Month: November 2010

The Free Farm Stand connected with the season on Sunday. We connected with the rain.  We also connected with our friends who come to “shop” for fresh, local, organic produce or those who came with surplus to share. The neighbors in line connect with each other.  People connect with the knowledge of where there food comes from. The produce that was rotted went into the compost bin and the microorganisms connected with the vegetables which will turn them into humus.

Prior to Sunday more connections were made. Lauren my friend who is a Zen student and farmer at Green Gulch Farm in Marin called me and said she had gleaned their fields before they were plowed under for the winter and she harvested 18 boxes of greens. She couldn’t bring them to San Francisco so more connections were needed. I called the two people I know who live in Marin and one of them was coming to the city Sunday morning to work with me at Martin de Porres Soup Kitchen and could pick up and deliver the greens. The greens connection was made.

I am connected with my own demons and bad habits and when grace shines on me I am connected with the holy spirit. That spirit resides in the trees, the wind, the stars, the earth, the sea. When we put our hand in the soil we are connected with life. The connections we make on our farm are many…connections made with our neighbors, with strangers walking by, connections with the birds and insects (and our friends the microorganisms) who have discovered this new feed lot in the hood. Below is an example of one of our great helpers Alena making a connection with our trombone squash that she harvested.

Talking about making more connections (and collaborations): The Free Farm just found out from the Reimagine Money blog (http://rsfsocialfinance.org/2010/11/faf-participants-2011/?utm_source=All+Contacts&utm_campaign=f850df6701-November_10_E_News11_2_2010&utm_medium=email)  that the RSF Philanthropic Services selected us and six other groups “for the first round of fund sharing from our Food & Agriculture Focus Area Fund. This fund demonstrates an innovative form of grant making that invites grantees to learn about each other’s work and collaboratively use a pool of funds to support their missions.” The other groups are Pie Ranch, San Francisco Waldorf School, Marin Organics, People’s Grocery, Partners for Sustainble Pollination, and Movement Generation. We will be fund sharing from a pool of $50,000. It will be an interesting experience working on this with all these other fantastic groups.

I arrived at our Free  Farm early in the morning on Saturday and there was a light rain that lasted the whole day. The air was crisp and cool and the fava beans were all coming up everywhere we planted them (now is a good time to plant them along with other cool weather cover crops). The crimson clover on the upper terraced beds was bright green and bushy, and many of the plants were singing with happiness and the big compost pile was steamy. I felt really connected with the earth and the rain and with the changing season. On Sunday the weather broke and we had a glorious sunny pre Halloween day. I came to the stand thinking about this transition we are in, from the end of summer and light to the winter and the sun low on the horizon and short dark days. In these next few days the separation from life and death is supposedly thin and we can connect more easily with our ancestors and all who came before us. To celebrate this occasion some of us came in costume. I came dressed out of character and Frida Kahlo showed up so beautiful and joyful. Later we had a Corn and Pea Person.  Things are slowing down in terms of how much produce we are growing and collecting from other farmers and it seems the crowds are not quite as long compared to a month ago.

Red Bok Choy, Hops, Trombone squash and Collards from the Free Farm

I am planning on closing the Free Farm Stand on Dec 12 for 3 or 4 weeks to take a break, reflect, and gather new energy. Also, I hope we will be working on building a greenhouse for the Free Farm, with the idea of having a community barn raising event on Martin Luther King Day of Service, the third Monday in Janurary, a “day on not off”.  Maybe by some miracle the project of planting fruit trees in the park will move forward and we can plant them in January.

A garden in the Mission that I worked in for over 20 years (and haven’t worked in for over 3 years) has got new life it seems (and a new garden hand named Ricardo). The All in Common Garden on 23rd street between Shotwell and Folsom Sts. has a new name, Kali Gardens (and a new beautiful sign). I met Ricardo when he came to help at the Free Farm and the Free Farm Stand. I helped steer him to the garden and the place seems to be a good fit.  I went in the garden last week (it has been a long time) and it has become a neat little jungle that is quite beautiful and amazing. I was blown away! Ricardo has already done a lot of work. The garden though could use a lot of help, especially making it less a jungle. If I get the time I hope to help Ricardo out. I can’t quite figure out the times the garden is open, but it seems according to the sign, it is open Monday and Wednesdays at 1pm (and almost everyday from 2pm-5pm).

New Signold sign