Author: Tree

Not much to write about this week about the Free Farm Stand. It seems to be running on auto-pilot. We have such a solid volunteer crew that sorts goes through the many boxes of vegetables, mostly the unsold produce from the farmer’s market , but this week four of the boxes of produce were from the Free Farm. Sometimes volunteers have a hard time keeping the “Hecka Local” separate from the other  local produce, it often looks the same, both high quality and fresh. I tell the volunteers that the Free Farm Stand has a secret message that we don’t necessarily want to keep secret, that we are not just about giving free high quality produce away. We are trying to inspire people to grow some of their own food and by seeing the produce that we grow or that some other garden grows and brings to the stand they might feel that they can grow things too. That is why we also give out seedlings and this week according to Rachel and who was taking charge of the garden table, the starts were more popular than last week. We gave away a lot. I often wonder are people having success from the plants we give away, I get some feedback but not a lot.

I just realized it was about 4 years ago that Ariel from the Bay Guardian posted this video of our Free Farm Stand, just months after we had opened (I saw Ariel yesterday at the Stand and we have remained friends which I think is so awesome). The poppies growing in June in the garden are still hanging around and there are the same apricots growing and at the same stage of development, and most amazing the show still goes on.  A neighborhood production that has grown in size (no more a bike cart being used to bring the produce to market), but the story  line remains the same.

It is stone fruit season and we are stoners and stoked with all the fresh tasty fruit and fruit love coming our way!  (in  India I learned it is Mango Season  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/04/world/asia/mango-season-has-india-in-thrall.html?partner=rss&emc=rss)

I got an email from a woman named Helen who requested  fruit for 30 kids she is working with this summer. Luckily because we are getting this large donation we were able to help her out.  This is some of what she wrote me that got me excited:

“”I serve the youth and families in the San Francisco school district. My team works with some of the most underserved students in SF. We have organized a summer program for our high school students whose parents are either farmer workers or work in the fishing industry. Most of these families live in the Mission and struggle to survive and often work long hours to support their children. This is one of the biggest reasons we offer these particular students extended learning opportunities in the summer. The exciting news is that we have also organize another special learning opportunities for these youth. Thirty of these particular students will be learning meditation this summer as part of their summer programming. On the first four day of instruction they will learn to meditate through a program called Quiet Time. Please go to this link to understand this important work we are doing in SFUSD,  http://www.cwae.org/. On the first day of summer school, all of these students need to bring one piece of organic fruit for their celebration…””

It just so happened that Helen got to meet Pancho, one of  our local love activists who sits in silent receptiveness a lot (he and I actually were sitting in the garden before the Stand started coming to life and he was still in the same spot when Helen dropped by). I love how we can help foster connections between people and I think Pancho offered to go to their class and teach talk to the students in her class.

Pancho’s dad was visiting from Mexico and helped us set up and joined our circle

I do believe we all need quiet time  in our lives to reduce stress and to be more centered and to quiet our minds. I personally am slow at modifying my behaviors and being a bit more disciplined…but currently I am trying to take time out my life to sit in receptive silence two times a day for 10 minutes to begin with as a personal goal.

 apples on a tree in our mini-orchard in the garden next to the Stand

 The Board of Supervisors hearing on the proposed Urban Agriculture legislation was postponed and there is a tentative date of June 11th (it will probably  be the same time, same place: 1:00 pm at City Hall, Room 263). I think it would be good if we can all support this legislation though it needs some improvements. I sent in a letter to all the supervisors in support of the legislation with my ideas.  For details on how to do that go here http://www.sfuaa.org/urban-ag-legislation-2012.html. Here is some of what I wrote:

May 31, 2012

Dear Supervisors:

I urge you to support the proposed urban agriculture legislation introduced in April (Ordinance 120404) with some amendments included in a letter and report from Robert Joyce. At the end of my letter I have summarized his recommendations which I think are good ones and that I support. I do not at this time have any wisdom to know if the proposed Office of Urban Agriculture should be run by the city or a non-profit.

