Symbiotic relationships exist between many organisms. The teeth-cleaning shrimp come to mind. A little underwater spa treatment would make anyone feel like a new animal. One lifeform needs the other to do its job or survive. Our beautiful bald berms needed a healthy dose of nitrogen, to complement our thick layer of carbon cardboard. Our job, as farmers, was to breathe new life into soil that had been robbed of a lot of its nutrients, by walls of thick ivy. Our best solution for implementing the nitrogen cure: a healthy dose of water-resilient volunteers!
After the last few weeks of spreading cardboard and organic matter on the farm many people were wondering, what's next? What will be our first "crop" this Spring?
This week we had both little ones and big ones come to the site to enjoy the new community playground. The first little one, pictured above, put on his gloves quickly and got to work moving cardboard, filling wheelbarrows and pushing tonka trucks. The big ones, pictured below, spanned the gamut from creating amazing artwork to filling wheelbarrows of mulch like there was no tomorrow. One volunteer taught me the "quick method" to filling a wheelbarrow by tipping it on its side for the "first 2/3rds" then to "tip it up and fill it up" for the last bit. I love how each person can come to the site and interact in their own way, both claiming and reinventing age-old work in our modern surroundings.
What's a work party without a few trenches being dug (above) and a few thousand pounds of cardboard to be layed down like fall leaves in the forest? Many came, many had fun but most importantly people showed up to rock out the new Hayes Valley Farm!
The majority of the efforts involved mulch wrestling, the cardboard shuffle, and the trench trance. The volunteers came in record numbers to see the site, get involved and get dirty. It was great to see so many smiles and so many people involved in work they enjoyed. I heard a few comments about deskwork that I won't repeat, but let's just say we might have a few more farmers on our hands at the end of the year. That's good news as Fast Company Magazine rates farmer as the #1 top green job for the next decade.
What's a work party without shovels? Oh and dirt. Lots and lots of dirt. Not just any dirt, though. We had steaming mounds of dirt, as I walked up the south side of the farm (Formerly the On Ramp) I could not see bodies, just heads and grinding shovel action. The steam was resulting from the heat generated by microorganisms and bacteria, having their own party inside of 100 cubic yards of beautiful brown mulch. Somewhat apocalyptic and a little surreal with the hundreds of cars driving by just yards away and the acoustic harmonies of Jugtown Pirates (pictured above).
All the volunteers did not know each other, but shared a common goal on Sunday. They came out to work hard, contribute to a great project and get dirty! David Cody (who was celebrating his birthday that day! Happy Birthday Cody!) asked us to lay down massive amounts of fresh organic matter on top of the cardboard boxes we procured as a donation from Whole Foods. We also collected hypodermic needles from the site as part of the clearing process from the land being neglected for so long.
One of the most uplifting parts of the day was the presence of neighbors, some of whom had just happened to stroll by the open gates. Others had been viewing the site for the last 10 or 15 years, hoping for something to be erected. Anything better than 2 asphalt roads, both leading nowhere. Dirt is an improvement over asphalt to everyone, because we all know the dirt is living and breathing. That dirt is a critical foundation step to our Farm. Thank you to all the volunteers and visitors who came by yesterday!
At noon, we opened the gates, and kicked it all off with a Welcome to HVF Tour. The group assembled just inside the entrance at 450 Laguna St. As we toured the site, everyone had a chance to ask questions, tell stories, and share their ideas for what was possible on the site.
There were a bunch of great ideas mentioned throughout the day, and we wrote 'em all down. Some folks had ideas for beautifying the site, like painting the fence posts and adorning the chain links and barbed wire with wood or bamboo. There were ideas for events like an outdoor dance, a tea party, and a petting zoo. And there were also ideas for the community such as collaborations with nearby schools, gardens, and community centers and creating a local resource center for urban gardeners.
Many of the neighbors who stopped by had stories about the space. Some remembered the old Central Freeway, the Loma Prieta earthquake, and staring at the locked up space for years. One visitor recalled being at the site as a child, and marching around the site with his family and neighbors rallying for someone to do something. It took long enough, but someone is finally "doing something!"
We'll be doing it again this Sunday. Stop on by and say hi!
Volunteer Orientation is at 12:30pm followed by the Sheet Mulch Party at 1pm.
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