Free Farm Harvests 1045 Pounds!

Amount of produce harvested and given a way at the free farm since February: 1045 pounds

First Free Farm Harvest!

This past Saturday at the Free Farm saw some seriously healthy looking lettuces ready for eating!



Check out the pictures of Megan and I ready to snip greens from the lettuce lawn that can be harvest three times. Our strawberries are plumping up and the lettuce heads are now big enough to eat. Everyone's hard work is finally turning into something tasty!

Free Farm Continues Growing!

This week at the workday our vegetables got some protection from the elements with Reemay row covers. Check out the photos to see the work done on the row covers and how spectacularly the food is shaping up.

Kris - Neigbor Loves Working in the Garden

Join Us for Upcoming Workdays!

Every Wednesday and Saturday from 10am - 2pm come volunteer at the Free Farm.  This Wednesday help us welcome visiting Alternative Spring Breakers from Dartmouth College!  Come be a part of the excitement of food growing in San Francisco reported on recently by the Chronicle!  You bring the elbow grease, we'll bring the vegan lunch!  Hope to see you soon.

Here's a group of Alternative Spring Break students that came to help out at the farm.  You and/or your organization are certainly welcome, too!

Gardening Volunteer Opportunities

Hi there! If you've got a desire to learn about gardening and food growing by getting your hands dirty, here are some places you can go!

Every Wednesday and Saturday from 10am until 2pm the Free Farm at Eddy and Gough Streets is open for folks to come work. There are all kinds of jobs to be done. This coming week we plan to do some shoveling to double dig our beds, planting more food, building our trellis for scarlet runner beans, raking and smoothing double dug beds, organizing tools in the shed, taking pictures, watering plants, running the wheelbarrow, or making a vegan lunch for yourself and the other volunteers! Sound like something you'd like to do? Either stop by in some clothes you don't mind getting a little dirty, or send me an email at thefreefarm.sf@gmail.com

Tree, a major coordinator of the Free Farm also has opportunities at different gardens listed on his site.

Happy Growing!

A Place for Seedlings and Sunnyside Organic Nursery Donation

This Saturday workday we planted lots of lettuce seedlings donated by Sunnyside Organic Nursery in exchange for a few hours of volunteer work.  

If you're interested in checking out their amazing space by way of volunteering you can drop by every last Friday of the month!  We've been protecting our starts in the recently built makeshift lath house.  

This structure protects our little babies from the wind until it's time to plant!

Our third full bed of food is now planted thanks to Sunnyside, our lath house, and all of us at The Free Farm.

Rows and rows of food planted at weekly Free Farm workday!

After lots of double digging and getting beds ready our group planted rows of greens in the beds. Check out some pictures of how things are shaping up!

We've got lots of broccoli planted.

This bed is filling up with chard. It feels good to put food right into the earth where we can keep an eye on it until its ready for the dinner plate.

The beds are in varying stages of development here. On the right is a bed with a layer of compost, ready to be double dug. In the middle is a bed planted with broccoli that Tree brought, and on the left is a bed in the process of being planted!

Come out and help plant with us this coming Wednesday or Saturday from 10am - 2pm. I would love to see you there!

Fruit Trees, Compost, and a Labyrinth!

Maybe it only looks like trash bags covering heaps of who-knows-what and a black bin to you, but it's so much more! This is the beginning of the Free Farm's composting system. There is a place for our food scraps from lunch, the invasive plants found at the site, and thick, woody materials, too. Composting space on a farm. Gotta have it! Below is a picture of our composting committee. Thanks so much, you three!
















The picture below shows Tree sharing his knowledge of fruit trees. He taught us how to prune the tree so it will stay low. He also cleared up a problem lots of folks run into during tree planting. Rather than digging a hole and surrounding the tree with all nutrient rich material, the native soil should be mixed with the organic matter.















Also, Pastor Megan has been making serious headway with the meditation labyrinth. Make sure to check out the link to see how fabulously it's coming along!

