navdanya's Vandana Shiva & Caroline Lockhart.
Pesticide Action Network's Senior Scientist Marcia Ishii-Eiteman reminded us that GMOs have failed to deliver on promises of higher yields to feed the world. She criticized the corporate influence on public agencies--the so-called revolving door of biotech execs who continue to represent corporate interests when they work at public agencies. Marcia said the solutions are in the Right2Know movement and agroecological practices.
Biosafety Alliance co-founders Miguel Robles & Karen Swift invite the public to the evening's panel presentation of the Report. They also invite us to the West Coast Right2Know March from San Francisco to Sacramento, beginning Friday in SF to deliver the Reports to Mayors in Oakland, Berkeley, Richmond and then reaching Sacramento on Monday to deliver Reports to Gov. Jerry Brown & Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom.
We are the 99% demonstrator & SF police in audience
Our Right to Know (www.labelgmos.org) is a 2012 ballot initiative campaign.
UC Berkeley Professors Ignacio Chapela (substituting for Vandana Shiva who was too ill to travel) & Miguel Altieri and Debbie Barker are panelists seated beside Supervisor Eric Mar who supports GMO labeling. Eric really cares about what we eat from healthier Happy Meals to non-GMO foods!
Posters of Report cover & Occupy the Food System In Farmers We Trust
Jeri from Kauai wearing No GMO My Taro (skull face in place of roots) T-shirt

Justice Begins with Seeds

2011-10-09T23:50:00.000-07:00

On October 13, Vandana Shiva returns to San Francisco to present A Global Citizens Report on the State of GMOs (details in events listing below).

Vandana Shiva (http://www.vandanashiva.org/)
Vandana Shiva & event organizer Miguel Robles (http://biosafetyalliance.org/)
Ignacio Chapela of UC Berkeley (http://www.cnr.berkeley.edu/chapelalab/)
Marcia Ishii-Eiteman of Pesticide Action Network North America (http://www.panna.org/). Read Marcia's coverage at http://www.panna.org/blog/seeding-justice-cultivating-democracy.

“Current Legal Climate & Challenges Surrounding GMO Crops” presentation by attorneys Daniel B. Rachiver (http://www.pubpat.org/), Rebecca Spector (http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/) & Philip Heiselmann (http://www.sustainablefoodlaw.com/).
Adam Scow of Food & Water Watch (has excellent backgrounder on GMO food at http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/reports/genetically-engineered-food/) & Ashley Schaefer of Rainforest Action Network outside sunny Valencia St. after their presentation on “Building a Powerful Political Campaign Against the Corporate Control of Seeds: Learning From Other Contexts.” Read Ashley's coverage at http://understory.ran.org/2011/09/21/justice-begins-with-seeds/
Label GMOs
Lunch
Jorge Molina of Peru
South Central Farmers (http://southcentralfarmers.com/)
“Counteracting Food Industry with Ethnic Diversification & Alternative Market Forces” panel discussion with Michael Dimock (http://rootsofchange.org/), Tezo (http://southcentralfarmers.com/), Maria Catalan (http://cuesa.org/farm/catalán-family-farm) & Cesar Gonzalez (http://mandelamarketplace.org/)

“Agricultural Diversity & Real Solutions We Need” panel discussion with Michael Dimock, Adelita San Vincente, Miguel Altieri (http://agroeco.org/) & Miguel Robles

Olivia Chumacero of Everything is Medicine Ceremony & Seed Give-A-Way
For The Free Farm, picked up some non-GE seed packets with the following descriptions: "Fava Beans (Vicia faba) can be eaten while still young & tender, raw or cooked; also can be fried, causing skin to split open, salted &/or spiced to produce savory crunchy snack; popular in China, Colombia, Peru (habas saladas), Mexico (habas con chile) & Thailand (where their name means "open-mouth nut"); plant fixes nitrogen in soil if you cut down plant when it starts flowering. Pipicha (Porophyllum tagetoides) edible as fresh uncooked green; allow seedheads to dry on plants before removing them & collecting seeds; indigenous communities use Pipicha against bacterial infections, as well as for liver cleansing & detoxification."
Non-GE Alfalfa (Medicago sativa): "edible fresh & great as juice; high in protein, calcium, other minerals, vitamins B, C, E & K; young alfalfa leaves treat disorders related to digestive tract & kidneys; cooling poultice made from seeds can be used to treat boils."
Jeffrey Smith (http://www.responsibletechnology.org/)
“Shifting Industrial Food Regime with Community Based Solutions” panel discussion with Robert Morrison & Oscar Grande (http://www.podersf.org/), John Wick (http://marincarbonproject.org/)
Doria Robinson (http://www.urbantilth.org/) & Aaron Lehmer (http://www.baylocalize.org/)
Mari Margil of Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (http://www.celdf.org/)
Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin (http://www.mayorgayle.net/) on "Political Commitments & Engagements for Alternative Food System" Event organizer Karen Swift (http://biosafetyalliance.org/)
The Free Farmers Pancho & Lynn (also Getup classmate). Read Lynn's coverage at http://lynnfang.com/2011/10/justice-begins-with-seeds-the-magic-begins/
Dinner

October is non-GMO month (http://www.nongmomonth.org/)

Thurs., Oct. 13, 2011, 12 noon A Global Citizens Report on the State of GMOs: False Promises, Failed Technologies
City Hall, 1 Dr. Carlton D. Goodlett Pl, SF
Press conference featuring Dr. Vandana Shiva, elected officials and other speakers. Invitation to the presentation of the West Coast launch of The Global Citizens Report on the State of GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms)— False Promises, Failed Technologies and West Coast Right2KnowMarch. Contact: Miguel Robles, 415.368.1891

Thurs., Oct. 13, 2011, 7-9 pm A Global Citizens Report on the State of GMOs: False Promises, Failed Technologies
San Francisco War Memorial & Performing Arts Center, 401 Van Ness Ave., SF
Published by Navdanya (India), Navdanya International, the International Commission on the Future of Food with the participation of the Center for Food Safety and contributions from other partners and groups around the world. Speakers: Dr. Vandana Shiva, Philosopher, Environmental Activist and Eco Feminist. Debbie Barker, International Program Director, Center for Food Safety. Miguel Altieri, Associate Professor of Agroecology at UC Berkeley and Associate Entomologist. These new reports highlight scientific research and empirical experiences from around the globe demonstrating how genetically modified (GM) seeds and crops have failed to deliver its advertised promises. The reports document and expose how contrary to the myths of feeding the world and protecting food and environmental safety, GMOs have increased the prevalence of herbicide resistant 'superweeds' and pests, have led to farmer debt and suicides from the high price of seeds, have degraded ecosystems and have benefitted the corporate industry while failing to increase food production. The reports further illustrate the alternative solutions we need to see real food security, just agricultural systems, and outline how we can act together to see this necessary transition. RSVP at http://globalstateofgmos.eventbrite.com/

