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When I went away for a few days last Friday and got out of the city, I got to thinking that many of us are just misfits in this world. Misfits living in cities when we would dig more nature around us.  Misfits living in a world that seems dominated by commerce and exchange vs a world we desire where there is more sharing, giving, and more mitzvahs (acts of human kindness). Misfits longing for more peace and harmony on our planet and within ourselves.

I am very thankful for the many friends who made the Free Farm Stand happen this week. At the bottom of this blog is a slide show that shows the many faces of the volunteers who make up our Free Farm Stand and the adults and kids who come by, and shots of the wonderful spread we have on the table.

Next Sunday we will be having a special Free Farm Stand on Mother’s Day which will include the planting of fruit trees (tree planting will start at 11am). This has been a project that I have been working on for a number of years that is finally being realized. The bigger dream is having community orchards in all the parks in the city.

As you all may know the Free Farm Stand and the Free Farm have been nominated for the Citizen of Tomorrow Award and we are one of five groups that are finalists. We have a chance to win $5,000 that would go into getting a large refrigerator or walk in cooler for the Free Farm and the Free Farm Stand and help us purchase seeds and supplies for our farm. The group with the most online votes will win.   You can vote as often as once a day which is pretty crazy! Voting ends May 16th. The thing is,  if you go to the website to vote you will see that all the other groups that are applying are great projects to support too, so really I don’t know what to say. At least check us all out and get the word out. Here is the link:  www.baycitizen.org/citizenoftomorrow/.

Our friend Antonio is having a showing of his documentary film In Search of Good Food…a tour of “California’s Emerging Sustainable Food System. I lok forward to seeing it. There is a double feature with the film the Greenhorns. Thursday and Friday May 19^th and May 20^th 6-10pm at Recology 900 7^th St. cross street Berry. It is free but donations accepted.

Finally there is a free showing of the movie called Forks over Knives on Monday May 9th, 2011 at 7pm at the Embarcadero Cinema. Click on this link to get two free passes if still available
http://www.gofobo.com/screenings/forks_over_knives/755773?pc=WEVOU1VLTjM%3D

They do make you register and answer some questions to get the free tickets, but for this movie it may be worth it. You can see a trailer here: http://forksoverknives.com/ 

” The feature film Forks Over Knives examines the profound claim that most, if not all, of  the degenerative diseases that afflict us can be controlled, or even reversed, by rejecting our present menu of animal-based and processed foods.”

 

y en Español

Come celebrate Mother’s Day & Plant Fruit Trees at the Free Farm Stand in Parque Niños Unidos: 23rd & Treat Ave.

Support Community Orchards/Community Gardens on Sunday May 8th, 2011

• 11am: Plant Fruit Trees in our newly expanded fruit orchard!
• 1pm – 3pm: Free Farm Stand … Sharing the wealth of urban gardens and farms. Free produce and seedlings to those on tight budgets.

Music and Finger food…

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Ven a celebrar el Dia de las Madres y plantar arboles frutales con el Mercadeo Semanal Gratuituo en el Parque de Niños Unidos 23rd St. y Treat Ave.

Apoya los huertos de la comunidad arboles frutales en parques

Domingo 8 de mayo (2011)

11am Plantaremos arboles frutales en la amplliacion de nuestro huerto de frutales

1pm – 3pm Mercado Semanal Gratiutuo… compartiendo la riqueza de los jardines y granjas urbanas. Semillas, frutas y verduras frescas gratuituos.

Musica y bocadillos!

It’s nice to be reminded that many of the holidays we celebrate, like Passover or Easter, had some original connection to ancient peoples who were more in touch with their land and soil then we are now. A holiday for every season. Now we are entering the spring season (yesterday someone pointed out to me in the garden two lady beetles humping each other). Besides that kind of love fever in the air, it’s a time we should be planting. 50 days of gladness as our hands reach into hopefully loamy soft earth.

Yesterday I think a new record was set for the Free Farm Stand.  I filled up the van with more seedlings and plants than I had produce and bread. I thought I had brought more tomato starts than I could give away (and there were more I had left in the greenhouse at the farm), but in the end all starts of tomato and zucchini were given away, and most of the plants were gone (except for the Yacón root plants).

Besides the farmer’s markets not having as much left-over produce right now, it is really challenging to bring a lot of locally grown produce to our farm stand each week.  One contributing factor to our lack of produce is that now we are running two Free Farm Stands, one on Sundays and one at the Free Farm on Saturdays. This Saturday for example we had 23 people shopping at the stand at the farm. Plus we had 23 volunteers, some of whom took home produce too. I feel like running two big projects is not sustainable, but a not sure what to do about it, except be open to inspiration and fresh ideas. The other challenge we are having is growing a lot of food, despite the fact that we have a lot of space and that there are other potential gardens that could be growing more food to distribute to people in need. Farming and trying to grow a sizable amount of food on a regular basis is hard and it probably takes more than the two days a week we are doing it and with the few experienced farmers/gardeners we have to direct the many volunteers that want to help out.

So I am thinking about these things and trying to figure out if we should change any of our projects at all.  Two stands or one or a move-able Free Farm Stand?  How to get more help to run the show? Feedback is always welcome.

In the meantime one project that I have been working on for a number of years is moving ahead towards the finish line. On Mother’s Day Sunday May 8^th from 11pm-4pm we will be having a fruit tree planting the same time as the Free Farm Stand. If you know any musicians who would like to come play some music please invite them. We will also be having some vegan finger food.

Here is some photos of Mike climbing the flag pole at the farm and hanging an Earth Flag over the Free Farm. A reminder that we are all citizens of the Earth and we must take care of our planet (and the people living on it).

Here some photos of the seedlings and plants we had at the Stand…we still have more if you come to the Free Farm on one of our workdays.