Besides agreeing with the recommendations by Robert Joyce whom I have met and talked to considering this matter, I have one of my own personal concerns that I think the legislation should address and that I think it is weak on. That is the issue of what is now being called “Food Justice” and “Food Sovereignty”. ..

In San Francisco, 1 in 5 adults struggles to feed their family (http://www.sffoodbank.org/about_hunger/local_study.html-– A look at hunger in San Francisco: neighborhood profiles of hunger and foodpantries).  Through the process of being disconnected from our food and our communities we have become disempowered and often disenfranchised…

So any legislation that encourages urban agriculture should also strongly address the issue of hunger and poverty in our city.  That an effort should be made to make sure that people without much money have access to resources  for free to grow their own food if necessary. In other words, the neighborhood garden resource centersshould be free. That the city should encourage the creation of not only more community gardens, but also farms that feed people in need like ours does. For example, I have been involved in the creation of a new park in my neighborhood at 17^th and Folsom on a PUC owned parking lot that the city is buying.  This would be a great opportunity to create a non-profit farm there that is run by volunteer neighbors and is modeled after Alemany Farm which gives away it’s produce to its low income neighbors. However, I see no effort by the city to encourage this kind of enterprise. Another great example is Growing Home Garden that shows how gardens can be healing for homeless people and also people with mental and emotional issues.Urban Agriculture legislation needs to address that as well.

Sincerely,

Tree

Project Coordinator

Excerpt from REPORT FROM AN URBAN FARMER

May 31, 2012

…To sustain these projects and to create more like it, a fully funded Office of Urban Agriculture with dedicated staff members is appropriate.  I recommend that this new Office be staffed as following:

One full-time staff member and one half-time staff member to oversee the Program.  They will staff “a “one-stop shop” for Urban Agriculture that would provide information, programming, and technical assistance to all San Francisco residents, businesses, and organizations wishing to engage in UrbanAgriculture” that is described in the proposed legislation.

Four half-time staff members, to act as Resource Coordinators at four Resource Centers to be located on existing urban agriculture sites that are on public land, “that provide residents with resources such as compost, seeds, and tools” as described in the proposed legislation…

The goals outlined in both the SPUR report and the proposed legislation are admirable.  However, I question whether some of those goals are appropriate at this time, and for this legislation.  How was the goal of ten new urban agriculture projects reached?  Are new sites the appropriate focus when there is so little publicly-funded support and staff for existing projects?  I would welcome more rooftop gardens, but is an audit of public buildings (listed as the first goal in the proposed legislation) the best use of limited resources at thispoint?  Fundamentally, I question the wisdom of legislating goals and timelines in the absence of any funding or staffing parameters.

Finally, a brief report back from the immigration hearing for Pancho held last week in down town San Francisco. First of all the place where immigration hearings are held is by nature scary. You have to go through a metal  detector  to get in to the waiting lobby and  personally these machines make me feel uptight and nervous.

Despite this initial wave of nervousness, it turned out to be an amazing experience for me.  First of all the little courtroom was packed not only with other people there for their immigration case, but with the community of people that love and support Pancho. There were probably twenty people there, including his father and a man visiting from India, Jayesh Patel, who lives at the Gandhi Ashram  there, and many people I knew. It was like a family reunion.

