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Freeing the Greening

There is a lot of excitement in the air these days about growing and eating local and organic food. And also there is a buzz about green this and that, and sustainable is a word that comes up all the time. My project the free farm stand is popular I guess because it is part of this excitement, it is something that is real rather than just talk, in the sense that I am showing up each Sunday with what I have grown to share with my neighbors. I have been thinking a lot about this “green localvore movement” and where it is going right now.

My friend Deb showed up from Los Angeles. She moved from a monastery in Murphy’s near Yosemite where she was silent all the time, to the Silverlake neighborhood in L.A. She has started a successful green consulting business and now does a lot of talking to people about how to go green and make their lives more sustainable. She even offers people therapy for people having trouble adjusting to their new life styles. I was also happy to learn that she has helped start a garden in a woman’s shelter down there. Deb is a beautiful angel .

I must admit I like all the attention the free farm stand is getting, but I hope people connect with one of the ideas that I am trying to promote, which is to get away from the business model of doing things. It is about the crazy notion that there is more to life than making a living. That it can be totally wonderful to be a helpful person in the world in whatever way we can. For me one of those things is gardening and sharing my enthusiasm for growing food and flowers with others, turning others onto the idea of slowing down a bit and spending time with dirt and trees. And giving away any extra stuff, be it the too many things I collect or the extra food I grow does bring me joy.

I sometimes feel though that I am in a minority, that a lot of people don’t get it, that there is this pressure on me to get realistic. That the important thing we need to do is figure out is how to make a just and living wage out of the work we like do (rather than first figuring out what we have a passion for and doing it and then figuring out how to pay the rent). It is a philosophy I understand, but personally have never been aligned with in my heart.

Last Thursday I attended the funeral for Sister Pat and it was such a sweet service. Here is a woman that gave her whole life to serving others and trying to make the world more peaceful (working in Catholic Worker soup kitchens, going to prison for protesting nuclear weapons, fighting the death penalty, starting a methadone clinic). At the service, the church was packed and people expressed how much their lives were touched by her. This is more the world I feel a part of. I would like to see the merging of the Slow Food Movement, the grow your own, eat local, go green and sustainable crowd with the Catholic Worker world of working with the poor and disenfranchised, living in voluntary poverty, and basically doing things for free as a service. I must admit I am not living in voluntary poverty myself and maybe that is going a bit far (how about voluntary simplicity instead?).

Another close friend Tamar whose heart I am intertwined with was also in town briefly and we got a chance to meet for dinner and talk. Some how the topic of Wendy Johnson’s new book came up Gardening at the Dragon’s Gate. She is one of the founders of Green Gulch Farm run by the Zen Center(Tamar is really grounded by years of meditating, something on my to do list). I was telling her I would love to read the book some day, because Green Gulch Farm is so spectacular in many ways. Anyway, the day she left, the book showed up on my kitchen table with the sweetest note from her and it reminded me how precious our friendships can be. We should cultivate them like we do our plants. I started reading this book and it really blows me away how much it resonates with my own thoughts as a gardener. Here is a passage I want to share:

She says that “gardening is all about picking and choosing and following your passion. Some very basic principles inform how I garden…My seventh principle is generosity with the harvest. In the biblical book of Leviticus, one of the laws of Jewish life was not to cut the corners of the fields after the main harvest, but to leave them standing so there would be food to gleaned by the hungry, the lonely, and the stranger. I treasure this old admonition to share the bounty of the garden with all beings; it reminds me not to cut corners and to garden wholeheartedly for the benefit of both the visible and the invisible hungry world.”

I need to draw a cartoon about this.

More plums and green beans and a lot of kale

That is this week’s farm stand in a nutshell. Scarlet runner beans rule! I think they are the tastiest beans around and I like that are perennials and they are so ornamental. I picked a lot of them for the farm stand this week (over a pound!) and it seems the more I pick the more they produce.

Painted Lady Scarlet Runner Bean plants with red and white flowers (usually the flowers are all red)

My new Bernal Heights friend with her garden in San Mateo showed up with the biggest pile of purple beans ever, plus tomatoes (all cherry tomatoes of different shapes and colors) and a few chilies The yellow plum lady showed up with three more bags of plums and she said that was the last of them. I brought almost a five gallon bucket of plums from the Secret Garden (I got help this week picking them which was why we had so many). They are getting sweeter and a little tastier. And at the end of the day we were all out of plums and I could have given out more.

I got a lot of dino kale indirectly from the Ferry Building farmer’s market, actually more than I could give away. Antonio wrote the blog last week and said the word for kale could be col rizado (I tried that out with one person who still didn’t understand what it is). I also got a lot of chard which all went.

