Written by Kevin Bayuk | 03 February 2010

It's as if there is a house on fire, on top of a hill and as some people walk by, they look up, see the house on fire and they jump into action  -- urgent, passionate action to do something.  They might pick a strategy, say a bucket, and run to the nearest well to fill the bucket and up and down the hill they go, with impressive energy and courage.  Simultaneously, on another side of the hill a different person becomes aware of the fire and jumps into urgent action, yelling to others that the house is in peril and grabbing a nearby vessel and running to a pond, unaware of the individual on the other side of the hill and the other passionate individuals and small groups on still other sides of the hill expending their energies with different strategies -- running so hard, some on the verge of becoming, or, already, burned out.  Unaware of each other, they are all unaware that years before there were concerned individuals who knew fire would come to the house and worked on planning a community-wide response.

It may be that what is needed to save and repair the house is not only passionate individuals, acting with urgency, implementing diverse strategies (food security, watershed restoration, renewable energy projects, resource conservation, civic actions and more), but also a wholistic strategy that connects and relates these projects and actions, helps prioritize and leverage energy, helps prevent burnout and expose opportunities to share resources and be more effective.

Written by sean | 20 February 2010

In Hieronymus Bosch's triptych the Garden of Earthly Delights (c. 1504) three worlds exist simultaneously: idyllic harmony, earthly human indulgence, and chaotic hell.  It's a metaphor for the world that we currently inherit.  Everything is ever-present, there to call forth or call upon, depending on what design we wish to enact.  It's humanity's choice for which structure to be akin to. With little horizon or movement in the painting there is no conclusion.  It's not going anywhere, it's frozen in time.  Then again, it's just a painting and real life is much more exciting.

WE are going somewhere.  There is a movement and a place to find ourselves.  Growth, repair and change are apparent in the world as in our bodies.  We can regenerate, design and construct.  It's the creative and erotic (not necessarily sexual) existence on this planet that excites us to select, arrange and associate worldly components (plants? water? soil? words? paint?) into a structure that is harmonious with the patterns of the universe.  What a gift.  We get to build with what is around us.  A utopia may never be reached, but it a goal to strive for.  As David puts it, it's about the journey.

Written by Jay | 01 February 2010

A new community garden being built on Octavia near Lily, Growing Home
A new farm plot being prepared at Gough and Eddy, Urban Share
30+ designers training at the Urban PDC
New Positions and Events filling up the Volunteer Dashboard

January, 2010

The first month of the rest of your lives

If you were at the January Guild Meeting at The Red Poppy House, you know exactly what I mean!   What an amazing start to the new year, the new decade... and it all really came together on the last day, Sunday, Jan 31.
Anyone who reads Tree's blog about The Free Farm Stand, might have noticed the following lingering in the sidebar:

Below are two new gardens. If you want to help out you can contact the people listed:

Lisa's backyard...

Aliza's backyard...

If interested, you can contact Garden Anchors...

A bunch of us met for brunch on Sunday, Jan 31 in Lisa's Backyard Garden.  Pretty soon, we realized that the room was filled with gardeners growing food in the same neighborhood  (we started drawing maps)!  And there were a lot of complementary needs, skills, and resources among the group...  not to mention all the great food everyone brought to share, including a salad harvested from Lisa's Garden.  We're going to meet some more, set up some online collaboration tools, and figure out the best way to grow more food by working together.

Lisa's Backyard Garden... if you're in the Mission and wanna help grow more food in local backyards, please contact one of the Garden Anchors, or come to the Free Farm Stand on Sundays from 12-3pm at the corner of 23rd St. and Treat Ave, you're bound to run into someone!

Written by Edible Office | 18 January 2010

At the California Rare Fruit Growers' Scion Exchange, we learned about grafting scion wood to root stock, and how to make a "franken-tree" with dozens of apple varieties branching off a single trunk. As individuals, we can help preserve our cultural fruit heritage through creating backyard orchards, advocating public food forests, and sharing the harvest.

Horned melon, pomelos, and jackfruit made appearances at the Scion Exchange, but most of the scion wood showcased unusual cultivars of more familiar fruits.  Roll over Red Delicious and Granny Smith, and make way for King of Thompkins, Ashmead's Kernel, and San Francisco Fog.

John Valenzuela and other organizers expanded the focus of the afternoon by welcoming community groups to set up display tables. This alliance-building, along with the the thousands of bags of scion wood, fiilled me with the same euphoric sense of possibilty and hope that I had at Slow Food Nation. I look forward to the next big gathering as we continue to grow our visions and communities! To learn more about growing fruit in the Bay Area and the California Rare Fruit Growers, visit the Golden Gate Chapter's website.