Seats of Hay, Walls of Stone, and Gifts of Love

Stanford intern Britt sent this cool report and photos of Saturday's workday:

Seats of Hay, Walls of Stone, and Gifts of Love

This Saturday’s workday started out with all of the volunteers huddling up into a large circle. Ready for a day of work mixed with fun, once in this circle we divided up the day’s tasks. Groups for weeding, harvesting, sign making, and more were formed, with each volunteer splitting off into the group that interested them most.

While many of the groups worked quietly, harvesting plants or pulling weeds, one group was not quite so mellow. This group was the construction group, lead up by Damon. They spent the day shoveling, sawing, measuring, and moving rocks. And their effort paid off. By the time the day was done, this group had constructed the farm’s very own fortified wall! Well… fortified path might be a more accurate description. Out of salvaged rubble and an old wooden beam, Damon & Co. constructed a small wall that now blocks off and stabilizes the farm’s newest path.

Damon starting up the wall

The finished product

While Damon and his helpers were busy with construction, another group was working to pull hay bails up the farm’s hill to make additional seating in farm’s the group meeting area. Now, thanks to their hard work, the seating available at the farm has greatly expanded (not to mention the enjoyable country-farm-like-vibe that the hay bails add).

The farm’s resident hay loaders, making some wonderful seating

Just below the construction and hay bail loading zones, three newly returning volunteers painted labels for the vegetables of the garden. Heather, Kevin, and Jess Making Signs

Beside this sign painting station, Hannah gave the harvesting crew a hand by washing off some of their bounty. And she did this while wearing a hat that made at least one person (me) very happy.

Hannah, washing off some lettuces and purple Sukamawiki

The harvesters for today included: Robert, Steven, Lauren (from Produce to the People), Rafeal, and many others. The day’s harvest was quite large, consisting of squashes, zucchini, beans, strawberries, beats, radishes, collards, kale, freshly cut flowers, and more!

Rafeal and his “lucky sphere strawberry”

Up at the front of the farm, two of the farm’s cutest member’s, Joyce and Wrenn. helped to give away this bounty and greeted anyone who wandered in.

Our seated greeters, Joyce and Wrenn with Pancho in the middle (I guess Pancho can be considered one of the farm’s “cutest members” too =] ).

Joyce putting out some more produce as the line starts to move through

While the farm was able to give away a great deal of produce today, the love of the volunteers that filled it gave the farm much more than it could possibly give away. It is this love, that manifests itself in forms as diverse from fortified walls to beautiful, peaceful presences, which makes me certain that the farm will continue to thrive for a long time to come.

Masterpieces from The Free Farm

Heather sent these great photos taken during Saturday's workday:






















Public Service Announcements:

Mon., July 18, 2011 at 7-8:30 pm "Bag It" film screening with discussion
Western Addition Branch Library, 1550 Scott St. at Geary, SF 94115
Try going a day without plastic. Plastic is everywhere and infiltrates our lives in unimaginable and frightening ways.
In this touching and often flat-out-funny film, we follow “everyman” Jeb Berrier, who is admittedly not a tree hugger, as he embarks on a global tour to unravel the complexities of our plastic world. What starts as a film about plastic bags evolves into a wholesale investigation into plastic and its effect on our waterways, oceans, and even our own bodies. We see how our crazy-for-plastic world has finally caught up to us and what we can do about it.
Bag It (http://www.bagitmovie.com/) has been garnering awards at film festivals across the nation. Join your neighbors to watch this terrific documentary! Each screening with be immediately followed by a discussion led by staff from the SF Department of Environment.
http://www.sfpl.org/index.php?pg=1006962001

Tues., July 19, 2011 at 4-5 pm Learn the Art of Seeding
Eureka Valley General Floor Area, 1 Jose Sarria Ct., SF
In this hands-on workshop, Jonathan Silverman, Founder and Managing Director of Feel the Earth (http://www.feeltheearth.org/), will teach children and their families how to grow a victory garden. Learn how seeds work, best ways to plant seeds, how to care for your seedlings, and begin to cultivate fresh produce or blossoms. A perfect introduction to the joys of gardening! For children of all ages. http://www.sfpl.org/index.php?pg=1006649901

Thurs., July 28, 2011 12:30-1:30 pm
Hungry for Change: A Conversation on Food Security with Rep. Jim McGovern & Andy Fisher
Webinar registration: https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/703605862
in anticipation of Food Day on October 24, 2011! Food Day advisory board members Congressman Jim McGovern (D-MA) and Andy Fisher, Executive Director of the Community Food Security Coalition, will lead a conversation about food security and hunger in America, addressing ways that individuals, organizations and policymakers can make a difference by working together on Food Day. You can learn more about the Food Day campaign at http://www.foodday.org/.