The woman with the three apple trees showed up with some more green Fuji apples and Christy brought a few red apples from the apple tree in Corona Heights Park (which is in the city park there with some other fruit trees like a fig and two lemon trees). Right after the last apples were given away Elokin and Ami who live down the street showed up with some Asian pears which was really exciting to me. It wasn’t just that I like giving away fruit and that people really like the fruit the most (and good organic fruit is so expensive), but it is the first Asian pear I have eaten that was grown in my neighborhood. I have to find out the variety name if they know it. They also brought some greens which were pretty.

A couple of other people showed up with things from their gardens. Ann Marie showed up with mizuna, oregano, and Vietnamese cilantro (that was super popular) and Lyz from Potrero Hill brought some collards. Check out these beautiful orange habenero chili peppers that another friend brought that were very popular.

New projects coming up

I attended the permaculture guild meeting that happens the first Wednesday of the month right now at the Red Vic Café. A couple of students of the permaculture class that just ended presented a short description of their designs for two new projects that are being developed. One is a new garden at 18^th and Rhode Island and the other is a rooftop garden on top of the Chronicle building. Both of those projects will grow food for the free farm stand. I put my name on the list being circulated for people that want to be involved in some way. I think what is needed now is at least one person who is really passionate about each of the projects and can make it happen by hook or by crook. Also, I have offered to help with two other projects. One is the planting of fruit trees and edible plants in Parque Niños Unidos . I keep using the word exciting, but these things do make me feel hopeful that good things can happen here if we put the energy into them. Friends of the Urban Forrest was at the meeting too, seeking to work with the guild in encouraging the planting of fruit trees in people’s front yards, and then starting a fruit gleaning project, complete with a database of fruit trees in the city. So I put my name on her list too. Also, a super local permaculture website is being designed by David and he wants to work with others in the guild on this and work also with Friends of the Urban Forest on their tree database.

It is obvious that the Free Farm Stand as a project can use more help if we expand into more gardens. I am therefore still looking for an intern to teach people how to grow a lot of food and give it away.

The Secret Garden

On Saturday four people showed up to work in the Secret Garden and we got a lot done. The plums keep falling and we picked them off the pathway and put them in our new compost pile. I pruned some branches that were hanging over the planting beds so they get more light. We picked five gallons of plums it seems and a few loquats. Tom and Heidi showed up, both experienced gardeners and prepared a bed for planting, adding old manure and turning it in. Today a woman named Jenny just showed up to enquire about Treat Commons and helped me plant kohlrabi seedlings in the bed they prepared and I prepared another bed earlier and planted lettuce mix and arugula with her. She is a new gardener for the city and drives a lawn mower and mows the city golf course dodging golf balls and getting grossed out by gofers who piss on the golf course. She pointed out that homeless people get busted for this all the time but not the golfers. She is glad to have the job, but is not excited by the turf work. I told her things will change one day and she’ll be pruning fruit trees in city parks instead of her stupid turf work. I want to get the Secret Garden in top shape and will be trying to get consistent help maintaining it.

Frida Kahlo and Luther Burbank

I went to see the Frida Kahlo show at SFMOMA and really enjoyed it. The museum is free on the first Tuesday of the month and half off admission on Thursday nights (the show is $5). I love her painting of Luther Burbank, one of my garden heroes. She was for sure a person connected with the earth and nature, and her life and paintings are so inspiring. When at the museum, I found out they are building a 14, 400 ft million dollar rooftop garden on their building. But it doesn’t look like they will be growing any food from what I saw.

Honey extraction again

The bees in our backyard are working their butts off and have produced probably another five gallons of honey. So I have put in a request for the extractor and plan to do the honey thing on Monday August 18^th. If anyone wants to learn more about bees and beekeeping and can help out at the same time please contact me.

I love the new beautiful people who show up every week…

Summer is Rockin

For all those keeping track of how things are going with the stand in terms of what we are giving away, let me tell you the last two weeks have been totally exciting. As soon as I got to the garden to set up, my friend Greg came by with the most beautiful arrangement of baby lettuces that her grew in his tiny, somewhat shady garden down the street. Then out of the blue a woman who lives in Bernal Heights showed up with a lot of produce. She grew it in a garden in San Mateo in friend’s yard there. She brought a lot of purple string beans, some tomatoes and chili peppers, and a few zucchini. I picked a number of green scarlet runner beans from Treat Commons, a few green beans from my backyard and carrots, and a few zucchini from Treat Commons and the Secret Garden, and a handful of tomatoes from all the gardens I work in. I also continue to grow sprouts and sunflower greens, partly to inspire people to grow them in their own kitchens. The selection looked great so I captured it with these snapshots:

I forgot the woman’s name, but she stuck around to help me set up and the display was very summery and impressive. Beth with the yellow plums from last week came again with three bags full (they were very tasty), another woman brought green apples from her three trees (they may have been picked a little early), I brought probably the last of the loquats from the Secret Garden (I had to climb the 14 ft orchard ladder to get them), and small plums from there too, salad mix from the Secret Garden and my backyard, garlic from San Bruno Jail Garden Projects, some beets from the Ferry Building Farmers Market, and kale from my backyard and Treat Commons. We also had a few flowers to share, some sunflowers and bachelor’s buttons.

