In this day of internet communication it seems that news of whatever we do can spread across the globe. So I heard about Sharing Gardens in Oregon (http://thesharinggardens.blogspot.com/) a few years back stumbling around the web and was inspired about their project…offering free produce to those in need. Today I got an email from Rey in the Philippines who started a project inspired by Chris and Llyn’s Oregon project (http://breadhomessharinggarden.blogspot.com/). They call it the Bread and Home Sharing Garden and they say”we started this project hoping to learn the importance of gardening and sharing.” Lllyn told him about us and we are all inspiring each other. I wonder what this all means? And is there really the possibility of affecting large global change by or even small local change by people engaging in small beautiful inspiring actions? Of course for people like myself I am just doing the Free Farm Stand and the Free Farm because it seems like a good thing for me to be doing at this time on my journey.
The two most exciting adventures for me this week related to the Stand was doing some harvesting and bringing the bounty to the Stand. In my backyard I harvested all the potatoes that were coming up everywhere from previous plantings last year. I had 20 pounds of beautiful and tasty spuds. I also harvested some Portuguese kale or cabbage leaves from Esperanza garden. That is a garden that I haven’t hung out in very much since the Free Farm has consumed a lot of my time, but one that I love…a little vacant lot tucked in between two buildings. It actually gets more sun than I ever thought and because of the masonry wall on one side, the heat builds up in there. Right now it seems like the garden could use more people to maintain it and keep the planting and harvest going.
Talking about help needed in gardens, the Free Farm has seen a decline in volunteers in the last 6 months, I am not sure why. What we need more than anything is to find people who can learn some basic farming skills and be able to help lead workdays. We are also in need of horse manure. We would rent a large truck if we had a driver and at this point we would even welcome someone with a pick up truck to pick up free manure that is at the stable by the beach. Please contact me if you can help.
Portuguese Kale or Cabbage leaves and Cuban Oregano
we gave out orange/yellow rocoto peppers to everyone that took home a plant…and we also gave out the last of our summer seedlings and bouquets of lavender
our wonderful volunteer crew cooling off
great day for a picnic with Mike’s homemade pickles this week
Jay and Clara showed up with their twins in tow, Nela with the yellow dress and Valen with the flower skirt
could the day couldn’t get any better with some hot sunshine and twin 1 1/2 year olds?
Yes…some burning of sage of the park and stand by our friend
and neighborhood holy man Jorge
Just returned from the hearing of the Land Use and Economic Development Committee of the Board of Supervisors. The committee approved the San Francisco Urban Agriculture legislation with the amendments suggested the San Francisco Urban Agriculture Alliance. One of the amendments that the committee came up with is to have one full time staff position for the new urban agriculture program. I guess the next step will be that the legislation will go to the mayor.
Joyce, our greeter at the Free Farm, told me last week about an operetta directed by Leonard Bernstein based on Voltaire’s novella Candide. She says the operetta ended with a song Make our Garden Grow (in the novella the words are we must cultivate our garden). I like that philosophy!