Author: Tree

I just got an email from an international publisher of art and design books who wants the Free Farm to be included in a new book to be called Urban Farming.  They want to “celebrate the energy, attitude, and creativity” of “committed amateurs” like us. It often feels like we are committed amateurs trying our hardest to grow a lot of food to feed the masses and to do so in a way that fosters community and sharing.

We are still working on maintaining a regular weekly supply of farm grown produce. Our biggest challenge is coming up with a constant supply of seedlings to replace the plants when we harvest them.  I need to take a chill pill on this, because no matter how much food we grow, it will never be enough to supply to everyone we would like.  What transforms our project from a food giveaway program to a special community event is that we encourage people who come to “shop” to consider growing some of their own produce and bring their surplus to share. To be honest only a small number of people who come by understand what we are really about and bring something to share like extra fruit or produce that is growing in their backyard or community garden. So it makes it all the more special and exciting to me when people come by Sunday to the stand with a bag of something to share with others.

This week I didn’t meet the person who brought the cucumbers (18lbs!). Also, someone brought 15lbs of lemons, Produce to the People brought  23lbs of cherry plums, a neighbor also brought plums. Pam brought a small amount of produce, but more exciting is she brought me a half dozen broccoli plants  and she showed me how to identify the eggs on the back of the leaves that turn into caterpillars that destroy the plants. Plus she brought some florist tape and showed me how to wrap the stem with the tape to prevent root maggots.  A  blind neighbor and her lovely children, who were some of the first  people to come to the stand two years, came by to share with me some granola they made, and on the lid of the plastic container they put it inwas a “label” on it with a drawing by one of her sons. Actually I think the kids made the granola too.  I cherish all these people who bring something to share with others, it just makes the stand a lot more fun and wonderful;  it is like a secret part of what is going on that  you have to be in the know to know it is happening.

More on sharing: Mike continues to amaze me with his contribution to our free farm stand performance. The bread table is like a beautiful side show and this week besides the hummus he brought, a number of people, including myself, brought samples of our jams and compotes. Phil and Robyn brought jam and I think her apricot jam (one of my favorite fruits) was out of this world.

The amount of leftover stone fruit from the farmer’s market has probably reached it’s peak in the last few weeks and again this week the amount we got was almost unreal.  I am cooking more jam as I write, made from the over soft leftovers of the leftovers.  We need a fruit processing team who can be called on in a moment’s notice to pick up leftover fruit and process it. We also need more canning jars and lids and a food dryer would be awesome. It would be great to store some of this bounty to give away during the winter when there is little local seasonal fruit around. Let’s turn loose on the world free jams and chutney’s  (and hard ciders and wines for our celebrations)!

I noticed that the Hayes Valley Farm and the Wigg Party had another produce giveaway on Sunday.  From the photo I saw they had a truck load of stone fruit also. I wonder if they have a need for jam makers too. Morgan who is one of the organizers wrote about how easy it is to do, to collect the waste from the farmer’s market and give it away. I would agree to a certain degree, but the hard part is to sustain a regular project over a long period of time. How many of us are in it for the long haul? I wonder if this is going to be a weekly event and what their hours will be. Also, there is a lot of food going to waste out there and how do we all work together and not duplicate efforts collecting it and sharing it, and not compete for the free resources out there?

Talk about running a project that really needs a reliable volunteer crew every week, I feel that the Free Farm Stand has been so lucky so far to cultivate such a crew.  Though I do need to find some people interested in learning how to coordinate the stand so I don’t have to be there every week. For example, coming up Sunday  September 19 I need someone to run the stand that day because I have to go to a design meeting for a greenhouse at the Free Farm.

Last Saturday Finn took over coordinating the Free Farm so I got a much needed break and spent some time getting my own backyard garden in shape. This Wednesday Griff will take my place again at the farm. I really appreciate being able step away once in a while.

There is nothing secret here nor are we exposing any covert activity. We are not WikiLeeks  The power of word of mouth is not to be underestimated. There is joy in service, karma yoga, performing a mitzvot or good deed, and sharing with our neighbors. We have a fantastic long harvest season here in the Bay Area and at the Free Farm Stand the word has gotten around that a weekly celebration and happy harvest hootenanny, something we just can’t put a word to, is happening.

