Farm to Table

Lettuce at Free Farm Stand
Lettuce at Free Farm Stand

Hi all, this is Pax. One of the most gratifying things about volunteering at the All in Common Garden is participating directly in the process of growing the food that we share at the Free Farm Stand. Whenever I visit there I feel like I’m in the Garden of Eden, surrounded by trees bearing so many good things to eat: Avocados, pears, apples, persimmons, chestnuts, passionfruit, guavas… Then we have have pots filled with herbs, peppers, and other edibles, and now we are harvesting the first of the vegetables from the new planter beds we built this summer.

All in Common Garden - preparing beds
All in Common Garden – preparing beds
All in Common Garden - preparing beds
All in Common Garden – preparing beds

We constructed the planter beds from wood retrieved from the recently-closed Growing Home community garden, and lined them with layers of cardboard at the bottom, edge-to-edge, to help keep out weeds. We then added layers of compost, mulch and soil and got the beds thoroughly wet before planting.

All in Common Garden - planting beds
All in Common Garden – planting beds
All in Common Garden - planting beds
All in Common Garden – planting beds

The first seedlings were planted in August, and included lettuce, chard, and other greens. The soil in our planter beds was also retrieved from the Growing Home garden, and contained seeds, so we were pleasantly surprised to find turnips growing in our garden! Here’s Tree harvesting the first turnip this Saturday:

Tree with turnip at All in Common Garden
Tree with turnip at All in Common Garden

And here’s that turnip, along with more like it from Alemany Farm, on the Hecka Local table at the Free Farm Stand this Sunday:

Turnips at Free Farm Stand
Turnips at Free Farm Stand

Along with the turnips, we also harvested the first lettuce heads from the garden.

Lettuce at All in Common Garden
Lettuce at All in Common Garden
Tree with lettuce at All in Common Garden
Tree with lettuce at All in Common Garden

And as always, we brought avocados. Picking fallen avocados off the ground is the first thing I do whenever I arrive at the garden. I always find at least a dozen good ones. It’s like a treasure hunt!

Avocados at Free Farm Stand
Avocados at Free Farm Stand

If you’d like to visit the All in Common Garden – located on 23rd Street between Shotwell and Folsom – come by Monday through Wednesday from 1 to 3 or Saturday from 9 to 2. Volunteer hours are Tuesdays and Saturdays, with a free vegan lunch for volunteers on Saturdays at noon.

As Tree posted previously, we really need more volunteers, and have tasks for people of all ability levels. Next week (first week of November) we’re planning to move the greenhouse, and can use all the hands we can get. (This move might take place on a Wednesday or Thursday instead of the usual open hours; contact Tree for details.)

Notice: The All in Common Garden will be closed for one day only this Saturday, November 1.

 

 

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