Spirit Garden

Written by editor | 12 May 2012

spirit_garden_at_hayes_valley_farm

SPIRIT GARDEN
SATURDAY MAY 19, 2PM- 5PM
AT HAYES VALLEY FARM
450 LAGUNA ST. AT FELL, SAN FRANCISCO
FREE

Join Ryder Cooley, Zoey Kroll, Lissa Ivy Tiegel & friends for a community gathering and picnic. Dress in your fairy garden/er attires & bring treats to share, plants/seeds to sow. Bring photos, objects and offerings for the garden spirits and fairies.

2PM - 4PM:  Paint rocks and make flags, wreaths, and adornments for the garden. Help us plant a collection of flowers, herbs, and medicinals.

4PM - 5PM: Adorn the spirit garden with your art and offerings as we assemble for a picnic-celebration

*  *  *

PRESENTED IN CONJUNCTION WITH SPIRIT WORLD AT STREETOPIA.

STREETOPIA is a large-scale group exhibition in venues throughout downtown San Francisco from May 18 through June 23.

HAYES VALLEY FARM is a 2.2 acre interim-use urban farm in the heart of San Francisco. The farm will be open through the end of Summer 2012. Support future urban farm projects by getting involved with the Hayes Valley Farm Transition Project.

Drawing: Ryder Cooley

Homestead Skillshare Festival

Written by Meredith Buck | 09 May 2012



One of the most exciting things about urban homesteading is the plethora of skills and knowledge to attain. Doing it yourself means taking on more and more, from beekeeping and cheesemaking to beer brewing and mushroom growing. It’s a wide horizon to take in, but who can resist the fun of these lost practices? What our grandparents knew is suddenly becoming not only more and more critical, but more and more intriguing!

Ready to jump into the world of urban homesteading? Come out to the farm on May 26 for the SF-BACE Timebank’s Homestead Skillshare Festival from 12-5 pm. All are welcome, whether seasoned craftspersons or fledgling hobbyists. See below for more info on workshops and admission!

A festival to help educate, inspire and spread sustainable living and self-sufficiency skills.

 
Over 40 Scheduled Workshops:
Worm bins, bike powered machines, cob ovens, urban composting, urban gardening in the Bay and container gardening, cohousing and intentional communities, fruit trees, seed-saving, food preservation (wine-making, pickling), disaster preparedness, herbal medicine, herb growing, teas and tincture making, bee-keeping and pollination, backyard livestock (with live chickens and ducks), solar ovens, mushroom cultivation, soap-making, making group meetings fun, urban power foods, soil fertility, cheese and yogurt making, natural dyes, candle-making, diy green cleaning, natural beauty, nonviolent communication, water catchment, place-making and more! See schedule here.

 
Admission: Ticketing on Eventbrite and cash only at the door. Payment of 2 hours donation to Hayes Valley Farm by May 25 through www.bace.org (BACE Timebank) and/or $20 donation to the BACE Timebank. Kids are free, families welcome. Rain or shine. No refunds.
**Enter the code HVF for $5 off your ticket price on Eventbrite!**

 
Co-sponsored by: the BACE Timebank, Hayes Valley Farm, SF Permaculture Guild, SF Urban Agriculture Alliance, PODER (SF), Occupy SF Sustainability Working Group, the Institute for Urban Homesteading, Transition SF, KitchenGarden SF, SF Bee-Cause, the Connection Action Project, SF Free School, Just One Tree, Ohlone Herbal Center, Planet Drum. Thanks to our media sponsor, Shareable.net. Please contact mira at sfbace.org for more info.
 

Presenters: SF Permaculture Guild, Shoe Shine Wine, Urban Permaculture Institute, Connection Action Project, Rock the Bike, Briones Self-Sufficiency and Urban Homesteading Circle, Taproot Medicine, Mushroom Maestros, Canticle Farm, Tatiana Florentina Craft Almendral, Institute for Urban Homesteading, SF Bee-Cause, Cohousing California, Kitchen Garden SF, SF Seed Library, Hayes Valley Farm, Alemany Farm, Living Earth Structures, Hayes Valley Farm, Urban Homesteading Institute, Ohlone Herbal Center, Mira Luna, Gabriel Cole, Jennifer Fernandez, Apryl Uncapher, the Milk Maid, Alpha Lo, David Glaser, Urban Worm, Just One Tree, Chong Kee Tan
 

Food: Hayes Valley Farm is a zero waste site. Please bring your own meals, snacks, dishes, and utensils, and carry out what you carry in.
 

Music: Alma Desnuda will be headlining with Fog City Brewers, Lea Grant and Nicco Tyson.
 