Fri., Oct. 14-Mon., Oct. 17 West Coast Right2KnowMarch from SF to Sacramento
Fri., Oct. 14 at 9 am, depart San Francisco from the BART station at 24th & Mission, our first stop, will be in around 10:00 AM. In West Oakland, from there we will ride to the Rising Sun Entrepreneurs/ La Placita Commercial Kitchen in Oakland, where we will have a presentation and around 1 pm we will go to City Hall to Deliver the Report to Mayor Jean Quan's Office.
Around 1:00 PM we will be at Peoples Park in Berkeley to have a gathering and Berkeley University to pass some stickers and flyers, then we will walk to the City Hall where some members of the California Biosafety Alliance are arranging a meeting with a City Council Member, we will drop a report at the Mayor's office.
Around 4:00 PM, we will ride to The City of Richmond, where we will be making a presentation at a urban garden, then we will give a report to Mayor Gayle McLaugin and maybe we will screen a movie during the evening. We will stay over in Richmond.
Sat., Oct. 15 during the morning, we will cross Vallejo Bridge and the plan is to meet with people in Vallejo, Vacaville, Fairfield, Davis. We don't have anything confirmed yet in this area, so it would be good to have local contacts if you have.
Sun., Oct. 16 during the morning, we are riding to Sacramento to join the rally.
Mon., Oct. 17, we are delivering the report at Governor's Jerry Brown office.
Contact: Miguel Perez, 415.240.1697

Sun., Oct. 16, 2011 World Food Day Rallies for the Right to Know About Genetically Engineered Foods
More than 90% of Americans want to know when we’re eating genetically engineered (GE) food. Up to 80% of non-organic food on our shelves contains a GE ingredient. We’re concerned, and rightly so.
Much of the rest of the world — including Japan, Australia, the European Union and China — require GE foods to be clearly labeled. But in the U.S., biotech companies like Monsanto enjoy unfettered and unlabeled access to the market.
If almost everyone wants them, why aren't there labels on GE foods? Because we haven't yet built up a large enough movement to force companies, grocery stores, and elected public officials to bend to the peoples' will. That's what OCA's Millions Against Monsanto campaign is all about.
We have an opportunity now to greatly increase involvement and action in the Millions Against Monsanto campaign for labels on GE foods.
http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_23862.cfm

Tues., Oct. 18, 2011, 5-7 pm “Our Daily Poison” screening
Goldman School of Public Policy, UC Berkeley, 2607 Hearst Ave., Berkeley
Meet muckraking documentarian and The World According to Monsanto author Marie-Monique Robin in U.S. premier of her latest documentary. “Our Daily Poison” (http://icarusfilms.com/new2011/pois.html) is a documentary film that reveals a broken safety system concerned more with protecting trade secrets than human health. The film shows that the main cause of the epidemic of cancer and neurological diseases is environmental: it is the result of the 100,000 chemical molecules that have invaded our environment, and primarily our food, since the end of the Second World War.
https://www.foodfirst.org/en/Our+Daily+Poison

We are the 99%

2011-10-08T20:50:00.001-07:00

After checking in with workday leader Hannah, I began harvesting kale while enjoying this mural panel illustrating our food sharing

Even with the Blue Angels noisily flying overhead today, The Free Farm remains a sanctuary. Great to return to The Free Farm after a 3-week absence: attending Justice Begins with Seeds conference during Hunger Challenge Week (I survived!) and then conducting nutrition education outreach at Bayview Health Fair (picked up lots of info on asthma!) and World Veg Festival were intense and a bit crowded, but I’m passionate about promoting public health and meeting like-minded souls so there I went.

Sharing food gets complicated

During my absence, it seemed no news was good news at The Free Farm. But there was a bit of drama at our sibling Free Farm Stand. On the last day of the Justice Begins with Seeds conference, Pancho showed up and mentioned that Parks and Rec wanted Free Farm Stand to vacate Parque Ninos Unidos because it lacked a permit. What?! After operating for the past 3 years, why would Parks and Rec suddenly seek to enforce the permit requirement? To collect a permit fee? Government agencies are so short-staffed that they usually wait to receive complaints before taking action.

In these times of rising food prices and poverty, Free Farm Stand is providing food to anyone willing to stand in line. Apparently, SF Chronicle’s mention of Free Farm Stand in a front page article about crop swaps over Labor Day weekend attracted more people to form the longer queue that was crowding the park so complaints were made to Parks and Rec. Next, SF Health Department notified Tree that Free Farm Stand cannot “give away” prepared foods unless it satisfies Health Code requirements. This made me wonder why the complainants didn’t just speak directly with Tree, a very considerate person who would have reasonably addressed their concerns – just like Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood where neighbors peacefully work out their differences? I also wonder: People will stand in line for free food, but will people stand in line to grow with us at The Free Farm? I personally appreciate stuff more if I’m involved in its creation.

Nonetheless, I still support what Tree is trying to accomplish at Free Farm Stand so I contacted the best sharing lawyer, Janelle Orsi (see http://thefreefarm.blogspot.com/2011/07/imagine-sharing-all-world.html). I asked Janelle: Is “sharing food” considered a “food give-away program” subject to local health laws because it takes place in a public space and/or offered to members of the public at large? Janelle’s response included a link to http://www.nlchp.org/content/pubs/A_Place_at_the_Table.pdf with her comment “It addresses some of the barriers to feeding people for free.” Lo and behold! The Free Farm is featured on page 21 in the section, “Constructive Alternatives to Food Sharing Restrictions.” Follow http://freefarmstand.org/ blog for updates.

Pia & Daniel greet visitors to The Free Farm

Workday leader Hannah suggests activities for Newbies

Byron, Claire & volunteer care for compost piles

Byron aerates compost

Tim & Colin carry lettuce to farm stand

Snail blends in with tomato stalks (click photo to enlarge)

Our summer intern and current Stanford Glean President Tim returned to The Free Farm with fellow gleaner Colin. They brought back canvas tote bags loaded with apples (tribute to Steve Jobs!), figs and oranges gleaned the previous day from their campus.

