Our lovely Cristina dropped by today announcing the arrival of Florida oranges for the Free Farm Stand. Of course I knew what she was talking about since yesterday she came by my house to grab some boxes and somehow manage to ride her bike with them to Florida Street where she was going to pick some oranges from a tree that was loaded.
This to me is what the Free Farm Stand is all about…neighbors growing food and sharing their surplus with others in need. Later in the day we got more oranges left over from the farmer’s market (it is the season), but the “Florida” oranges got me much more excited…and they were sweet and delicious and it blows away the idea that you can’t grow oranges in San Francisco. Having a beautiful friend and angel climb the tree and pick them made the bounty even more special and wonderful, and I wonder how many people realized what a gift they were.
some of the many seedlings we gave away…they were very popular
The other thing about the Free Farm Stand is that we are about is getting neighbors together and building community. I had great pleasure in planting a blueberry bush with a neighborhood young farmer in our up and coming community orchard. How lucky will he be when he can come back to the park maybe in two years and pick some blueberries and eat them fresh from the orchard.
We are looking for small jars baby food size or a little larger to put honey in from our farm to give away. Please bring any ones you have laying around to the Stand. I am also looking for someone with a pick-up truck that would like to help us get manure for our farm.
I am usually at the Stand every Sunday so I miss a lot of great events happening around town or across the bay. Earth Day is coming up Aprill 22 . Alemany Farm whom we have been growing seedlings with at the Free Farm, is having their annual Earth Day Celebration (http://www.alemanyfarm.org/spring-planting-continues-earth-day-celebration-apr-22/). The festivities will begin around 10:30 AM and will go until sunset. Our blog at http://thefreefarm.org/ has a nice write up about a recent tour of Alemany.
Also in the East Bay the farmers are marching:
On April 22nd, Bay area farmers, community gardeners, and families
will gather for a day of education and action that highlights our
relationship to the Earth, the land, and the food we grow from it.
This year, we will march for “Food sovereignty”, the right of
communities to their own healthy, local, sustainably grown food.
Our demand for food sovereignty is an acknowledgement that our plate
and our planet are more often controlled by international markets and
corporate profits than what’s best for our collective health. We
invite you to march in solidarity with the farmers and gardeners who
grow food for our community, and for your own right to nutritious
food, seed, and soil.
Activist Guest Speakers * Children’s Activities * Music * Farmer’s
Bloc: tractors, animals, overalls, oh yeah!
These activists are the Diggers of our times! From the song the World Turned Upside Down (Diggers) by Leon Rosselson:
We come in peace, they said
To dig and sow
We come to work the land in common
And to make the waste land grow
This earth divided
We will make whole
So it can be
A common treasury for all.
The sin of property
We do disdain
No one has any right to buy and sell
The earth for private gain…
Like Negri points out: This is a Republic of Property.