Nibbles from the Alphabet Garden

Written by Zoey Kroll | 16 September 2010

C is for Calendula

by Casey Gold

Share a picnic with dishes from A-to-Z at a twilight picnic on Sunday, October 10, 2010 at Hayes Valley Farm in San Francisco.

Read more about edible plants in this blog post series Nibbles from the Alphabet Garden. The Alphabet Garden is an open collaboration in urban farming, art, and technology, curated by Zoey Kroll/Edible Office.

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A is for Apple

Written by Angela Goebel | 16 September 2010

Apples are a classic ingredient and metaphor. Apples are beginnings. A picture of a rosy apple launches our education as we innocently recite the alphabet in kindergarten. Apples are desire. Their temptation supposedly pushed Adam and Eve out of the first documented food forest. They are a choice between wholesome apple pie or sinful cider. An apple a day keeps the doctor away. But, don't follow in Snow White's footsteps...avoid poisoned apples. And, doesn't a bushel of apples buy security?

The other day, I was walking through Samuel P. Taylor State Park. Imagine redwoods and voluptuous ferns. We followed a winding path that saddled up to a stream. Using the first permaculture principle of observation, I spotted one, two, three apples on the forest floor. I turned this way and that. Was there an apple tree nearby? No, no, a hiker must have dropped his snack. But wait, way above, fifty feet high or more, were branches laden with apples. Fifteen feet away was a second tree. They were robed in swampy grey moss; their bark was rugged and worn. Recognizing their great height, I surmised these apple trees must be more than a century old, perhaps dating back to the paper mill that once churned nearby.

The apples were not quite so sweet as candy. They possessed a slight tang. I laughed. Who would have thought to find apple trees in a grove of redwoods? However, apples are pioneers of our imagination and settlements. Apples have adapted to fit particular purposes and places.

Share a picnic with dishes from A-to-Z at a twilight picnic on Sunday, October 10, 2010 at Hayes Valley Farm in San Francisco.

Read more about edible plants in the blog post series Nibbles from the Alphabet Garden. The Alphabet Garden is an open collaboration in urban farming, art, and technology, curated by Zoey Kroll/Edible Office.

Photos by Angela Goebel

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Sheetmulching - Building Backyard Soil in San Francisco

Written by Ann Liska | 08 September 2010

Hayes Valley Farm Permaculture Bootcamp graduate and San Francisco resident Ann Liska decided to "grow her own" and "build her own" ... soil that is. Watch the slideshow below to see how she "sheetmulches" by bringing layers together to build soil and grow food in her own San Francisco backyard.

Are you building soil? Are you growing your own food?
Please OH please tell us your story by adding a comment to this article.

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Pallet-tecture - trash to thrones

Written by Chris Burley | 05 September 2010

On Thursday, a Hayes Valley Farm volunteer and Permaculture Bootcamp graduate turned their passion into productive power. Wes Frey, in a matter of hours converted trash destined pallets into a beautiful throne which will comfort and provide a relaxing resting space for many members to come.

Want to get inspired to make your own furniture from pallets? Check out our pallet construction pictures and other inspiring pictures.

Got an idea for how to turn garbage into gold? Come on out to our site and let us know during one of our volunteer days every Thursday or Sunday!

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Place & Public

Written by Ron Stanford | 23 August 2010

As we look forward to our inaugural Dusker this Friday, August 27, we thought it might be good to talk a little about how the greenhouse and its setting attempt to reach beyond the basic 'performance' metrics of the job description 'Greenhouse' and suggest a potential evolution in the contemporary models of both 'public space' and 'urban farm'. To keep it short here, we can invoke the Philadelphian Louis Kahn and his concept of the 'three publics'. Urban design, Architecture, and even the more current disciplinary rubric of 'Landscape Urbanism', each remain distinct from Art, per se, in that they have an explicit obligation to serve more than just the sensibilities of the artist. Kahn's argument is that there are in fact three 'publics' that one ought to consider.

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L is for Lemons

Written by Alex Lampert | 14 August 2010

Preserve, pickle, jam, can, put up, ferment, jar. These words have been occupying my thoughts for over a year now. I have a great fascination with learning methods to make lasting supplies of food. While this passion tends to fuel jokes about me from my friends, I know I am not alone. A few months ago, I got together with some friends from the farm to learn how to preserve lemons. Nearing the end of lemon season, we harvested an abundance of fruit from a friend’s Meyer lemon tree. I was so excited to see the amount of what we had gleaned, an old recycling container half-full of fresh Meyer lemons that we would enjoy through the next coming months! This is how we stack functions: through harvesting what would have been a surplus of fruit, we turned the fruit into lasting food instead of allowing it to go into the waste stream, and we reduced the possibility for pests to be attracted to the fallen fruit. We also learned self-reliance by using an ancient and timeless method for preserving lemons through a memorable experience. It was so easy; the lemons can be preserved for several months in their own juice with the addition of salt.

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What is Sheet Mulching? Why build Soil?

Written by Chris Burley | 08 August 2010

Photo by Booka Alon, June 19, 2010

Sheetmulching is an example of biomimicry. What is biomimicry? ... It is the examination of nature, its models, systems, processes, and elements to emulate or take inspiration from in order to solve human problems sustainably ("Biomimicry", Wikipedia, 2010). After observing how nature (mainly forests) have built soil for the past 55 million years, we decided to mimic the soil building strategy. This begins the explanation of sheetmulching.