Seeing how the hearing  process works was interesting and sad. The legal word that is used for people being deported is “removal”. So one after another, lawyers of all kinds (women and men and  different races and all with different styles some buoyant and upbeat some seemingly more business like) came up with their clients who were to be removed.  Most of their clients were Hispanic.  One case after another, so efficiently they were asked the question which country for removal would they like to choose if things don’t work out. Another question was what is their preferred language.The judge seemed nice enough though it seemed every case was sort of the same, seems like everyone wanted and got extensions or more time, some until 2015! When Pancho and his lawyer got up, his lawyer asked for more time to develop his case.  He was given an extension until December 18th of this year. When asked about his country of removal he replied with something like I am from Planet Earth so that question doesn’t make sense.  When asked which language he perfers English or Spanish, he said he likes the language from the heart. The judge surprisingly didn’t think he was wisecracking and seemed to come more alive and friendly. The whole uptighness of the place for a moment was transformed, like a bright light was shined into the room. He tried to give the judge a gift, an Earth Flag, but she couldn’t accept it, but let him deliver a message. He said very sweetly his acknowledgement of all the people who were there in support, including his father and all the love warriors and how he supported all the others who have to come before the court. The judge at one point said she cannot change immigration policy and can only deal with one case at a time and they both were in agreement. After the brief  meeting with the judge was over we all left the courtroom and the lawyer and all met in the lobby to talk about what was next. I noticed one of the big burly security guards was standing still watching the scene in amazement and it seemed the love vibe from all the beautiful people again transformed the scene there. Then some little boy who was there not part of our circle, went around   as an ambassador of kindness, shaking everyone’s hand. It was really beautiful!

 

Yesterday was a celebration day and the Free Farm Stand was surrounded by joy and abundant good cheer. Besides there being a carnival parade and festivities one block over from the Stand, it was Pentecost.  These religious holidays  need translation, and to me any day is holy that celebrates the divine and wondrous  spirit …we need not be afraid of religions and their holidays. They are all recycled festivals and celebrations giving thanks and appreciation.  I am thinking of a song by Bob Marley: “”Give thanks and praise to the Lord and I will feel all right.”
“Let’s get together and feel all right.”

I read that in the Eastern Orthodox Church Pentecost is a feast day similar to the Jewish holiday Shavuot  (which happens fifty days after Passover) and is also associated with a harvest festival. So clergy and congregants carry flowers and green branches and often churches are decorated with green. By coincidence, we brought a ton of flowers to the Free Farm Stand yesterday and two volunteers spent the day making bouquets and handing them out.  I love giving out flowers which make everyone both boys and girls smile.

free plants & seedlings and flowers what a combo!

Another celebration that is related to Pentecost and Shavuot is the First Fruits offering. The first harvest is offered to the church or temple, similar to the Hindus first offering of prasād or a gift to a diety. We harvested the first fruits from our zucchini plants and brought some to the Stand and that felt really special. Also, the first stone fruits of the season have starting coming in and the abundance in our “second shift” is truly amazing. As much as I love giving away flowers, I love even more sharing  fresh fruit. I also love growing fruit trees and picking fresh fruit . How closer to heaven can one get with that experience?

It is especially joyful to get to know one’s neighbors and to be blessed with the chance to help someone out that you know  when you can. Yesterday a neighbor I have known for over 15 years came by the stand for the first time. His daughter with three children had been coming to the stand off and on for a while and I hadn’t seen her in while. I asked about her and he said that is why he was there, because she just had another baby and he was picking up produce for her.

Kim with goodies from the Secret Garden

Other things going on:

In the world of politics, an area that I try to keep out of as much as possible, Supervisor David Chiu introduced legislation to create an urban agriculture program in the city:

“The program proposed in the legislation will coordinate efforts among agencies on specific, measurable targets with timelines; increase accountability by placing responsibility for coordination and reaching the goals with a specific person and agency; and begin a strategic planning process and evaluation that will help make better use of existing city resources that support city gardeners and farmers. “

You can read about the legislation here  (download the actual ordinance) and see how to send a letter to the board of supervisors to support  this legislation: http://www.sfuaa.org/urban-ag-legislation-2012.html.

A guy came by our farm the other day who was visiting urban farms and engaged me in a conversation about this legislation. He wants to advocate for an “independent Office of Urban Agriculture” and thinks there is a need for “one full time staff person and four half-time people fully dedicated to urban agriculture” that get out of the office and go to the urban farms and gardens. I liked his ideas and we both want to see funds going to really supporting urban farmers and gardeners and helping them accesses the resources they need. For example, in the ordinance one of the goals  is

“(6)  To open garden resource centers in neighborhoods across the City, either at existing or new

sites, that provide residents with resources such as compost, seeds, and tools, with at least 5 completed

by January 1, 2014; “.

