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18 May 2010
We'd like to start off in letting you know how excited we are for our Farm Film Night event coming up on Tuesday!! Just imagine it... tomorrow evening we'll all be enjoying the outdoors in the city, surrounded by fava beans and friends on the farm.
Amidst the hilarity and chaos of Bay to Breakers, many of us enjoyed the workday yesterday by painting signs to direct our future guests. For those of you already looking forward to it, the night will be featuring delicious, flavored popcorn (thanks to mmm Butter): think sweet and savory, with a fine dining edge... (bacon anyone?) and hot beverages too. And, as always, many thanks to our wonderful volunteers who helped yesterday with site-beautification and plantings!
Photo: "Farm Film Night Prep" by Alex Lampert, May 16, 2010
For more photos, check out the Work Party set by Zoey Kroll
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17 May 2010
Harshal comes for "good food, good friends and fun exercise."
Ishani is taking an Indigenous Permaculture class through the Ecology Center in Berkeley. On Sunday April 18, she and her class visited the farm for the first time. They are touring gardens to see how they’re designed.
Trevor said he was "interested in growing food." He is enrolled a permaculture class in the East Bay, but previous to Hayes Valley "hadn’t gotten involved with anything in the city." He believes that "the space provides an amazing opportunity."
Maria grew up on an 80-acre farm growing corn and potatoes in Mississippi. She lives a block away, and she said, Hayes Valley Farm "reminds me of home."
Dan stops by Hayes Valley to gain knowledge. He would like to learn more about farming and gardening fruits and vegetables. "I come twice a week," he said, and "I meet a lot of new people building community."
Haley is studying permaculture in Bolinas. Her class picked the Hayes Valley lot as a theoretical site project. "I was really excited when I found out it was actually happening."
Casey enjoys "the feeling of community and unity" present at the farm, "and working for a greater cause."
Photos: "What brings you to Hayes Valley Farm?" by Angela Goebel, April 18, 2010
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13 May 2010
Upcoming Work Parties
Thursdays, 2:30-6:30pm
Sundays, 12:30-4:30pm
Upcoming Events
Farm Film Night - Tuesday, May 18, 7:30pm
Magic Mondays - Mondays, 10am-4pm
Greenhouse Installation Continues - Thursday, May 13, 2:30pm
Upcoming Classes
Permaculture Bootcamp - Sunday, May 16, 10am-1:30pm
Kitchen Garden Workshop - Tuesday, May 25, 6:30-8pm
Photo Adventure Workshops - Thursdays and Sundays in May, 3-4pm
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11 May 2010
When I was 26 and studying management at the School for International Training Graduate School in Vermont I was invited to attend an introduction to permaculture course at University of Massachusetts Amherst. Despite being in school for my dream career in Non-Profit Management, the two instructors Ethan Roland and Kay Cafasso taught me over the next few hours some of the most life altering and enlightening lessons of my life. It was because of that introduction to permaculture that I started to dedicate my life to regeneration over degeneration, to abundance over scarcity, to solutions over problems and ultimately to creation of life over destruction of life.
Three years later, after studying and practicing permaculture I am ridiculously excited to offer an amazing opportunity to everyone interested in learning the solutions.
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06 May 2010
One billion, twenty million. It looks like this: 1,020,000,000.
I begin with this number because in terms of farming, food production, and care of the environment, it has resonance. One billion, twenty million is the number of people on our planet who are going to bed hungry every night. That is more than at any time in human history. No need to take my word for it. You can look it up for yourself. The number appears in a FAO report. That is the Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
One of the things you may be thinking is, “Of course the numbers are going up, the human population is as well.” Though that is true, and that population is an area of equally great concern, what is clear is that the starvation of nearly one-sixth of all human beings is not a foregone conclusion. It simply does not have to happen.
The number is staggering, and looking at numbers alone can be an overwhelming, if not maddening, experience. Smaller numbers can be just as disturbing. Only three percent of all water on earth is freshwater; half of that is locked up in glaciers and ice caps. Of what is left, 80% is used by industrial agriculture to irrigate crops. (As such, most is wasted.) Americans constitute 4.6% of the world population, but use 22.5% of all the energy produced.
See what I mean? Overwhelming.
The greenhouse arrived at Hayes Valley Farm this past Sunday, May 2.
There's always something exciting going on at the Hayes Valley Farm Work Parties.
After an amazing 
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Over a thousand volunteers, neighbors, and community members have helped coordinate the farm efforts.