Spanish Translation: PODER (SF)

Photo: Bay Area Community Exchange

A Look at Climate

Written by Natasha Blum | 06 May 2012

This week's permaculture class focused on climate. Jay shared an incredible resource, The National Audobon Society's Field Guide to Weather in North America. Fascinating and beautiful, it covered everything from wind flow to cloud formation and natural light phenomena, like Aurora Borealis (above).  I can see why people tend to collect these. There is so much information available to help us understand our environment, it seems the only way to retain it all is to spend some time re-learning regularly. Neuroscientists out there, any solutions to enlarging memory space?

We work through the issues close to home, too. Like why the wind tunnels, i.e. Fell and Oak, seem to be coming at us with a vendetta between 4–7 p.m. just about everyday. And what it feels like to be in a vortex. (A little volatile, I must say, unless you are the lucky one in the eye of the storm).

Join us as we make sense of this beautiful world with Jay every Sunday in class in our permaculture classroom oasis.

Photo: Dick Hutchinson

Slow It, Spread It, Sink It

Written by Natasha Blum | 24 April 2012

calendulasmall
























Earth Day was a blast at the farm! The birds chirping, kids playing, farmers – new and old – chopping and cooking together, eating, relaxing, meditating and teaching one another... what a lovely event to partake in and to witness. As someone who regularly suffers from FOMS (fear of missing something – or "FOMO", 7x7's recent recognition of the phenomenon), I know that it can be taxing to have to choose between the surfeit of activities, parks, restaurants & friends. So much to do, so little time! It can feel like a major sacrifice if you work yourself up into enough of a frenzy. But once that mentality is conquered and folks decide to come to the farm, they love it. A tangible and heartening awe washes over the face as visitors ingest the history, mission and beauty of the farm. A group of dear friends of mine returned to the farm for the first time this year to come visit me and it was especially delightful to see this realization wash over them.

**
A large group came specifically for our Sunday Urban Permaculture class, this week featuring Margaretha Haughwout as a guest instructor, and a few folks came specifically for our Terrarium Bar. Here are a few links for reference of topics we discussed:

Terrariums & Succulents: http://www.debraleebaldwin.com/SucculentInformation.htm & http://www.highlandsucculents.com/culture_guide.htm
Composting: http://www.metrovancouver.org/about/publications/Publications/HeresTheDirt.pdf & http://lancaster.unl.edu/pest/resources/vermicompost107.shtml
Foraging: http://www.fallenfruit.org/

Check out some photos from the day on Facebook – http://on.fb.me/Ioq7ok – and come join the urban farming adventure. Wednesday, Saturday & Sunday, 450 Laguna St.

Earth Day at Hayes Valley Farm

Written by Natasha Blum | 19 April 2012

earthdayposter

Our rainy season is coming to an end, the sun in shining and we're coming up on Earth Day! Join us at Hayes Valley Farm for a day of celebration and learning to welcome the spring season. Activities, hands-on learning, art, games, yoga and more! 

What to bring? A yoga mat, water bottle, comfy clothes, sturdy shoes and a smile. Bring a blanket and food for yourself or to share for the potluck at 2 p.m. We'll fire up the cob oven for pizza; please bring your favorite toppings! Or grab food to go from the neighborhood – Mercury Cafe, Suppenkuche, La Boulange, Smitten & Ritual are around the corner – and bring it over for the party. Enjoy live acoustic music at 2:30 p.m. and feel free to partake in as many of the activities as you like – or hang out at the picnic and make some friends. Either way, join us to celebrate the active green space, thriving farm and resilient community we've created together at Hayes Valley Farm. For the first 25 folks to make it out, we've got a little gift for you: a Hayes Valley Farm tote bag! Come early, spread the word and let's celebrate life and the stewardship of our incredible home. Check back for more details and updates on the festivities.

Tentative Schedule P1010350

10:30–11:30 a.m. Morning Yoga with Lindsey Goldberg

12:30 p.m. Sustainable Harvesting & Foraging Workshop

1:00 p.m. Fruit Tree Care

1:00 p.m. Afternoon Yoga with Ian Waisler

1:30 p.m. Garden Composting & the Food-Soil Cycle

2–3 p.m. Picnic, Potluck & Cob Oven Pizza Party

2:30–4 p.m. Live music – Brandon Cobb

3–3:30 p.m. Miniscapes: Terrarium Bar

3:30–4 p.m. World o' Worms Workshop

4–4:30 p.m. Hayes Valley History Tour by Thinkwalks

4:30–5 p.m. Scavenger Hunt (First 5 win prizes!)

Please RSVP to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or on our Facebook event page if you plan to participate in the Terrarium Bar. We need to know estimate prepare materials beforehand & will be asking for a small donation to cover costs! 

Thursday Volunteer Day -> Saturday

Written by editor | 18 April 2012

volunteer_hoseOur Thursday volunteer day has moved to Saturday. We hope more of you will be able to join us then. Our work day schedule is now:

Wednesday, Saturday & Sunday – 12–5 p.m. 

There will be no work day on Thursday, April 19th. We will be open for the first Saturday volunteer day on April 21st.

All levels of experience welcome. Come visit, learn and build your community! 

 

 

More Articles...