Wrenn is the apple of father Mike's eye

Returning volunteer Kevin organized a volunteer group of 15 from SF Newbies Meetup http://www.meetup.com/San-Francisco-Newbies/events/34955722/

99% + 1% = We the People all need good food

While going around introducing ourselves before lunch, SF Newbies in the 20s Meetup organizer Kevin said “I am the 99%” (referring to 99% of Americans subject to the wealthiest 1%, who control more than 40% of the nation's wealth; see http://wearethe99percent.tumblr.com/) which got us chuckling in solidarity, “me, too!”

Our conversations began about Occupy Wall Street (OWS) and Occupy SF (http://occupysf.com/). Some critics say that OWS protestors need to make specific demands, not just list their grievances about social and economic injustices caused by corporate greed. But problem-solving involves issue identification, then analysis. OWS protestors were so thoughtful to include the following grievance relating to food: “They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization.” (http://nycga.cc/2011/09/30/declaration-of-the-occupation-of-new-york-city/) Interesting to note that OWS protest was inspired by the Arab Spring, which was provoked partly by food inflation.

This recognition of food’s importance reminded me of Article 25 in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food . . .” But while most Western governments generally recognize civil liberties and political freedom as human rights, they have not always extended the same to economic, social and cultural rights (such as the rights to food, clothing, housing and health care).

When government and corporate powers fail to provide, it's very empowering when we the people can grow our food at The Free Farm! Thanks to all our volunteers, whether you're 99% or 1%, we're all in this together because we all need to eat good food :-)

Tree chats with journalist Laura (http://twitter.com/#!/lhauta) & Betsy (returning volunteer who’s visiting from Wisconsin where she works for a seed co.)

Farm stand visitors

Clara, Luisa, Daniel, Candace, Kevin & Colin at farm stand

Pancho gives Wrenn a wheelbarrow ride

Newbies plant garlic

Newbies plant lettuce

Stanley & Sophie paint signs for compost corner

Bay School student visits The Free Farm for inspiration in starting school garden

Public Service Announcements:

Oct. 10-14, 2011 National School Lunch Week
Cooking with California Food online cookbook at http://www.ecoliteracy.org/cooking-with-california-food

Tues., Oct. 11, 2011, 5-7 pm Incubating Green Coops on a Shoestring with Timebanks
PODER, 474 Valencia #120, SF
Linda Hogan and Terry Daniels of hOur World (http://hourworld.org/) and the most prolific Timebank in the US - Hour Exchange Portland have been developing green worker coop microenterprises and community projects for many years on a shoestring using Timebanks to provide the social capital. Their home weatherization program renovates 1000 low income homes per year in Portland, Maine and trains unskilled workers for high paying green worker coop jobs. Join us for a revolutionary presentation on how to create empowering jobs from the bottom up. Free and open to the public, please distribute this announcement widely. For more info, contact mira@sfbace. org.

Tues., Oct. 11, 2011, 7-9 pm Frances Moore Lappé Cultivating the EcoMind to Transform Our Food System Lessons learned from 40 years of the Food Movement
Memorial Auditorium, Stanford University, Stanford
Free registration at http://foodsummit.stanford.edu/

Thurs., Oct. 13, 2011, A Global Citizens Report on the State of GMOs: False Promises, Failed Technologies
http://globalstateofgmos.eventbrite.com/

Fri., Oct. 14, 2011 at 9 am–3:30 pm Viewing Party: Harvesting Change: Farmworker Rights
Mills College, 5000 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland.
The first ever TEDxFruitvale conference (an independently organized TED event http://www.tedxfruitvale.org/) focused on Farmworker Rights. "Harvesting Change" will bring together farmworkers, farmers, activists, artists, students, professors, filmmakers, and entrepreneurs to celebrate the people upon whom we depend to harvest our food. In three sessions, titled Meet, Movement, and Money, 18 speakers will provide a 360-degree view of farmworkers today and throughout history; compare labor's progress with other social justice movements; and end by discussing fair labor practices from a business standpoint. Three special musical guests will perform for each session. Sponsored by the Bon Appetit Management Company Foundation. You are invited to attend the viewing party, hosted by the Institute for Civic Leadership, Office of Student Activities, Diversity & Social Justice Resource Center, Lokey Net Impact at Mills College, the Mills Botanic Garden. As the conference itself is already filled up, this viewing party gives you the chance to view the conference live and be part of the discussion. Free, but you must RSVP at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?hl=en_US&formkey=dHhPT003WVJwSFBzSFNsQ3poYmZJVlE6MQ#gid=0

Om, Great Space!

2011-10-08T20:24:00.000-07:00

On September 17, when Occupy Wall Street began to protest corporate greed, Kris took these cool photos of The Free Farm. Just viewing these photos reminded me how nature can bring serenity into an intense world.

According to Clare Cooper Marcus, professor emerita in landscape architecture at UC Berkeley, nature helps reduce stress because it puts our mind in a state similar to meditation. Think Om, as in Organic matter :o) in our compost!

Plus, The Free Farm meets her criteria for a Great Space (http://www.pps.org/articles/grplacefeat/): it’s “accessible; people are engaged in activities there; the space is comfortable and has a good image; and finally, it is a sociable place: one where people meet each other and take people when they come to visit.”

Our spiritual footprint

2011-09-10T23:30:00.001-07:00

K built peace sign from recycled bricks

“We seek to be an inclusive community of God’s diverse people, visible in the world. Like Jesus, we: Care about one another and all creation, Honor the poor, Tell the truth to ourselves and others in love, Encourage justice and show mercy.”

Mission of Saint Paulus (http://www.saintpaulus.org/)

Today’s posting begins with the mission statement of Saint Paulus, which has been generously sharing this beautiful space for The Free Farm, because we’re also sharing in this mission. As stewards of The Free Farm, Tree recently encouraged us to increase our “spiritual footprint.”

One obvious way we carry out Saint Paulus’ mission is to use this space to care for one another and all creation by building soil and community, growing food and sharing our produce to further food justice—especially with the poor. September is Hunger Action Month (http://hungeractionmonth.org/), but we Free Farmers take actions to combat hunger every month. Though we hold volunteer workdays on Wednesdays and Saturdays, we’re also involved in outreach and behind-the-scenes work on other days to increase our “spiritual footprint.”

Damon builds brick terrace to make it easier to harvest strawberries Basil harvested from hothouse Duncan & Alen harvest greens & tomatoes Byron manages compost Compost is hot 146F Workday leader Hannah oversees harvest for produce stand

Jordan & Duncan wash greens

Lunch gathering

Axis of Love is a patient advocacy group

Tomo & Rick plant lettuce

Damon made jam from gleaned plums

Claire put together colorful bouquet Julia & friend harvest greens Pancho & Byron check out compost

Care for neighbors

Our volunteer greeter Joyce sent the following report on The Free Farm’s recent Make Our Garden Grow outreach event to our senior neighbors:

On Tuesday, August 30th, the Western Park Apartment Dining room crackled with excitement when Page and Margaret Dyer-Chamberlain, representing The Free Farm, treated our senior community to a workshop and demonstration on gardening on a small scale.