I would like to see those resources offered to residents for free. Also, I think the legislation is weak in addressing the issue of food justice. Not only should people not go hungry, but everyone should have access to healthy local and organic produce, despite their economic situation.

It is exciting to see this legislation coming up and I think we all need to be advocates for it, but at the same time we have to try to make sure any government money that is spent goes not just into salaries and directly benefits those of us on the grass roots level. And serves the poor especially.

Above I was praising homegrown fruit trees and here is an opportunity to vote in support of a project that is all about planting fruit trees starting with Just One Tree (the money would go to subsidizing trees for low income people). Here is a note from Isabel Wade for her Just One Tree Project:

We are searching for our last 100 votes by next Wed (May 31st) to move up to
the top 10 winning slots of the Odwalla contest… The other 2 SFtree planting
groups are in the top 10, so this is a way that we can get FOOD into the
winning circle too. Thanks so much for all your help with this.

Did you vote for lemons yet? Just One Tree is in the national Odwalla
competition. Please vote at https://cocacola.promo.eprize.com/odwallapat/
Like Us: facebook.com/JustOneTreeSF
Share Us: Twitter.com/JustOneTreeSF

Here is a beautiful but very long open letter from Pancho with his thoughts related to the Occupy the Farm http://earthlingopinion.wordpress.com/2012/05/14/open-letter-to/.

“…This is a warm invitation to collectively step up our love, truth and courage. You could be within or without the system, inside or outside a corporation, it really doesn’t matter. We must appeal to our highest aspirations.

If you are not a religious person this means it is time to bring more integrity to your life to fully develop your potential as a compassionate, courageous, loving, kind and wise human being.

If you are a religious person this means that it is time to bring God, Allah, Yahweh, Krishna, Rama, Buddha, Jesus or whatever name you use, closer to your life. Acknowledge God in your heart and let it shine.”

I am sending out a prayer for Pancho who goes to see an immigration judge tomorrow.  Again he is the one of three people arrested for meditating at Occupy Oakland for bringing peace to the scene there.  The charges were dropped but he was released to ICE and thus a day with the judge has come up.

It is hard for me to wrap my mind around giving just a report about the Free Farm Stand this morning as I am thinking about the take over of the Gill Track Land by the Occupy the Farm people in Albany. I actually know a number of the occupiers there who are beautiful and idealistic and they are the Diggers of our generation. My heart sings out to those who challenge the idea of private property and this does tie into the work we are doing with our Free Farm Stand and the Free Farm.

There is a good article here to catch those of you up to speed about the Occupy the Farm: occupy the farm faces backlash

The latest news is that nine people got arrested this morning outside the land, apparently 100 UC police showed up, and a tractor was brought in (to till the land?). Apparently one protestor was up in a tree on the land and I don’t know what happen with him. Also, the law suit against 14 occupiers is still going ahead as far as I know…including suits against to two people Pancho and Anya who have helped us at the Free Farm Stand and the Free Farm.

About the arrest here: nine arrested. More coverage: http://takebackthetract.com/.

In the statement by the University they say :

“It is no cause for celebration that the involvement of law enforcement is required to secure our fundamental property rights and protect a core value that is an indivisible part of who we are: academic freedom; the ability of our faculty and students to pursue their scientific interests without interference.”

Of course, they have denied access to the land by the researches who support the occupiers…maybe now they will let them return.  But there it is, the fundamental right  to property.  I just saw a new high digital image of our mother earth. I swear it is enough to sing, “This earth divided we will make whole.”

They do say something perhaps hopeful in their statement:

“…even as we work to preserve the crops planted by the occupiers where there is no conflict with our research needs.”