So why build soil? ... Well, currently humans are using an estimated 83 billion tons of soil per year. That's about 2500 TONS of soil per second. Which you can imagine as filling a football stadium parking lot with trucks, all full of soil. Then having those all disappear every SINGLE second. In short, we've got a lot of work to do in order to get to "sustainable" agriculture stage. However, if each one of us did just a little bit, built just a few yards of soil each year, we'd be back to an abundant and fertile planet in no time.

Look at the above picture, you'll notice multiple layers right? Well, that's exactly what were doing, combining multiple layers together in order for them to decompose into a rich, healthy and bacterial diverse soil.

General Recipe

Top Layer - Finer wood chips, mulch or dried leaves, - 2 - 6 inches, woodchips are free from Bay View Green Waste in SF
2nd Layer - Green matter - 2 - 6 inches, manure, grass, veggie wastes
1st Layer - Cardboard / newspaper - 2 inch to 6 inches deep
Bottom Layer - The Ground, if it's compacted maybe use a digging fork to loosen it up a bit for moisture penetration

Sheet-mulching is a technique to build new, fertile soil. Cardboard is laid down to cover ivy and weeds and suppress their growth. It also prevents soil disturbance, absorbs water, and retains moisture. We then add layers of manure and mulch 3 or 4 feet high. Lastly, we plant fava beans and clover to fix nitrogen in the soil, to balance out the carbon-rich cardboard and mulch. As the manure and mulch transform into new soil, the cardboard and breaks down.

Hayes Valley Farm Soil Building Stage 1

During the first 3-6 months we have began the soil building strategy with this formula... it may vary depending on your local climate, available waste resources and soil type.

Nitrogen Fixing Legumes - Fava Beans, Pigeon Peas, and other leguminous plants, plant directly after sheet mulching after coating them with rhizobium bacteria.
Nitrogen Fixing Ground Cover - New Zealand White Clover
Sheet Mulching - read above recipe
Ground - usually covered with ivy, or heavily compacted soil

Turn in beans before they start fruiting for maximum nitrogen fixation and after 6-12 months and soil will be fully composted. Best time to sheetmulch is in the fall before the rains(in mediterranean climates), or in the spring (in climates that freeze).

Hayes Valley Farm Soil Building Stage 2 ... coming soon

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PLANTING PARTY & PICNIC

Written by Zoey Kroll | 07 August 2010

"J" is for Jerusalem Artichoke - Photo by Zoey Kroll

Alphabet Garden Planting Party and Picnic with Pocket Seed Library

Sunday, August 8, 2pm - 5pm
at Hayes Valley Farm, 450 Laguna Street (at Fell)

BYOP (Bring Your Own Picnic)

2pm: SEED SHARING & PLANTING PARTY
Pocket Seed Library will share the traveling seed library. Then we'll plant Johnny Jump-Ups in the Alphabet Garden, a vegetable garden planted and organized by letter.

3:30pm: POTLUCK PICNIC
To feed our alphabet obsession, we'll eat picnic dishes that begin with the letters A through J, since those are the letters planted in the Alphabet Garden so far. Feast on homegrown arugula salad, fresh-baked gingerbread, and your delicious dish.

Happy picnicking,
Zoey & Erin

WHERE TO GO:
Picnic Map

ABOUT THE PROJECTS:
Pocket Seed Library
Alphabet Garden
Hayes Valley Farm

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Yoga as Celebration

Written by Lindsey Goldberg | 04 August 2010

Photo by Mark McQuillen, July 29, 2010

Yoga, a Sanskrit term meaning union is a practice rooted in mindfulness. Mindfulness of breath, of movement and of thought. The union experienced through a holistic yoga practice is a connection between the breath and body, the heart and mind and in our case between the aforementioned as well as farming, community and connection to place.

Yoga on the farm is not like yoga offered in studios around the city. We stretch out our mats on homemade soil, or on concrete reminding us of the old freeway we are transforming. Some folks lay out one to two pieces of donated cardboard in place of a traditional yoga mat. We look up at the sun and the branches of swaying Eucalyptus trees overhead during our sun salutations. The rich aroma of fresh manure sometimes permeates the air where we practice. The subtle soundscape that fills our ears is the ever-changing composition of horns, buzzing traffic, a myriad of human sounds, and a dog or two barking nearby. Even though we are in the heart of the city, it’s interesting how it all seems to melt away in the one hour that we gather to practice. Together we bathe in the sun’s rays, the cool breeze blows over our bodies and our breath slow and rhythmic dances through us.

I believe Yoga is beneficial to all people, irrespective of age, cultural background, gender, and political persuasion or spiritual/religious affinity. Yoga has the power to heal physical injuries, emotional wounds and inspire a positive sense of self. Yoga relaxes, refreshes and rejuvenates the mind and body. Yoga is a wonderful complement to one’s life at any stage along the path. I consider it a gift to be able to share this practice with the community!

It is my hope that through this community practice on the farm, that people will roll up their mats or put away their cardboard, walking taller, feeling more at ease in their bodies, their mind a little clearer, feeling refreshed and ready to take on whatever the rest of their day brings with heightened clarity and mindfulness. I think that practicing yoga outside deepens one’s connection to place. The time we dedicate to being at the farm each week enriches our relationship to this place. As the group of us practicing together each week grows, yoga feels like a celebration. A celebration of community, a celebration of the farm we are co-creating and a celebration of being alive!

I think that the vitality, the prana (life-force) we cultivate throughout our practice ripples out to the greater farm, infusing the soil, all the plants, trees, insects, worms, dogs, kids, teens, adults, moms, dads and elders who are making the Hayes Valley Farm what it is, with love and good, healthy energy.

Join the practice! Every SUNDAY from 11:30am-12:30pm right before the Sunday Work Party!

See you on August 8th.

Love,
Lindsey