We seniors live in cozy-size apartments and are in need of such information. We shared a tasty lunch, people brought their gardening questions and we were gifted with all the fixings to grow our own healthy chive plants. In addition to spending a valuable fun time together, Page and Margaret donated to our community sacks of much needed soil for our garden. Thank you!

Right on Free Farm - and all the right ideas it represents!

Joyce

Joyce holds up sunflower chain

Margaret mentioned that they will be returning at the request of Western Park management for a workshop on pruning the garden’s ornamental plants. Margaret and Page are planning workshops to more groups in The Free Farm neighborhood.

Show how to grow food & community

Since Fall 2010, Margaret and Page have offered a Food and Community service learning course at Stanford University. The course is based on Food Justice book (http://www.foodjusticebook.org/); speakers that have included the book’s authors, The Free Farm’s Tree and Lauren; gleaning fruit trees on campus; and field trips to The Free Farm, Free Farm Stand, and Julian Food Pantry. Course graduates like Brittany and Tim continued their training as our summer interns. I appreciated their contributions to keep our blog fresh!

Sally, Britt & Margaret
Today was Britt’s last day as intern. Her projects included working with Tree on “Shout Out for Sprouts!” and re-working the History of the Land for Saint Paulus/The Free Farm, which will be posted on our bulletin board near The Free Farm’s entrance.

Encourage food justice

Adam & Susan of Food & Water Watch work to support locally grown food & the urban farmers who make it happen!

If you’re concerned about high food prices, perhaps the near monopoly power exercised by agribusiness, which receives corporate welfare in the form of commodity subsidies, is partly responsible? Are you concerned that overproduction of commodity crops like corn and soybean, used to feed people, are now also used for ethanol or factory farm animal feed?

To answer these questions and more, my Getup classmate Susan, who is SF Coordinator for Food & Water Watch’s 2012 Farm Bill Campaign (http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/food/farm-bill-2012/), came to The Free Farm with California Campaigns Director Adam, who shared his report back on his road trip educating communities about how the Farm Bill affects all of us – as consumers, SNAP/WIC/school lunch participants, farmers, etc. – and what we can do to ensure access to safe, healthy and sustainably produced food.

Adam answers questions about 2012 Farm Bill

As I have for the past 5 years, I’ll be participating in the Hunger Challenge. (See details in Public Service Announcements listing below.) In 2006, the challenge was to eat on a weekly budget of $21, the value of benefits received by the average food stamp recipient. (In 2008, food stamp was renamed Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. In California, CalFresh is the brand name for SNAP.)

This year’s challenge has increased the weekly food budget to $33 (increased by $5 from last year). I told Adam that I could afford grains and legumes (as Farm Bill subsidizes commodity crops like corn, wheat, barley, oats, rice, soybeans), but it was challenging to afford fruits and vegetables on a SNAP budget. (One MD advocates a starch-based diet at http://drmcdougall.com/misc/2009nl/feb/starch.htm, while noting grains and legumes are deficient in vitamins A and C, which can be obtained from fruits and vegetables. I’d add that plant foods are deficient in vitamin B12, unless fortified.)

Can the new Farm Bill provide subsidies for “specialty crops” like fruits and vegetables? Adam responded that producers actually want a fair price, not welfare/subsidy. He mentioned that Food & Water Watch will hold a meeting with Central Coast/Monterey producers on Saturday, October 8, in Santa Cruz.

The current campaign seeks to protect programs like SNAP and support family farmers.

For more information on supporting local food systems and increasing healthy food access for all, contact Susan at smkuehn@earthlink.net or ascow@fwwatch.org.

Susan & Tree

Gough Street greening project

Gough St sidewalk

K waters succulents inside fence along Gough St

We want to make The Free Farm more inviting by increasing our visibility, while also reducing noise, pollution and runoff, along the Gough Street fence. Rev. Megan has been working on a design for a vertical garden with peep holes—perhaps a visual labyrinth—to draw people’s eyes into The Free Farm. She is soliciting input from us on several designs, including plant selection (succulents, scented herbs and geraniums, peelable edibles, flat growing trees, bamboo?). This project may involve using the sidewalk as well.

Design involves research so prior to joining today’s workday, I attended SF Department of Public Work’s Grey2Green Sidewalk Garden workshop (http://www.eventbrite.com/event/975924015 for free upcoming workshops) at SF County Fair Building. I learned that planting fruit and nut trees, considered to “attract nuisance,” on sidewalks is not legal :-(. But workshop presenters Markos and Mike suggested alternative design and plant selection ideas to build soil and wildlife habitat, allow rainfall to return to groundwater, beautify our neighborhood, etc. Details at http://38.106.4.205/index.aspx?page=652

Recycled tombstones in demo sidewalk garden outside SF County Fair Building Markos & Mike suggest planting seaside wild buckwheat to attract butterflies to sidewalk garden

Please come join us at The Free Farm to increase our collective spiritual footprint! And thank you, Saint Paulus!

Public Service Announcements:

Sun., Sept. 11 to Sat., Sept. 17, 2011: SF Food Bank Hunger Challenge
In San Francisco and Marin counties, an area overflowing with great food, there's a little-known secret: 1 in 5 children, adults and seniors struggle with hunger every day.
Most of us wonder what we'll be eating at our next meal, not if we'll be able to eat when mealtime comes around. That's why we invite you to participate in the 4th annual Hunger Challenge.
Could you eat on a food stamp budget? Just $4.72* per day? Try it — just for a week. And in the process you'll help bring attention and support to the reality of hunger in our own community.
Our Hunger Challenge this September is a chance for you to walk in someone else's shoes for just a week. And when you talk to family and friends and share your experiences with others, you'll help them understand why it's important for all of us to help support the families who can't feed themselves on a food stamp budget alone. Hunger is a challenge. Are you up for it?
http://www.sffoodbank.org/

Thurs., Sept. 15, 2011, 7:30 pm San Francisco's Changing Landscape
Randall Museum, 199 Museum Way, SF 94114
Greg Gaar will present over 100 historic images to show the evolution of San Francisco's native plant communities over the last 200 years and efforts to preserve our natural heritage. Greg will show the transition of our oak woodlands, sand dunes, coastal prairies, tidal marshes, lakes and creeks and efforts to preserve our natural heritage.
http://www.randallmuseum.org/SanFranciscoNaturalHistorySeries.aspx