Belovedhood: Feed all, serve all, love all

Here is a link for a movie that is being worked on called Growing Cities. These young men came out and filmed us at the Free Farm and the Free Farm Stand (at the end of the day) and some of the other farms they have visited across the United States seem pretty interesting.

Below is a description of the last Free Farm workday written by Pancho and it comes from a longer blog post about the Free Farm Stand and the Free Farm. You can read the whole post here: http://freefarmstand.org/.

As Britney and I write this piece from the Free Farm, there are people: harvesting for the free farm stand; building a terrace; beautifying the labyrinth; watering the beds and isolated pots; preparing the table for the vegan lunch at noon; planting seeds in the greenhouse; washing the produce for the 1pm farm stand; guiding visitors to show some of the magic of the farm; carrying wheelbarrows –or taking a nap in one of them– full of mulch to nourish the paths; turning the compost; taking pictures for the blog and writing a post to celebrate all of this work and the work that can’t be described with metrics.

The diversity of the people volunteering honors and matches the rich diversity of life in the farm. On the one hand, the farm is filled with people of brown, black, white skin; a 1 yearold whose mom joined the yoga and meditation sessions in the morning; young people from both Stanford and UC Berkeley; teens from all backgrounds sharing their wisdom; enthusiastic elders from the neighborhood; people without houses and without money giving away all they have: their time, love and energy; Christians, a Buddhist monk, secular people, anarchists, Jews, Muslims, Native Americans all united in this church without walls. With this diversity, we come together, work together, learn together, and share. On the other hand, the farm is inhabited by a red tail hawk who has made the farm her source of mice and rats; by ravens, hummingbirds, pigeons, worms, snails, ants; bees that live in hives and bees that live buried in the soil, who knows what fascinating interactions are happening beneath the surface of the beds. We learn from this animal world too, just as we learn from the diverse human worldviews that the farm draws together.

Many of us enjoy our volunteer work at the Free Farm because we believe that healthy, local food is the foundation of social justice. While 93 percent of the varieties of crops have gone extinct in the part of the Planet we call the U.S. –and all over the World– city kids, like many of us, are learning how to facilitate the growth of food and how to let crops go to seed. The concepts of both regeneration (not sustainability) and community are being shared and practiced. We are planting seeds of generosity and harvesting kindness to and from the community.

With this growth of soil and community, local neighbors are getting more and more involved. As these neighbors volunteer at the farm and receive its produce, a circle of giving and receiving is emerging. In this gift economy, we are able to provide for one another and cultivate compassion and care. As we shared before, the effects of the farm do not end within the Western Addition neighborhood here in San Francisco. They carry over to the Mission, where the surplus food produced by the stand is given away as an act of unconditional love. We don’t believe that in a pollution-violence based economy only people with financial resources can consume healthy local organic food. We believe and practice that everybody can and must be nourished with healthy local food and healthy entertainment. We are doing our best to treat each other as family. And our family is widening, indeed. There is a palpable love and acknowledgement to take care of our elders and our children.

Through the act of freely giving away healthy and local produce, unjust food systems–like the one in this part of the Planet, where kale is often not affordable for many, yet unhealthy hot dogs cost less than a dollar–are challenged and a community is built. It is the love and dedication of volunteers that makes this possible. And it is this same love and dedication which has an infectious tendency on others, keeping the farm and the stand energized and thriving.

In other words: feed all, serve all, love all.

These were our two seeds as Free Farmers, ;-)
May all become compassionate, courageous and wise.
Britney, Pancho and Adelaja.

This land was made for you and me

1-800-GLEAN-IT

As a child, my Saturday mornings were devoted to Bible study, which taught me about farming, the livelihood for most Biblical characters—along with carpentry, fishing, wine-making, tax-collecting, etc. I liked learning about the Mosaic law which prohibited farmers from harvesting all produce, allowing the poor to glean leftovers so they would not go hungry or become a burden on their community. I even wanted to make a song out of Ruth, who followed mother-in-law Naomi to Bethlehem, where she gleaned Boaz’ fields: “for where you go, I shall go . . . your people will be my people, and your God my God."