DIY: Learn to double dig raised beds

This Saturday workday our group got two beds ready for planting! Tree gave us a tutorial on how to prepare them by double digging.

Step 1.) Your beds should have a 4-6" layer of compost on top to start with.














Step 2.) See Tree there in the photo below with the shovel in as deep as the shovel's head? That's as far down as you want to dig. You also only need a width of one shovel's head.














Step 3.) The soil from the first trench should be placed in a wheel barrow. That soil goes to the far end of the bed where it will be used to fill in the last trench.

















Step 4.) Stick a digging fork in the trench you just dug so the tongs are fully submerged. Wiggle the fork around to loosen up the soil. This wiggling aerates the soil allowing roots more space and increasing drainage.













Step 5.) Now that the soil in the first trench has been loosened up you can begin digging the second trench right beside the first; same depth, same width. The soil from the second trench (including the 4-6" of compost on top) gets put into the first trench. You're just moving dirt from hole #2 into hole #1. Easy as that.

Just keep following this pattern of digging out a trench, working the fork into the dug-out space and then digging another trench right beside it and putting the second trench's dirt into the first. Do this all the way down the line. Mixing nutrient rich compost in with your soil helps build the soil structure, making the beds a hospitable area for food growing.















After raking the beds even our beds look like this.

Saturday Feb. 6th Recap

This past Saturday workday from 10am - 2pm started with the arrival of roughly three pick-up trucks worth of compost from the city dump. Farming in San Francisco on a large scale requires lots and lots of nutrient rich material to amend the sand-like soil. We'll be using a double-digging method to get our beds ready for planting.















This Saturday also saw some special friends from Tofu Town. They generously provided us with prepared lunches of vegan gyros and backyard gleaned fruit juice. All-in-all around 20 volunteers were fed. It was so good, I can't say enough. Thank you Tofu Town!















In keeping with the community building component of community gardening/farming our group comes together during important parts of the workday. We gather for a group huddle to lay out our plans for the day before we start, we come together again for a lunch break, and then we close by touring the farm and pointing out what's been accomplished during the day. The Free Farm project is about more than just growing food, it also seeks to nurture community amongst its contributors.

I hope you will come be a part of this growing community during our Saturday 10am - 2pm workdays.

What's needed at the Free Farm and how you can help

Hi everyone,

This past workday saw some exciting progress at the Free Farm. We set up a valve and now have running water. Now our crops won't die!















This is a huge step for the farm, and the next step that comes from it is hooking up a manifold which allows us to run water multiple places. In order to water the whole farm we need to install a drip irrigation system which means we need a drip timer. Timers run about $60. We'll also need plenty of PVC piping to get the water to the plants.

We're also at the ridiculously exciting phase where we are preparing the beds for planting. This means we need to work lots of compost and manure into the sandy San Franciscan soil. Do you have a truck we can use to load up with compost?














We also have plenty of other items that can be donated, check out the last blog with our comprehensive list.

If you can help us feed hungry people with fresh, locally grown produce by donating any of these items please contact me at case.garver@gmail.com. I'll get you the specifics.

First Urban Share Garden Publication Underway

Do It Yourself Vertical Garden

by Megan Rohrer

This week I began working on the first issue of Urban Share's garden publication; a quarterly series inspired by the zine [a self-published "magazine" usually made on a Xerox machine with original art for small distribution]. The first issue will be one in a series of an ongoing quarterly publication, always free in accordance with our mission. The publication will be a limited edition and distributed to the donors and friends of WELCOME. Each issue will focus on projects that are underway at the Urban Share garden sites with original art by local San Francisco artists inspired by gardens and contributions from the seasoned gardener to the amateur gardener. Contributions will include gardening tips, DIY (do it yourself) projects, seasonal food recommendations, recipes, nutritional information and musings on urban gardening and current food movements.