Here is me trying to give away kale at the end of the day. I asked everyone what the name for kale is in Spanish and no one really knew. Vanya suggested I say ” como espinaca o acelgas pero mas duro”. Maybe there isn’t a word in Spanish for kale. Anyway, kale isn’t as popular as other vegetables at our stand, but at the end I had only one bunch left. Some people like it and I am thinking of handing out a recipe for my favorite way of cooking it. It is still one of my favorite things to grow.

Plums and a way to cook stone fruit

San Francisco must have a lot of plum trees growing here. They are easy to grow, are low chill (means will grow without a lot of cold winters), and are pest free it seems. I think we need to grow more plums here if we want a lot of fruit, but we need to grow varieties that are tasty. Luther Burbank had it right going with the Japanese plum, and I love his Santa Rosa variety and the Satsuma plum. I have also tasted some other great plums like the Elephant Heart kind. I like the cross between the plum and apricot where the plum is dominate called Pluots. The Dave Wilson hybrid Dandy and Flavor Grenade are fantastic.

Here is my plum story for the week. I have been picking these small cherry size plums in the Secret Garden for weeks now. They are at best ok and people seem to like them. There are millions of them now. I was thinking that I need a real plum tree with bigger tastier plums. I wrote last week about a plum tree in our neighborhood that my friend George told me about. I decided to give them a week more on the tree, because they were not quite ripe and they were not too flavorful or sweet. I hooked my ladder onto my small bike cart (so proud of my eco-friendly efforts) and happily rode down the street to pick my new found tree. When I got to Juri Commons where the tree was overhanging from a neighboring yard I discovered the fruit had mostly all fallen onto the ground or some was picked. The tree still had about a half bucket of fruit on it which I picked, but it was still not very sweet nor tasty, though definitely ripe. So much for that. I must admit while picking the tree I was sort of expecting someone seeing me reaching over the fence into the neighbors yard and stealing their fruit. Maybe I should ask next time.

What is funny is that I put the half bucket of these plums on the table with the yellow plums that were very tasty, and the ok small cherry plums. A man came by who didn’t speak English who wanted some plums. I tried to get him to take the yellow plums, but he chose the ones that looked more familiar to him, the ripe, flavorless plums from the Juri Commons tree.

Allegra is a new friend that has a recipe for cooking excess fruit, especially stone fruit like plums that she wanted me to share with people on my blog. I am posting this with some comments. First, I think it isn’t worth cooking fruit down for sauce if it doesn’t have much flavor to begin with. I have made a delicious sauce with small a little larger than cherry size plums that were tasty, but I added sugar to make them less tart. The problem with cooking stone fruit is you have to get rid of the pit which is labor intensive. And how does she peel the plum skin?

This is very easy, delicious and economical!

Cooked Stone Fruit – Easy and Delicious!

Carefully wash extra ripe or bruised fruit (peaches, nectarines, apricots, plums)
I suggest peeling plums, the skin is quite acid especially when cooked. All the other fruit can be cooked with skins left on. Discard pits of all fruit before cooking.

Cut off portions that are starting to spoil (dark, mushy parts)

Cut fruit in chunks or slices – slices will cook faster than chunks

In large saucepan, add small amount of water – enough to cover the bottom of pan (about 1/8th inch depending on size of pan. This will keep fruit from scorching pan.

As the fruit cooks it will render its own juice).

Over LOW heat, add fruit to saucepan or large pot, simmer covered for about 10 – 15 minutes. No need to add any sugar, the fruit is naturally sweet.

You may add a small amount of ground cinnamon or ground cardamom for added zest. I find that the fruit has its own unique, natural flavor.

Make sure the fruit does not boil heavily or cook too long unless you want fruit that is very mushy (think apple sauce consistency).

Either way you can eat this wonderful fruit compote warm, chilled or you can freeze it. Use yogurt cups or other heavy plastic cartons

(no glass as it could break when it freezes) to freeze in batches to be enjoyed long after the summer season… when you are “craving” those tastes of Summer!

