I just put up on our website a short video made last year by a visitor from Japan named Junko from CyClub, “an international artists collective transformational Gypsy Punk Band”. Look under the sidebar under Explore Videos etc. I liked this video and it really gives you the flavor of what the Free Farm Stand is all about. Junko and her band will be playing at our party.
This week it was colder than our usual sunny summer weather in winter and I was bundled up because I felt like I may be coming down with a cold that has been going around. It was a fun day and at some point the sun did peek through the clouds.
Pam came by with bags of goodies including Bay leaves and arugula and she also brought five Yacón plants and some edible tubers. By the way she mentioned that city college is still looking for someone to replace her horticultural teaching job there and she said she would mentor the new person that got the position…seems like a great opportunity. You can see the job description here: https://jobs.ccsf.edu/applicants/jsp/shared/frameset/Frameset.jsp?time=1326742016132.
Ruby Streaks mustard
Yacón tuber and plant
Last week I tried cooking the Yacón tubers by roasting them and my conclusion is I like them better raw. It was nice to give people a sample of the root to taste before they took a plant. We also gave out lettuce,kale, and calendula seedlings. A couple of neighbors brought lemons to share, it is that lemon season beginning again.
Since last week when I wrote about the town in Great Britain growing all it’s own vegetables and I suggested just one San Francisco neighborhood growing all it’s own vegetables , two similar ideas have floated to the surface. One is this idea that came out in the Chronicle, “Self-sufficiency in Meyer lemons is the goal of a citywide project supported by Friends of the Urban Forest, set to start early this spring…”(http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/01/11/DDG91MLC5N.DTL). Of course I love this project and I am sure we all know of lemon trees growing somewhere (though I don’t see why they have to be Meyer Lemons). I can think of at least 6 trees I know of off the top of my head. No one will go hungry if there is a lemon in every pot. Actually I would also like to see us become self-sufficient in avocados (at least here in the Mission), then really with both lemons and avocados we can live off guacamole.
Then I read this post in the Kitchen Gardens SF digest by Lynda Smith <lyndasmith55@gmail.com> Jan 12 04:32PM -0800
“Hi, everyone… I wanted to share with you a dream I have for my new neighborhood: To convert every available space to food gardens, a la this town in England:
http://www.naturalnews.com/034412_home_gardening_vegetables_civic_buildings.html.
I don’t yet know who to connect with in Bernal about this idea. If you know of anyone, please let me know. I might start with the garden coordinators of the Dogpatch-Miller Community Garden and the Wolfe Lane Community Garden, which are four minutes away from where I live now. And if you’d be interested in joining me in this effort, please let me know…Lynda
I think it is amazing how a ideas and dreams travel around in space and that right now a lot of us are envisioning similar thoughts about growing food locally.
Don’t forget the California Rare Fruit Growers Scion Exchange comiong up this Saturday January 21st Saturday, January 21, 2012 12 noon to 3:00 PM at Laney College Student Center Bldg, 900 Fallon Street , Oakland (1 block from Lake Merritt BART station). This is the way we become fruit self-sufficient!
More pictures from the day:
kale and chard from the Free Farm
my longtime friend Joe came by with extra calendars he
had printed with beautiful Maya Paintings that he gave out
our fabulous volunteer crew