[click to enlarge]

This publication has been inspired in large part by the work of the Diggers (who took their name from the original English Diggers) and emerged in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury in the midst of the Sixties Counterculture movement. The Diggers resisted private property and an economy of currency, and chose instead a model that was based on distributing goods and services for free and an economy of barter using street theatre and art happenings to present their message. Out this movement the Sutter Street Commune began to publish an intercommunal newspaper, Kaliflower in 1969 out of the Free Print Shop. Kaliflower lasted just over three years and by the ends of its run was distributed every Thursday to nearly 300 communes in San Francisco. Below are some images of the covers of Kaliflower:

The first issue of Urban Share's publication will include a hand-made, recycled paper cover made by yours truly in my San Francisco home kitchen with original art on the cover by Megan. Inside you will find instructions on DIY (do it yourself) projects with illustrations by Megan (as seen above). They are all projects that Megan and our wonderful volunteers have worked on at the St. Paulus garden site, which you can see yourself when you come out for a visit! Original art by other local artists on sprouting, and other such fun things plus much more!

[ Stay tuned, the first issue will be released in the end of February 2010! ]

In the meantime, come on out and play with us at one of our workdays, every Saturday (except on rainy days) from 10am-2pm. Bring a sack lunch, water, closed toed shoes and clothes you don't mind getting dirty.

We hope to see you there!

~your friends at urban share

Our Saturday the 16th Workday!

Hello Friends of the Garden!

This last Saturday workday was quite a day. Not getting rained out was a big plus! We started early with two volunteers coming in before the official 10 o'clock start time. That's a serious go-getter attitude.

A lot of our gathered materials had been left near the front of the site making our space look haphazard. We hauled the lumber, pallets, and odds n' ends down to be sorted, stacked, and organized. It wasn't long before our helter skelter piles of materials started looking like they were supposed to be there. This lot has been left unattended for years so getting it in shape can be a big job; trash has collected, weeds have sprung up all over, but we're starting to show the space the love it deserves. This is the part in the movie where the nerdy abandoned lot with box frame glasses, using a pencil to hold its hair in a bun gets a make over. "Oh my God, St. Paulus, you're simply breathtaking!" The lot really is beautiful. We've run a gas-powered weed eater through the area which not only makes the grounds look better kempt but those small clippings can also be layer with manure to mature it, leading to food for plants! Even manure's gotta grow up some time.

A lot of sweat and time was spent in creating a foot-path ramp to allow easier access into the large farm space. We loaded down wheelbarrows with dirt from the site and slowly built up our ramp. There's more work to be done there, but in one day we got so far! We have a two-fold plan for the ramp. First, we take dirt from a large hill and use that dirt to create the ramp. Second, while removing the dirt we level off the hill in order to make a clean area for a demonstration garden near the front. In the future we'll show folks in the demo garden what can be grown at certain times of the year and use it as an opportunity for gardening education. I think everyone in the project is excited to share our knowledge, experience, failures, and successes with others interested in growing their own food in the city.

Pastor Megan spent a lot of time finishing a beautiful tool shed to house our tools in! Hooray for not having to carry things from an overcrowded Pastor's office to garden and back! That was seriously cramping my style. After this Saturday workday the shed is sporting a sassy new coat of light blue paint. We're trying to teach this gray San Francisco sky what it should be doing. Doesn't seem to be listening.

Throughout the day there were lots of folks walking past stopping in to talk. You wouldn't believe how many gardeners there are in one block of the city. There are plenty of helping hands to be found. Four volunteers on Saturday (including yours truly) were Lutheran Volunteer Corps members (Thanks Margaret, Troy and Katie!), two volunteers were from just down the street, two more volunteers heard about the workday through Tree, and two more volunteers heard about the workday through Pastor Megan. Word gets around!

That's the news from the farm this week. I hope to see you out there Saturday from 10am -
2pm! Don't forget to bring a friend!