The Secret Garden

Robert has finished his summer program of art and gardening with kids and the garden is looking pretty good with the work he did getting in some new double dug beds. With the seedlings we got from the Victory Garden across from city hall and the ones I grew, most of the beds are planted. I have already begun harvesting lettuce and kale for the farm stand. In the next week or so I want to organize some work brigades to do some pruning of the plum trees overhanging and shading the beds, replanting at least one of the raised beds, and cleaning up the composting area. I can use some help and will have a big work day on Saturday in the afternoon. Early in the week I will also work there, probably Tuesday morning, maybe Wednesday afternoon, or Friday. If anyone is interested please contact me for exact days and times. I am somewhat flexible with days and hours I can work.

A prayer for Sister Pat

This isn’t really about the Free Farm Stand, but a beautiful and intense experience I had last week. I learned last Wednesday that a woman I had worked with for many years at Martin de Porres Soup Kitchen had collapsed suddenly while walking on Valencia Street and was in the hospital unconscious on life support. I learned that she didn’t want to be on life support and later in the afternoon she was going to be taken off the machine. When I got to the hospital all her friends from Martin’s and the nuns from the order she was a member of were there. I walked in the room where she was in bed and everyone was singing and many crying, including myself. It was such an emotional scene, both sweet and powerful. I can’t really put it in words. She obviously was a wonderful person that affected so many lives and was much loved. She seemed to have a very peaceful transition and I think we all were glad that she suffered so very little in her leaving this world behind.

I just learned that another person I know has pancreatic cancer and is going to begin chemotherapy. Life can seem at times so short. Let’s pray that we can appreciate life and all its mysteries and miracles. That we stay connected with our hearts to our friends and families, and that we may use our time here in positive ways.

PS

I forgot to mention the neighbor who lives across the street who brought a shopping bag full of organic melons ( watermelons and honeydews). Her house I think is a drop off point for a CSA (I can explain what a CSA is another time if people don’t know…Terra Firma was the CSA) and she had a bunch leftover that people didn’t pick up. They were given away in a blink of an eye. I had thought of snagging one for myself, but no chance.

It was a real fun and crazy last week for me in terms of being immersed in the world of locally grown food.

Slow Food Nation Victory Garden across from City Hall

On Wednesday morning last week on the way to the civic center farmers market (I still need to buy food unfortunately), I finally dropped by the 10,000 sq ft. temporary Victory garden across from city hall. The garden was built by a lot of volunteers under the guidance of Slow Food Nation (Alice Waters is the director), Victory Gardens 08, and City Slicker Farms. Here is what their PR says about it: “It will serve as a demonstration and education centerpiece leading up to and following Slow Food Nation, an event taking place in San Francisco over Labor Day weekend (August 29 – September 1, 2008). It will provide visitors the opportunity to learn about urban food production practices and demonstrate the potential of truly local agriculture. It is the first time that an edible garden will be planted in front of City Hall since 1943”.

The food is going to the food bank right now (when I was there today to be a docent we picked leaves off of a lot of the plants and had about eight plastic bags of greens and basil. Then the food bank driver showed up with their big truck to pick it up, which seemed a little crazy in a way using so much gas to carry so small an amount of food). I am still trying to score some for the farm stand (which I think would be great because then I can talk to people about where the food is grown and let them know about the what is happening down there).

I think the garden is very inspiring and everyone who is interested in gardens and growing food locally should visit it (the garden is open every day from 9-4pm). I think there should be a public campaign to talk city hall into making the garden permanent as a way to fight hunger in our city.

If you really can’t go down there the web page about it is interesting (you can see photos of it being built). http://www.slowfoodnation.org/blog/category/victory-garden/ . Their blog is also interesting to read– http://www.slowfoodnation.org/blog/.

Last Friday I was given most of their unplanted seedlings to give away at the farm stand and that was very exciting. When I was there visitors kept coming up to me and asking me questions and thanking me for my efforts. People really like the garden and are excited by it too. Here is a photo of some of the seedlings on the plant give away table (some went to the Julian Food Pantry too):

One of the best Free Farm Stands so far

In the middle of the week I picked up a big box of garlic and potatoes from my friend with the connection to the Garden Project at San Bruno Jail. I brought that to the stand on Sunday as well as a box of beets and broccoli from the Ferry Building farmer’s market. I also got some herbs, carrots, and greens through the same source. I picked salad greens from my backyard and the Secret Garden, and a few of our first tomatoes (I gave them away as a prize to people who brought their own bags) from Treat Commons and my backyard, green beans from my backyard, scarlet runner beans, some kale, a couple of trombone squash and yellow zucchini, a few flowers, and a few jalapeño peppers from Treat Commons.This week I grew several types of sprouts that I gave away. People are liking the sprouts and the sunflower greens.