Sat., Sept. 17, 2011 Take Back the Value Meal with $5 Slow Food Meal Challenge https://secure3.convio.net/sfusa/site/SPageServer?pagename=5Challenge_Home

Sun., Sept. 18, 2011, 1 pm, SEED
Oakland Museum, 1000 Oak St., Oakland 94607
The fourth and final Seed Circus event, "Seed" is an agrarian celebration of the bounty of fall harvest in California. Grind corn, thresh wheat, exchange seeds, and eat. The event includes live music, an experimental food project, film screenings, and a reading library of farming books and manuals.
http://museumca.org/theoaklandstandard/seed-circus

Citizen Forester Training
Apply for training that begins Wed., Oct. 5, 2011
Each year, Friends of the Urban Forest (FUF) offers a series of 12 classes taught by FUF staff and premier guest speakers to deepen your knowledge and experience with trees. FUF will entirely sponsor any volunteer who commits to spending 50 hours (about one day per month for a year) volunteering in a leadership position with FUF. Details at http://www.fuf.net/otherProjects/citizenForestry.html

We grew these for you

2011-09-04T23:23:00.003-07:00

Roger's arms read Peace & Respect

In today’s SF Chronicle front page article, “Popularity of crop swaps is growing,” Free Farm Stand is mentioned as “sharing food with low-income families,” (http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/09/04/MNK91KPJQK.DTL). Yet, because Free Farm Stand, like The Free Farm’s produce stand, doesn’t ask for proof of financial need (as required in many bureaucratic programs), we’re actually sharing food with anyone willing to wait in line.

How can we give/share more? Join us at The Free Farm to grow, harvest and share food. You can even join us on a gleaning field trip! In Biblical times, the hard work of gleaning was set aside for the able-bodied poor, orphans, widows, etc. Modern-day gleaning is equal opportunity so check out http://freefarmstand.org/2011/08/29/waste-watchers/. Braving the Labor Day weekend traffic yesterday, John and several volunteers left the City at 7:30 am to drive to Vacaville to glean more plums.

At The Free Farm, some highlights of our workday:

Roger & Tomo harvest greens. Tomo is visiting from Japan.

What lies beneath these carrot green tops? Orange or purple (the color of the original variety)? Though yummy when eaten raw, cooking (lightly steamed) actually enhances the bioavailability of carrot's beta-carotene (for vision health) by breaking down the fiber and making it easier for the body to utilize. Eat whole plant: slightly bitter green tops balance sweet carrot roots.

Rafael's Wesker plays with Evan's Princess Polly Pugsley

Jet stands beside his artwork

Pia brought these apples & pears from Petaluma

Annie records the day's harvest: strawberries, squash, cucumber, lettuce, carrots, beans, rosemary, etc.

Tom & Tree greet visitors at produce stand

3 Stooges: Jet, Tahara & Tree

Damon lays brick around strawberry patches

Pia notes lemon verbena should be harvested before it goes to seed

Margaret walks down to water broccoli

Adelaja prepared these beds for planting

K planted this smiley sunflower

Damon has conversation with squash

48-hour challenge: Fix public health problem

As mentioned last week, I attended the Summer of Smart (SoS) hackathon at Gray Area Foundation for the Arts (GAFFTA), which brought together urbanites from different disciplines for a weekend of solving civic problems through rapid prototyping.

At the Friday night kickoff event, we heard from speakers about the problems facing Public Health, Food and Nutrition. SF Department of Public Health’s Food Systems Director Paula Jones talked about food insecurity, especially among seniors in poverty and residents who live in single-room occupancy units without access to kitchens to properly store/prepare food, the work of existing government programs and community-based organizations to increase food access, etc.

Next up was a former US Secretary of Agriculture from New York who discussed the overweight/obesity epidemic of the past 30 years, Americans not getting enough physical activity, children who eat so much processed food that they “don’t know what a banana is”, etc.

Since it’s important to define any problem before we propose solutions, I thought this speaker should’ve explained the overweight/obesity epidemic, which was born on June 17, 1998, when NIH decreased the “normal” BMI upper limit from 27 to 25, so suddenly over 30 million Americans went from “normal” to “overweight” –representing a 50% increase in overweight Americans. In addition, BMI is such a dubious measure of health/fitness because it’s based on one’s height and weight, so muscular people like we Free Farmers could end up classified as overweight/obese. Is the problem the quality/quantity of food? http://civileats.com/2011/04/05/where-do-americans-get-their-calories-infographic/ The problem of chronic stress creating harmful belly fat? If kids don’t know what a banana is, maybe it’s because they’re locavores and haven’t gone to tropical places like Hawaii and Florida to experience bananas?

These 2 speakers reminded me of Raj Patel’s Stuffed and Starved, indicating the growing inequality situation where everyone’s health suffers. Paula talked about lacking access to food, while the other speaker suggested an abundance of food. Both mentioned urban agriculture to create healthier communities. Public health recognizes that healthy choices are shaped by the choices we have in our environment, including the distribution of resources.

Finally, participants were invited to stand up to introduce themselves and their project ideas. My idea was to start The Free Farm in every neighborhood! But I actually left because I was not available to participate over the weekend due to my work. Still, I was curious so I returned on Sunday to check with GAFFTA Research Director Jake to find out about the projects.

Solution: Fruit trees in every neighborhood?

Guerrilla Grafters at SoS holding Tara's chicks

Guerrilla Grafters immediately caught my attention because they addressed food security, and Jake allowed me to hang out with the group for an hour before I had to leave for work. As it turned out, one of the key members was Tara, whom I knew from Greywater Guerrillas, which led our composting toilet workshop at The Free Farm last summer! Well, when greywater became legal, their name changed to Greywater Action.

Now Roots to Fruits (http://roots-to-fruits.com/our-trees/) co-founder Tara and Margaretha helped start Guerrilla Grafters on the ground with about 2 dozen other guerrillas on a mission to “reclaim the commons for productive use” by returning sterile fruit trees back into production through grafting! Jesse, Beth, Curtis, Jeff and Ian got on board to pioneer the social software application expanding the reach of the project exponentially.

Tara submitted online the project for Guerrilla Grafters. After introductions were made on Friday at SoS, Tara found web developer Marcus and Zoey, who joined the existing team of advocates, designers, researchers, and developers. There is an ongoing need for volunteer grafters, tree stewards, and neighborhood organizers to find support to ensure that trees are always cared for. A website, http://www.guerrillagrafters.org/, has been created so the public can offer to volunteer or nominate trees on a database.