I took only a few photos this week of the bounty.  I especially liked the different varieties of potatoes we harvested from the farm. We are also getting a nice variety of squash from both the Free Farm and 18^th and Rhode Island.

squash just harvested from 18th and Rhode Island

We  are still harvesting green beans (some that are purple until cooked), kale, a small amount of broccoli, and some garlic. We are newbie farmers and without a greenhouse and a constant supply of vegetable seedlings, so we are going to have some gaps in between harvests. Also, we are giving away produce at the Free Farm on Saturdays, so we have less to bring to the stand. And no one seems to be planting more at 18^th and Rhode Island, don’t know what is planted at the Secret Garden at the moment (we are getting lots of plums), Esperanza is doing great, and so is Treat Commons. My backyard also needs planting. Produce to the People keeps supplying us with local gleaned fruit (now it is plums and they just got a lot of apples from a tree that was heavily pruned…mostly green apples). Towards the end of the day at the Free Farm Stand we sort of start all over and a new line of people forms. The amount of produce we are getting is phenomenal, especially in the fruit department. I was happy that at least one person told me they were inspired by the fruit compote I gave away last week and is going to start making it. I showed him a box of ripe squishy fruit and he went through it. We can still use fruit processors to make compote, jam, pies, fruit leather, or whatever. Or we can use a fruit dryer. To get an idea of theamount of fruit we had,we had over 17 cases of perfect organic strawberries (I brought a half dozen berries from the farm).

The Free Farm keeps progressing. Last Wednesday we had a fantastic group of 19 visitors from a church in Mt. Vernon Washington and it is amazing how much can get done with people power.  We are finishing the creation of the last planting beds and now we are going to need seedlings more than ever to get our fall crops in. Yesterday I heard Temple-Emanu-El, who is opening the farm on the 1^st Sunday of the month, had ten people volunteer and created some new planting beds and watered. I am so amazed and proud that we have harvested over a half of a ton of produce in five months on the land.

There is a lot of great news this week. Produce to the People has launched their fundraising drive and they made a nice video that has a lot of footage of what they do:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1216293948/produce-to-the-people-community-through-food.

We are so close with this group and totally support their efforts. They are one of the cornerstones of the Free Farm Stand and the Free Farm. We really want to see Lauren be able to somehow keep doing the great work she is doing and not having to work full time and possibly lose her to the work-a-day world.

Another shining diamond in the world of service is our friend Pancho who is currently taking time away from San Francisco and the free projects here, and is involved in a non-violent campaign to bring justice and love to Arizona. Recently he got arrested and then miraculously released (after a facebook entry said he was on fast tract to being deported). Anyway, we are keeping our ears and eyes open about what is next for him and see if there is going to be a trial. Much love and prayers for Pancho and all the others involved in this effort.  This issue is related to our work in so many ways. For one thing, think about who harvests most of the food that winds up on our tables.

Lastly I was humored and delighted to hear that Hayes Valley Farm and the Wigg Party is starting a  “Fresh Produce Free-for-all” on Sundays: Below is the email I got from Jay:

Hate seeing food go to waste? Love fresh produce from the Farmers’ Markets? Is your money from last year’s harvest season starting to run out? The Wigg Party and Hayes Valley Farm are here to solve a whole lot of problems with one simple action: We’re going to gather the food that goes unsold at the Farmers’ Markets and give it away at HVF.

If you want to help gather food on Saturday or Sunday, contact morgan@wiggparty.org. If you simply want to get some free produce for the week, come by the Farm on Sunday (times are subject to change. It’s the first week. We’ll be learning by doing). Tell your friends!  Diggers, eat your heart out.

And here is what the Wigg Party wrote about it:

“Really exciting new project between the Wigg Party and Hayes Valley Farm! We’re going to gather the food that goes unsold at the Farmers’ Markets and give it away at HVF. Can you help collect? We need people to gather on Saturday and Sunday. Do you have a truck, car, bike trailer or little red wagon? You can feed hungry people this week. Action is sexy”

On their Facebook page they also wrote this:

What a bounty! Fresh produce free or all between the Wigg Party and Hayes Valley Farm a success. We’re not even done collecting. Come get some goodness. It’s free because it’s yours!