Though I read on Twitter some police trampled the crops.

I have been corresponding with my friend Christy who was one of the first people to help me run the Free Farm Stand and I was telling her how I thought the occupiers should vacate the land (which they finally did) and participate in dialogue with the University (which they didn’t because the university has a poor rack record with really doing what the community wants with the land). Christy I think is so much better than me in expressing what the core of the issue is here and what should be done:

“…it also never seemed to me that occupy the farm intended to do more than dramatize and publicize the issue and show the university’s greed and hypocrisy–just as occupy wall street never really intended to actually set up a permanent village outside the stock exchange, or on any of the town squares or city halls around the country where groups sprang up last fall. I don’t think any of these actions has actually succeeded in getting any land, but that’s like saying the lunch counter sit-ins in the civil rights movement never actually got anybody served lunch. Nor did the AIM occupation of Alcatraz actually get that land or any land permanently given back to American Indians.  Whether one agrees or disagrees with the idea of takeovers, I think they have to be judged on other terms than whether or how long people get to stay. To me it’s really just part of a longer, difficult process of waking people up to how much of the future is being stolen from them because of greed.

…You are right that the media focuses all the attention on the illegality and the police response, while that was one of the strengths of the civil rights movement (because people were protesting unjust laws) it is one of the dangers of takeovers, because more people have a knee-jerk idea that the laws that protect property ownership are legitimate.

I guess what I really think about most of these occupations is that they are a good idea, and they are happening because there is a real need for them to happen, but if they are not just one part of a much larger and varied and radical and long-term movement in which people are participating in many different ways, they will not be enough on their own to accomplish their goals. So every one of us who supports those goals has a responsibility to participate as fully as we can in some way that we think is right.”

I also think that the Occupy movement must take a strong stand on it’s commitment to non-violence and also to serving the poor. We need more commitment to love and peace in our direct actions and no one should go hungry in our world or feel like they have to make choices between getting health care or rent vs food. I also think that the Occupy must take a firm stance against money exchange and capitalism no matter how friendly. For example, I never heard a clear statement where the food would be going that was being grown on the Gill Track Land, though I did hear that the tomatoes that were planted by Professor Miguel Altieri were going to East Bay soup kitchens, as they have for years. On the weekend they did have a Mothers Day  3 week celebration of the occupation and one of the workshops being held was on setting up a CSA. To me CSA’s are examples of “good kinds” of capitalism and they are a better way of getting produce versus shopping at a supermarket. I think Free Farm Stands are better.

Yesterday I noticed that the beautiful piece of vacant land on the corner of 15^th and Dolores was finally being developed. It once was a church and then a fire burned it down. Then it was a community garden. Now it is being developed into housing…probably for rich folks or people who can afford the high cost of rents. I think development should stop everywhere in our cities and especially any land that is not built on should remain open space.  For example ,the agricultural part of the Gill Track should be open to the public and should be preserved for farming and growing food and flowers for those people in need. The rest of the land shouldn’t be developed either, but preserved as open space. The creek should be restored and if nothing else the land should be preserved as a park.

We had another great day at the Farm Stand. On Friday I helped harvest mostly greens from the 18^th and Rhode Island garden on Potrero Hill. That is a beautiful example, probably very rare, of a landlord offering his vacant land up to the community to be used for growing food. The San Francisco Permaculture Guild has a food forest growing there and since one of their principles is fair share, the food goes to the Free Farm for people in need. I didn’t bring my bike cart but was still able to haul home 11lbs of greens, mostly Tree collards.  Erk dropped off about 12 pounds of local lemons, Alicia from FARM next to California College of the Arts brought fava beans and some flowers for Mothers day, and Zack dropped by with more artichokes from his garden. We also brought flowers from the Free Farm and fava beans too. We also gave away a lot of seedlings of tomatoes, basil, and summer squash.

Christina made bouquets with our various flowers

Zack and Wayne