Guerrilla Grafters’ fruitful solution won 1st place so they will be presenting their winning proposal to SF mayoral candidates next month! Details at http://www.summerofsmart.org/projects/guerrilla-grafters/ and http://www.commonwealthclub.org/events/2011-10-06/race-mayor-2011.

Chicks rest on Margaretha, Tara & Jeff

Street trees to share & care

Fruits help address part of the food insecurity problem because they’re one food group in a balanced diet that should include vegetables, grains, and legumes/lean protein source. While in Tunisia during Ramadan (fasting takes place dawn to dusk), I actually survived on dates from street trees.

Earlier in the summer, when faced with closing a budget deficit, SF Mayor proposed shifting the cost of caring for the City’s street trees to adjacent property owners who protested – after all, previous Mayor planted street trees without funding for the trees’ long-term maintenance. As far as maintaining fruit trees on public sidewalks, there are concerns about the potential mess resulting from fruits squishing on sidewalks. Tree suggested nut trees might be more appropriate for streets, and fruit trees in parks with soft ground for any falling fruit to land.

Public Service Announcements:

Tues., Sept. 6, 2011, 10 am-4:30 pm Conservatory of Flowers: Free Admission Day
100 John F Kennedy Drive, SF 94118
Wicked Plants: Botanical Rogues & Assassins
http://www.conservatoryofflowers.org/atconservatory/wicked2011

Wed., Sept. 7, 2011 at 1:30-3:30 pm SF Food Security Task Force Meeting
City Hall - 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, Rm. 278, SF 94102
http://www.sfdph.org/dph/files/mtgsGrps/default.asp#foodsecurity

Thurs., Sept. 8, 2011, 7:30-9:30 pm, The Great Sunflower Project with Gretchen LeBuhn
Randall Museum, 199 Museum Way, SF 94114
One of every three bites you took probably came from a plant pollinated by wild pollinators. We know that pollinators are declining in certain wild and many agricultural landscapes. However, little is known about urban pollinators. Our recent data on bumble bees in an urban setting suggests that urban bees may also be declining. While the loss of these pollinators is important, it is more important to understand what effect these losses have had on pollinator services.
We do not know much about how healthy bee populations are maintained in an urban environment. Because natural habitats are uncommon in urban landscapes, they may not provide enough resources to support viable pollinator communities. However, if other habitats, such as urban gardens and restored areas, are sufficiently connected to natural habitat, then native populations may thrive.
The data you collect from your sunflower will be a start. It will provide an insight into how our green spaces in the urban, suburban and rural landscapes are connected as well as shedding light on how to help pollinators. For more information, go to http://www.sfns.org/

Mondays, Sept. 12-Oct. 10, 2011, 4-6 pm Physical Science Applied to Global Climate Change
Greenhouse Cafe, 1722 Taraval, SF 94116
Concepts from physical, chemical, and biological science applied to current environmental issues, e.g., electric power generation alternatives; radioactivity and human health effects; global climate: natural and anthropogenic factors in climate change; water, soil, and air quality; ecosystem structure, function and biological adaptation; safety and risk; other issues including those raised by student discussion. No math or science pre-requisites; math will be taught as necessary to understand the science. For a full course syllabus including dates and subject matter of subsequent modules, email the instructor, Barbara-Ann G. Lewis, PhD, b-lewis@northwestern.edu.
http://freeuniversitysf.org/

Mon., Sept. 12, 2011, 7 pm Kickstart Your Health talk by Dr. Neal Barnard
The Hub SoMa, SF Chronicle Building, 901 Mission St., SF 94103
Dr. Barnard will discuss how to boost metabolism, lower cholesterol, and dramatically improve health. He is also the president of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine and the author of 14 previous books on diet and health, including Dr. Neal Barnard's Program for Reversing Diabetes and Breaking the Food Seduction. http://www.nealbarnard.org/kickstart_tour.cfm

Summer Still Life

2011-09-04T23:23:00.001-07:00

At The Free Farm last week, I noticed first-time volunteer Michael taking photos so I invited him to share them as it’s cool to view The Free Farm through fresh eyes. Michael sent me these mahvelous photos with his sweet note that he had been following The Free Farm blog for a while, and finally getting a chance to see it for the first time was more than he expected. Hope these photos inspire you to “come grow with us”!

If I can dream: The Free Farm everywhere!

2011-08-28T23:19:00.000-07:00

Pia, Fran & Joyce aka "The 3 Graces" per Joyce ("My family calls me Branch.")
Kris signals lunchtime
Rafael & BFF Wesker
Stanley weighs in harvest that included carrots, zucchini, kale, collards, runner & purple beans, strawberries, lavender mint & basil.
Jessica & Mary are first-time volunteers who plan to return!
Plant whisperer Rafael harvests greens
Jessica holds up carrot with triple taproots. In 17th century, patriotic Dutch crossbred red & yellow carrots to produce orange carrots, which were adopted by the House of Orange royal family.
Hannah washes greens
Tom at busy produce stand which included offerings from gleaning efforts off-site: pears from Bernal Heights & plums from Vacaville.
Rafael picks up purple carrots
Tree, Brittany & Pia listen to Getup classmate Susan who does outreach for Food & Water Watch

Hecka local: growing space, trained gardeners & time

Tree, who started Free Farm Stand in the Mission District, told me he wanted to grow our Hecka Local produce in his neighborhood but couldn’t get enough growing space in the Mission’s Sun Belt microclimate, so he decided to help start The Free Farm when St. Paulus made space available 2 miles away from his home. So glad he did because look at us today!

While several volunteers live within walking distance from The Free Farm, other regular volunteers come from Berkeley/Oakland and Palo Alto/Mountain View. I live about 3.5 miles away from The Free Farm, but like leaving the Fog Belt on Saturday mornings for the Western Addition’s Transition Zone microclimate. (I love listening to our foghorn lullaby when I return in the evening http://www.postcard.org/foghorn.htm!) And of course, we’ve had volunteers visiting from out-of-state to experience our precious community.

I wish/dream that The Free Farm were an amoeba so our community could multiply and start The Free Farm in every neighborhood . . . after all, “free farm” is almost everywhere in cyberspace: When I invite people to check out The Free Farm website to learn more about our activities, they sometimes come back to me asking why I’m involved with a peasant union of farmers in the Philippines? (well, I’m a member of Slow Food, which had its roots in the Italian communist party) a UK-based browser game? another online virtual game (“play the next level of virtual farming”)? – among the 2.12 million results if one searches for “free farm” without prefacing article “the” in URL.