The best part of the stand was all the neighbors who came by with fruit and vegetables. On Friday a woman left some yellow plums with the club house park director. On Sunday, one woman brought more beautiful yellow plums, another woman showed up with about six apples from her tree, and another neighbor brought nectarines. Christy brought rhubarb and purple green beans. Dan came by with a number of the most attractive large summer squash called Peter Pan that he grew at his home nearby.

I wish I had a photo of the hydrangea flowers that a neighbor who came last week brought by. It was a stunning bouquet of the biggest bunch of flowers ever. I didn’t realize hydrangea flowers make good bouquets. I do love to give away flowers to people.

As I mentioned above, we had a lot of seedlings to give away and I have more plus the ones I am growing. A lot were planted in my backyard and the kids at the Secret Garden are going to plant a lot of corn and lettuce. And people take the seedlings and I guess are growing them at their homes. When I was in the park last week a young boy came up to me and said his tomato was growing tall and had green fruit on it which was real encouraging to hear.

Fruit picking and gleaning in the hood

On Saturday I picked blackberries on Bernal Hill. Some were over ripe and many were not ripe at all. Some were perfect to pick and I collected 6 cups, some very ripe and some part ripe. It turned out I thought they were too messy to give away at the farm stand so I baked a vegan blackberry pie and gave people visiting the stand a small piece each. I used agave syrup and a little sucanat unrefined sugar, and it came out delicious, though a bit tart. It was pretty popular.

I picked small plums at the Secret Garden. There are literally millions of them is my guess. Unfortunately a neighbor hacked away at the loquat tree I picked two times already in their yard and the tree in the Secret Garden over hanging into their yard, and so a lot of loquat fruit was lost. I guess they didn’t like the fruit falling on their concrete backyard. There were some way high up in the tree that I didn’t try hard enough to reach. I also picked some delicious green figs from a friend’s house.

Also, a friend told me about a tree in our neighborhood that a couple of years ago that had large plums on it that all got wasted and were on the ground rotting. I was excited to try to find the tree and see if it had fruit this year. It was kind of feeling like going on a blind date, I found the street where the tree was supposed to live and I hunted around for it. In the process I discovered a park in our neighborhood that I heard about but never understood where it was (Juri Commons). I found the tree overhanging the fence bordering the park and it was love at first sight. And the fruit luckily wasn’t quite ripe yet. Maybe I can pick it next week. This was one of the thrills of my week and that probably show you how crazy I am. But getting to know your neighborhood and what grows there is truly fun and a joy. I like the idea of mapping out the fruit trees and berry bushes in our neighborhoods, and this has been done in other places. I actually started doing this years ago, but don’t know where my notes are for what I found.

Here are two photos. One is a group shot of some of the people who showed up at the beginning to help or get food. The other is a picture of a mother and daughter holding two of the Peter Pan squashes. I think the woman and the squashes are both a turn on. One of the best parts of the farm stand is all the great people who show up. Toña the mom in the picture has been living in Mexico for 28 years in an ecovillage (ecoaldea huehuecoyotl) and is doing some great artwork. She showed me some copies of her corn paintings that are on display at the SomaArts Gallery for a few more days http://www.somarts.org/. Her daughter Laulin just moved here to go to San Francisco State. I told her San Francisco is a great place to meet people. My secret is to start some project that brings you into contact with a lot of people, like a garden or farm stand for example.

Update on the edible park project and the new garden on 18^th and Rhode Island

Christiane and Ali came by to help with the stand and to work some on their permaculture class project of designing an expansion of the garden into the park. I think the class is over in a week. They now have a proposed list of things to plant that I am going to look at. Also, I met Dave and Joe who are also permaculture students designing a garden for the empty lot at 18^th and Rhode Island. I learned that they want the garden to mainly produce food for the farm stand which is terrific. They also had the idea that if there was enough produce to possibly sell it to Whole Foods and give the money to the landlord so he can use it to pay property taxes. We got into a long discussion about my philosophy of doing things for free which I won’t go into here. My inspiration though comes from the Diggers (“the Diggers took their name from the original English Diggers (1649-50) who had promulgated a vision of society free from private property, and all forms of buying and selling.”). For more information check out http://diggers.org/ a site run by a friend.

I think that the Victory Garden across from city hall, if not made permanent, should be moved to the site at 18^th and Rhode Island, soil and all. That the vision of growing local food on mini-farms and given away to the hungry and poor should be continued on a new site!