Summer (Ruth & Boaz) by Nicolas Poussin

Now, as an adult, I devote most Saturdays at The Free Farm (on former church ground), where I can hang out with modern-day gleaners from Produce to the People (http://www.producetothepeople.org/) and Stanford Glean (http://stanfordglean.blogspot.com/)!

Recently, I spent several days in Pasadena with relatives who have a couple of lemon trees, bearing more fruit than they can care to eat. A lemon tree may bear as many as 3,000 lemons annually, and what should they do with 6,000 lemons per year? I urged them to give away surplus, especially to those in need! For information on how to volunteer or donate food outside of SF, call USDA's "1-800-GLEAN-IT" toll-free hotline; details at http://www.usda.gov/news/pubs/gleaning/appb.htm

After doing time in suburban Pasadena, with its inert manicured lawns and indoor air-conditioning, I couldn’t wait to set foot again on The Free Farm! And get my hands in soil and snap these shots of our workday:

Washing harvest
Pancho blogs for Free Farm Stand
Evan & Jenna harvest greens
Alena & Emily harvest in hothouse
Pulling out weed
Adding mulch to labyrinth path
Mike waves hello
Harvested greens
Brent joins Mike, Joyce & Emily for lunch
Strawberries
Artichoke & tree collards
Radishes
Curvy cucumber
Summer squash
Dino kale on scale
Alena with volunteers from Sharethrough; Jenna (in middle) said she learned about The Free Farm workday during Lauren's kombucha-making class at How to Homestead's May event
Lauren brought PttP jam along with Straus dairy & Bi-Rite vegan ice cream!
Bulldog watches over planted bed
Resting in wheel barrow
Rafael enjoys view
Freshly mulched labyrinth
Art said The Free Farm reminds him of his hippie days when he used his van to help SF Diggers glean
Alena brings basil bouquet to workday leader Hannah for farm stand
Jonathan stopped by on his way to teach "Art of Seeding" at SF Public Library; check out http://www.feeltheearth.org/ for upcoming workshop dates & locations
Watering plants in greenhouse
Bumble bee at work
Nativity scene in summer
Twins Steven & Robert work with PttP through Mayor's Youth Employment & Education Program (MYEEP)
Henry & Ruby hold up tree collard which they plan to transplant in home garden
Robert, Steven & Lauren at farm stand to bring Produce to the People
Building bed frame
PttP gleaned these plums from Noe Valley
Brittany, Mike & Pancho

Locavore

I was in Pasadena, staying with my former hippie aunt and uncle, their daughter (my cousin) and her husband with newborn, to coo over our newest family member. My aunt and uncle had been back-to-the-land types, until my uncle built a 2-story extension to their home over their former garden. Shortly after their wedding, my boomerang cousin and her husband moved into the 2-story extension and installed air-conditioning, dishwasher, electronic entertainment system, etc.

My aunt and uncle are real foodies, willing to drive 3 hours to experience the “Best of.” After my 7-hour shuttle bus ride from SF to LA, I really wasn’t up to spending any more time in a moving vehicle. I insisted on being a locavore so we stayed in Pasadena.

There was indoor air-conditioning everywhere we went in Pasadena! At The Free Farm, it can get very warm in our greenhouse and hothouse, but we do not use air-conditioning. Instead, we open the windows to let air circulate! And we dress in layers – tank top under larger shirt and sweater – peeling down as appropriate to weather conditions.

Life without an electric blanket

I thought about the electric blanket conversation between Wally and Andre from My Dinner with Andre. In one of my favorite films, playwright Wally reunites with an old friend Andre, who dropped out of the theater world at the height of his career many years ago. Andre tells Wally about his experiences while traveling the world and finally experiencing what it truly means to be alive—in contrast to a life that has become habitual so we’re just performing our roles and we don’t really perceive the reality around us. When Andre says he wouldn’t put on an electric blanket, Wally protests saying he would never give up his electric blanket because New York is cold in the winter, we live in a difficult environment so he won’t give up one of the few things that provide relief and comfort—in fact, Wally’s looking for more comfort because the world is very abrasive so he needs to protect himself. Andre’s view is that comfort is dangerous because it separates us from reality so we don’t really see the world, ourselves and how our actions affect other people. Andre says we should be making every moment a prayer or sacrament—whoa, spoken like a permaculturalist! Anyway, I think a non-electric blanket should keep one warm while minimizing EMFs.