Are we ready to build/sustain The Free Farm in every neighborhood? In http://freefarmstand.org/2011/08/15/100-free/, Tree writes about the need for more people to be gardening, especially to help manage a garden. In the summer issue of Edible SF (http://ediblecommunities.com/sanfrancisco/index.php?/Summer-2011/issue-25.html), Twilight Greenaway writes an article “Hot Plots,” about the long waitlist for community gardens, but the challenge of “sustaining” volunteer coordinators.

There’s just so much going on in the Bay Area, especially during our long summer days. For example, Roger participated in Saturday’s Giant Race benefiting Project Open Hand before joining us in the afternoon to volunteer. The Fillmore Reggae Festival took place just a few blocks away from The Free Farm, but I waited until after our volunteer day ended to attend because I’d already missed volunteering the past 2 weeks due to my nutrition education outreach work at local festivals—my other food-related passion (grow plants, eat plants!). At one health festival, free lunch included grilled hot dogs and hamburgers on white bread – with only potato chips for veggies, not even lettuce and tomato offered (most commonly eaten vegetables in U.S., though tomato is technically a fruit but classified as veg by 1893 U.S. Supreme Court ruling); the other festival offered free ribs in one booth, but fresh watermelon slice for $1.

Free Farm Stand hummus maker Michael visits The Free Farm for the 1st time before going to Burning Man for his 14th year
Kris & Eric shuck sunflowers to create sunflower chains
Rick using hose to water while Tree & Page work on installing drip irrigation system.
Kris does grateful deadheading spent flowers
Sunflower chains hanging in tool shed
Workday leader Alen got haircut for Indian summer

Eat your veggies: access & taste

Though physically away from The Free Farm, my thoughts kept returning to what we do at The Free Farm. As much as I do outreach to encourage the public to eat more nutrient-dense vegetables, I also understand access is limited by location, affordability (food prices have increased by an average of almost 100% since the end of 2005) and increasing demand. This summer, I helped administer the Senior Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program, which distributed 1,600 farmers’ market coupon booklets (each valued at $20) to low-income seniors in SF on a first-come, first-serve basis – lines formed hours before the distribution time so that many who showed up at the designated time left empty-handed. SF Food Bank’s struggles made front page news last week at http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/08/20/MNTO1KO7PR.DTL.

Outside of The Free Farm/Free Farm Stand and others who grow their own, the reality is fruits and veggies are not cheap calories because they’re not subsidized. The larger problem appears to be the U.S. farm bill that provides huge subsidies to meat and dairy, making them a cheap source of calories. Federal subsidies also apply to plants like corn, wheat and soybean – cheap enough for low-nutrient, processed fast food.

Like Tree, I would like to see more people grow their own produce locally if possible – instead of transporting unripened produce that's later gassed with ethylene to artificially ripen, which is why some produce taste so terrible (especially tomatoes from Florida). I loved eating homegrown produce while growing up, so I was surprised to learn others didn’t enjoy fruits and veggies as much as I did – until they told me they ate them canned/frozen. It’s so cool to hear from visitors who taste our produce at The Free Farm that they can't believe how delicious locally grown, freshly harvested organic food is. It would be even cooler if more visitors would get their hands dirty to help grow food to share with the community!

Hanging out at The Free Farm brings out my inner hippie and wish/dream for another Great Society. Last weekend, I also managed to attend my first hackathon: Friday evening featured speakers and then multi-disciplinary teams were formed to tackle Urban Innovation Weekend on Public Health, Food and Nutrition (http://www.gaffta.org/2011/07/27/summer-of-smart-public-health-food-nutrition/)! Urban agriculture is one solution that addresses this trinity of issues. Due to other commitments, I was present for only Friday and just one hour on Sunday.

But I’ll save my report with exclusive photos for an upcoming blog so stay tuned! In the meantime, in recognition of today’s anniversary of MLK, Jr.’s “I have a dream” speech, let’s sing my favorite Elvis song (played at the end of Graceland audio tour):

There must be lights burning brighter somewhere
Got to be birds flying higher in a sky more blue
If I can dream of a better land
Where all my brothers walk hand in hand
Tell me why, oh why, oh why can't my dream come true

There must be peace and understanding sometime
Strong winds of promise that will blow away
All the doubt and fear
If I can dream of a warmer sun
Where hope keeps shining on everyone
Tell me why, oh why, oh why won't that sun appear

We're lost in a cloud
With too much rain
We're trapped in a world
That's troubled with pain
But as long as a man
Has the strength to dream
He can redeem his soul and fly

Deep in my heart there's a trembling question
Still I am sure that the answer gonna come somehow
Out there in the dark, there's a beckoning candle
And while I can think, while I can talk
While I can stand, while I can walk
While I can dream, please let my dream
Come true, right now
Let it come true right now
Oh yeah
“If I Can Dream” lyrics by Walter Earl Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Mh39QclKY0&feature

Public Service Announcement:

Tues., Aug. 30, 2011 at 10:30 am -12:30 pm Make Our Garden Grow!
The Dining Room, 1280 Laguna St., betw. Ellis & Eddy, SF
The Free Farm workshop & talk. Bring all growing & eating questions.

The Free Farm in summertime

2011-08-20T23:23:00.000-07:00

The Free Farm's new welcome signs by Jet

Taking a look at last summer’s blog postings, The Free Farm looked so bare without our greenhouse, hothouse, tool shed, office, terrace, etc. Our summer harvest is still abundant: today’s harvest yielding 100+ pounds of greens (12 lbs.), strawberries (3 lbs.), runner beans (5 lbs.), zucchini (61 lbs.), squash (13 lbs.), basil (4 lbs.), garlic (2 lbs.) and cucumbers (1.5 lbs.).

Our community of Free Farmers continues to grow as there's something for everyone:-) Though I came to The Free Farm to grow plants, it’s just as fun and rewarding to build and repair structures. Damon is the ultimate Do-It-Yourself guy, with tools in hand—building, fixing and sharing his know-how with other volunteers. When I invited him to contribute to our blog, Damon showed he's also gifted behind the camera as evident in his awesome photos (with clever captions) of today’s workday.

Brittany begins her sprout propaganda

Brittany finishes her project with Pia & Mallika

Byron & Jonesey composting

Byron & sister Cassie

Byron's new
composting bins

Compost

Fran multi-tasking

Free Farm is spreading the wealth

Hannah is definitely the farm's expert harvester

Hermano hard at it

I have never seen Tree in here!