Sounds like they filled a truck and a car with left-over produce from the Alemany’s Farmer’s Market and brought it to HVF. Here are some pictures they posted on the HVF blog:

http://www.hayesvalleyfarm.com/blog/327-honeybeesandsharingabundance.html

I  think it is great they are getting inspiration from the Diggers, a source of our inspiration too. Maybe people in that neighborhood that go to the Free Farm Stand will now go there and save the hike across town. A Free Farm Stand in every neighborhood!

This is what it is all about on Sundays at the Free Farm Stand. Though sometimes it seems it may be tough love when I am trying to keep some people in line who are being too grabby or greedy when reaching for free vegetables.

It is really about boundless love everyday as far as I am concerned, despite the sad or bitter news mixed in with the joy in our lives. Last week we heard about the senseless attack on bees at the Hayes Valley Farm, a seemingly small tragedy when considering the tragedies happening all around the planet these days, but it really hits home when  you consider that we are living in the city of St. Francis, a city of love for all species, and a certain tolerance and acceptance for those creatures in our midst who may be different or who may even sting once in a while. I balance out this unfortunate digression from peace and harmony by thinking about our friend, comrade, and fellow farmer Pancho who is in Arizona helping lead a battle against racism and unjust immigration law. Courage grows everywhere like the wild poppies that come up in our gardens. Yesterday our own Pastor Megan whom we work with at the Free Farm got welcomed back into her church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, along with six other openly gay pastors, at a ceremony down the street from the Free Farm at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/26/us/26lutheran.html?_r=3). I was inspired by the words of one of the reinstated pastors “all people are loved unconditionally by God”.

The harvest was small from the Free Farm this week and a lot of it was given away there to neighbors. Fortunately we had a good harvest of zucchini from 18^th and Rhode Island and a number of people dropped by with produce.  A woman from Bernal Heights dropped off plums from her tree to share and another woman came by with a few apples (the rest are not ready to harvest yet). Pam sent by some folks with 17 lbs of favas from City College. We also had some surplus produce from Treat Commons Community Garden. Produce to the People and Lauren showed up with her high school summer students to help out and they also brought a lot of plums they gleaned the day before. I brought by two gallons of organic fruit compote I made to share and to teach people about how to use soft and very ripe fruit. Clara brought some apricot jam to share. Mike has become a star at the bread table. He brought some homemade hummus and then at the end of the stand put on a fabulous cooking demonstration of how to use bitter melon. For some reason we have been getting a lot of bitter melon left over from the Farmer’s Market and I think we only have a small percentage of our crowd that is familiar with cooking and eating it.

Mike brought a wok and also some cooked rice and showed us all how to prepare the melons by scraping out the inside and the seeds and stir frying it with onions, garlic, and ginger and his secret ingredient preserved black beans. He brought ornamental ginger leaves from his garden and made these beautiful wraps of rice and vegetables (later he made some with other vegetables like carrots and the yard long beans we had gotten from the market too). It was so elegant and simple, and I must admit though I haven’t been converted to bitter melon love, I overcame my fear of that vegetable. Though it tasted bitter it was ok. Knowing it must have healing properties made me feel even better eating it.

The Free Farm keeps on growing. We are still learning to be urban farmers and are trying to figure out how to have a continuous harvest every week. We just got a couple of loads of manure and some rock minerals, so the best thing we are doing now is making soil. out of barren land.  Also, Griff  is making some great compost and with the new signs that Hannah made,  our composting area looks terrific. Whenever I think we are almost finished creating the infrastructure I see new areas that can be worked on. It really helps having three summer interns not only for the Farm but the Stand and I have been thinking we should be lining up some replacements for them when they leave sometime in August. We also are continuing to explore the idea of making the farm not only a place that grows food for the poor and hungry, but a place to connect with the divine and the power of creation.

The Free Farm Stand got in the news several times last week. I posted the links on our right hand sidebar under Free Farm Stand in the Media. I haven’t included a link to Edible San Francisco magazine just because that publication somewhat turns me off with their focus on beautiful food that is priced so high that some people can’t afford it (http://ediblecommunities.com/sanfrancisco/index.php?/Issue-21/urban-agtivist-cultivating-an-urban-agroecology.html). In this recent issue they write about our friends Produce to the People and the Free Farm Stand gets mentioned as a “free food program”. I would only like to be known as that by a foundation that would want to give me money. We are a simple start-up group promoting the business of love and transformation through community sharing and caring. Or something hippy dippy and unpractical like that.