While working in corporate America, which included a stint in downtown Los Angeles, I actually lapsed into nature deficit disorder common to urbanites like Woody Allen, who said he was at 2 with nature. To help us become 1 with nature like naturalists, my permie instructor Jay urged us to allow space and time for core routines like sit-spot, journaling, storytelling, wandering without an agenda, etc. Nature is sensitive so we need to be more self-aware, especially our impact on the natural environment, and “walk softly on the earth.”

I always wonder about the privileged who feel they have a right not to know the ramifications of our affluenza (Americans make up 5% of the world’s population yet consume 25% of its resources). It’s so unreal that people choose to be so clueless to avoid responsibility so the status quo remains.

Food, Not Lawns

Most Pasadena homes have manicured lawns. I usually find lawns (especially golf courses) an eyesore because they’re monoculture, high-maintenance using lots of resources (water, pesticides, herbicides, etc.). Lawns sprang about during medieval times to serve the the aristocratic class’ desire for aesthetic and recreational outlets.
http://www.american-lawns.com/history/history_lawn.html

One notable exception to indoor air-conditioning and manicured lawns is the Dervaes family’s Little Homestead in the City ™, established 1985 in Pasadena; online at http://urbanhomestead.org/. Patriarch Jules Dervaes, calls himself “Founder of the Modern Urban Homesteading ® Movement,” which has been controversial for trademarking this movement. We visited their Front Porch Farm Stand for some creamy raw honey and preserves—payable by cash, check or credit card. I also picked up some free literature; my favorite quote from Jules: “In our society, growing food yourself has become the most radical of acts. It is truly the only effective protest, one that can—and will—overturn the corporate powers that be. By the process of directly working in harmony with nature, we do the one thing most essential to change the world—we change ourselves!”

Though my aunt has been “little old lady from Pasadena” long before the Dervaes family established their homestead, this was her first visit – prompted by yours truly, her locavore niece :-). While the challenging economic times and climate change inspire down-sizing and do-it-yourself initiatives, we felt this urban homestead was lacking: community.

In http://freefarmstand.org/2011/06/27/the-stand-in-pictures/, Tree posted his sweet letter explaining the goals of the Mission District’s Free Farm Stand because some visitors think it’s a produce give-away program, but it’s more than that. At The Free Farm’s entrance, our goals are clearly stated in a poster board so I think most visitors know what we’re about. But knowing is not the same as doing, which is joining us on our workdays to grow food and community!

During my shuttle bus ride from SF to LA and back, we stopped in Coalinga, which had signs about The Great Delta Toilet Bowl from Water For All. “This land is your land” popped in my head (the way some people sing “99 Bottles of Beer” on road trips) . . . and then again during our workday:

In the squares of the city, under shadow of the steeple
At the relief office, I saw my people
As they stood there hungry, I stood there whistling
This land was made for you and me.

A great high wall there tried to stop me
A great big sign there said private property
But on the other side it didn’t say nothing
That side was made for you and me.

This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York Island
From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me.
“This land is your land” lyrics by Woody Guthrie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5iw4nrS9G4

Public Service Announcements:

Thurs., July 14, 2011 Bicentennial of Avogadro’s number
In July 14, 1811 issue of Journal de Physique, de Chimie et d''Histoire naturelle, Avogadro published his article, "Essay on Determining the Relative Masses of the Elementary Molecules of Bodies and the Proportions by Which They Enter These Combinations”: Avogadro’s constant is the number of atoms or molecules in one mole, approximately 6.0221415 × 1023, used to compute the results of chemical reactions.
http://www.italytravelescape.com/amedeo_avogadro_life.htm


Sat., Aug. 13, Sept. 10, Oct. 15, Nov. 19 or Dec. 10, 2011, at 10 am-12 noon SF PUC Wastewater Treatment Plant Tour, 3500 Great Highway, SF 94132
Have you ever wondered what happens to the dirty water from your shower, bath, laundry and toilet after it goes down the drain? What about the runoff from lawns and gardens, and rainwater and car washing? San Francisco Water, Power and Sewer invites you to take a tour of one of our Wastewater Treatment Plants (Plant) to find out how we get dirty water clean again!
http://www.sfwater.org/index.aspx?page=95 (I don’t usually list events that conflict with our workdays, but these tours are so informative!)