Joyce defending the moat

Kay is on her weeds

Mallika & Susan harvesting

Our resident cook

Our resident flower child

Our resident swami

Rafael & Roger (sans Wesker)

Rob & Jonesey giving Byron a break

Roger in the strawberries

Robert watering the container garden

The day's catch

The family sits down for lunch

Wesker

Public Service Announcements:

Tues., Aug. 23, 2011, 6:30-8:30 pm Introduction to Carnism
Unitarian Universalist Center, 1187 Franklin St. at Geary Blvd. SF
Dr. Melanie Joy, activist for social and environmental justice and animal welfare, will present her book Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows on how our diets evolved. Dr. Joy will focus on healthier diets based on more sustainable and humane agricultural practices, while preserving the earth and oceans.
http://www.sfvs.org/events.php

Beginning Wed., Aug. 24, 2011, 1:30-4 pm, Healthier Living Workshops
Wed. workshops through Wed., Sept. 28, 2011, 1:30-4 pm
Richmond Branch Library, 351 - 9th Ave. betw. Geary & Clement, SF
Developed by Stanford University School of Medicine and hosted by SF Department of Aging and Adult Services, free 6-week workshops are designed to help people with chronic conditions and their caregivers improve the quality of their life. Participants learn how to manage pain, stress, and fatigue; be more fit and eat healthier; work more effectively with doctors and healthcare professionals; set goals and problem solve to make positive life changes; and feel better and reduce healthcare costs. To register, contact Shelly Glazer, City College of SF, 415-452-5839 or sdglazer@ccsf.edu. Details at http://healthier-living-sf.eventbrite.com/

Thurs., Aug. 25, 2011, 5:30 pm-7:30 pm Artist reception for “Faces of Hunger”
Oakland City Hall Rotunda, 1 Frank Ogawa Plaza, Oakland
Exhibit from Mon., Aug. 22 to Fri., Sept. 2. The work of renowned photojournalist David Bacon, the exhibit is a collection of stories and images from Alameda County Community Food Bank clients, member agency staff and volunteers. RSVP by Tues., Aug. 23 to knzewi@accfb. org

Thurs, Aug. 25, 2011, 7-9pm, Living Wild: Native Plant Tasting & Book Signing
Ecology Center Store, 2530 San Pablo Ave., Berkeley
An evening with Alicia Funk, author of Living Wild: Gardening, Cooking and Healing with Native Plants of the Sierra Nevada, to enjoy appetizers made from local native plants and sample wild fermented beverages. Learn how to process oak nuts (acorns) and other fall edibles, discover easy-to-grow native plants to add to the backyard this fall, and view original functional artwork from native plant materials. Growing native plants for food and medicine can help our own health as well as that of the landscape around us. It offers a way to deepen our relationship with the land we inhabit, support local biodiversity, and fundamentally shift the way we eat, garden and heal so that we can truly live sustainably. http://www.ecologycenter.org/calendar/event.php?eventID=36330 .

Sat., Aug. 27, 2011, 8 pm Ten Dangerous Nutrition Myths
St. James Community Room, 4620 California St., betw. 8th & 9th Ave., SF
Dr. Janice Stanger, author of The Perfect Formula Diet, will discuss common diet myths. If popular ideas about nutrition were correct, why would so many adults and children be overweight and sick? This no-myth-left-untouched presentation will transform your understanding of six whole foods you should eat and the processed foods, animal foods, and supplements you should never consume. Exactly how much do you need of key nutrients - and what happens if you get too much? Enjoy whole food feasts without guilt or worries about deficiencies. Discover the secrets to sustaining strong bones, unobstructed arteries, and youthful vigor - all without dissecting your food into protein, carbs, and fats.
http://www.sfvs.org/events.php

Saturday's fruitful & veggieful volunteer day

2011-08-15T01:07:00.000-07:00

Britt sent this terrific write-up with photos of Saturday’s volunteer day:

This Saturday was a very fruitful (and veggieful) day at the farm, with the volunteer crew harvesting an outstanding 186 lbs of produce! This bounty included over 6 different varieties of squash, strawberries, kale, collards, tomatoes, cucumbers, a variety of flowers, and basil.

This week, instead of using primarily words, I am going to document all that went into Saturday’s massive harvest with a listing of photos. These photos chronologically show what went into Saturday’s volunteer day. Each photo has a caption with it that will give you a bit of background information about how the workday evolved.

I hope you enjoy the photos!

Kevin, one of my friends from Missouri, came to visit San Francisco this weekend, so he stopped by the farm on Saturday to check it out. Being a pretty smart guy, Kevin started his volunteer time at an ever-popular location: the strawberry patches.

Kevin’s little sister, Katie, joined Kevin in the strawberry patches and happily ate/harvested her time away.

Just this week, Damon brought down a large panel painting of some strawberries. This panel is now adding color to the farm’s southern fence.

Throughout the day, our lovely Joyce greeted volunteers and visitors as they came into the farm. This Saturday, she looked particularly stylish in her straw hat, cute glasses, and Trader Joes shirt (that she somehow managed to convince Trader Joes to give her for free).

RARE SIGHTING: Damon without tools in his hands! Take a good look at this photo—it is quite a rare sight indeed.

Hannah, my friend from college, came up to the farm this Saturday as well. Looking super cute in her shades, she helped to wash the ridiculous amount of greens that were harvested.

The various types of kale that were harvested. Who knew kale could come in so many different shapes?

Just a sample of all of the different varieties of squash that grow in the farm. Talk about diversity! I could not even name half of the squash I found in this bucket.

Rafeal brought the farm’s youngest member with him: Wesker, a 4 month old Terrier/Chihuahua mix. So, so, cute!

Hannah prepared a lovely lunch for the volunteers of a quinoa/garbanzo/zucchini mixture along with bread. Evan brought some homemade pickles to add to the lunch—delicious!

Freshly picked strawberries served as our lunch's desert. Amazingly, our strawberry patches are still producing about 15 lbs a week, and it’s August!

My friend Hannah taking a break with Caroline (another one of my friends from school). Aren’t they cute =].

Susannah, manning the produce give away. With such a big harvest, the stand was hardly able to give everything away in the hour that it was open.

To complement the produce giveaway, Tim and I gave away some “sprouting kits.” These kits contained a glass jar filled with clover seeds and topped with a secured screen. The kits also came with a comic designed by Tree that details how to grow sprouts and a “Why Sprout?” information sheet made by Tim.

Sunflower of the farm #1.

Sunflower of the farm #2. I am constantly amazed at how diversity is integrated into ever part of the farm.

Volunteers in Action: This photo was taken from the northwest corner of the farm. That corner is my favorite place to watch the farm and its volunteers move and grow.

Britt