Donations Needed

Our garden projects are beginning to take bloom (not literally) - but we are in need of a number of items before we can begin planting. Here is our current list of needs:

- Lumber (pressure treated and natural, 2x4's, pallets and plywood)

- Succulent clippings
-Chicken Wire
-Cardboard
-Nails
-Staple Gun
-Miscellaneous carpentry tools

- Battery powered power tools

- Manure

- String stakes

-Wood chips

- Seeds and seedlings: plants including trees and berries

- Garden tools: hand trowels, pitch fork, u-bar (digging fork), shovels, rakes, hoes.

-Gloves

- Wheel barrow and accompanying wheels.
-Wooden wine boxes

Of course, we are always looking for volunteers as well. Get in touch with Pete at petefeltman@gmail.com.

Mural at St. Paulus nearing completion!

The mural at St. Paulus is quickly nearing completion! In the coming weeks Leanne and I will be out finishing the last panel, putting the finishing touches on the details and covering the entire wall with a varnish to protect it over the years. Leanne will be making wood-cutout animals and plants that will ad a 3D element to the mural and peek out on the Gough Street side.

Tamara Loewenstein, Curator + Community Arts Organizer

before commissioned mural by San Francisco artist Leanne C. Miller

St. Paulus Lutheran Lot at Eddy and Gough, San Francisco, CA

Urban Share is always interested in submissions for arts related projects. If you have an idea or project proposal please contact:

Tamara Loewenstein

Curator + Community Arts Organizer

Urban Share

tamara@tamaraloewenstein.com

Introducing Robyn Waxman, Designer

The wonderful Robyn Waxman is assisting Urban Share with designing materials which will help promote our visibility and pique interest around our garden sites. Her focus is the St. Paulus Garden where she is working on encouraging curiosity and excitment and ways to bring community members and passersby to join us in our efforts.

Robyn Waxman has taught at Sacramento City College since 1996, serving as the department chair for six of those years. She has lectured and presented her work and thinking at the Artists and Art Director’s Club, the Art Institute of Sacramento, California College of the Arts, UC Berkeley and UC Davis Extension. Additionally, she is the Coordinator for Design Education for The Designers Accord.

Robyn holds a degree in Visual Communication from the University of Delaware and a Masters of Fine Arts in Design from California College of the Arts. She is an award-winning designer and educator, currently practicing in San Francisco, Sacramento, and Davis, California.

Most recently, Robyn’s work focuses on design’s role to form community and to instigate social and environmental change. Her current project, F.A.R.M was featured in several media outlets, including the SFMOMA blog and KPFA radio . Her public service design work was selected for the November 2009 Communication Arts Design Annual and won 1st place in the AIGA (Re)Design Awards in 2009. Robyn is also a "spotlighted" CCA Alumni.

Learn more about Robyn at:

www.robynwaxman.com

www.thinkdiscussact.org

Community Gardening Project begins!

Our Urban Share Community Gardening Project is taking off. We've started to get seeds in the mail from across the country and will begin planting soon. Our sample locations will be created in September in order to help other sites to see what our project looks like. We have several confirmed sites throughout the Bay Area.

If you'd like to send us some produce seeds, please send them to:
The Welcome Ministry
1751 Sacramento St
San Francisco CA 94109

We'll take pictures of them as they grow so you can see their journey on to a dinner plate!

The Urban Share Community Gardening Project takes advantage of underutilized city spaces by transforming them into community spaces; the results providing a tangible resource and tools for residents to learn about environmental protection, creative reuse and to address local hunger.

Our philosophy of urban sharing: We receive nearly all of our resources as in-kind donations (food, clothing, toiletries, volunteer time, office supplies, computers, kitchen supplies, etc.) ensuring that we can continue to provide critical counseling and advocacy services offered by our expert staff members. Are you willing to share?

About Our Organization:
When the Welcome Ministry was founded in 1996, our initial mission was to work with the homeless. In 2008, our work resulted in over 155 people moving indoors, causing the Welcome Ministry board (in 2009) to change both our name and our mission to: WELCOME – a communal response to poverty. We are just beginning the process of legally changing our name. We continue to work with the same low income individuals to help them learn the skills they need to remain indoors, to improve their quality of life and to become self-sustaining individuals.