Online Silent Auction

An online silent auction has been created for the upcoming fundraiser. New items will be added up until July 24th, so check back regularly.

View the auction here.

More than 783.57 pounds of food grown!

I haven't blogged about our gardens in a while because I've been so busy. But, I wanted to send an update that 783.57 pounds of free produce have been given away from the Free Farm. Bethlehem Lutheran has also been enjoying harvests lately.

Beyond the food, we've also worked with more than 566 volunteers in the garden this year.

I'm someone who is usually moved more by personal stories than numbers, but these numbers are very impressive.

Thanks to all the great volunteers and leaders at the Free Farm!

First Garden Workday with Congregation Emanu El

Today at the Free Farm members and friends of Congregation Emanu El as well as other local temples across the San Francisco Bay Area joined us for their first garden workday. This marks the first Sunday that members of Congregation Emanu El and other temples will join us for the first Sunday of each month to work with us at the garden.

Today we divided up into small groups so that we could tackle several different projects we've been wanting to get to. Several people teamed up to put fresh mulch down along the path of our herb labyrinth so that it will be soft for those who walk upon it, especially those with tender knees. Others weeded around the strawberries and sunflowers and on the concrete area where we are getting ready to build a bathroom and other structures. We covered up a rocky area with soft mulch, extending our tree stump sitting area so that we can have a larger circle during work day lunch time and other activities. The area set aside for growing pumpkins was cleared from dried plants and covered with compost; soon it will be ready to be planted! Tomatoes were transplanted and placed in the green house. And, of course a little watering to keep the plants happy under the warm sun today brought. We are looking forward to working with the lovely folks of Emanu El again next month!

If you are interested in joining us for our next Sunday workday please come by on July 4 from 10am-12pm. We look forward to meeting you!

Join Us and Support Welcome

Join us for
A Free Farm Afternoon
Gough & Eddy
in San Francisco
May 22, 2010
2:30-4:30

3:30 Talk by Novella Carpenter, Author of Farm City

Music Provided by: Lia Rose

Food Donated by: farm:table, Mama's on Washington Square, Greens, Maggie Mudd, and Bi Rite Market.

A family friendly afternoon at the Free Farm. Food from Mama's on Washington Square, Green's Restaurant and many more. Wine tasting. Coffee from Farm Table Cafe. Carla's kid's corner. Music and Poetry. A fun and very special afternoon.

A special talk by Novella Carpenter, author of Farm City, a book about her first year running Ghost Town Farm in Oakland. Novella Carpenter will speak at 3:30 pm. ghosttownfarm.wordpress.com

Join us and support WELCOME. We provide a communal response to poverty with a simple philosophy of providing food, education and counseling to the communities we serve.

tickets $75, $50, $25. Pay what you can afford. Consider buying two tickets to sponsor one of our community members.

Our Organization:
When Welcome was founded in 1996, our initial mission was to work with the homeless in San Francisco's Polk Gulch District. In 2008, our work resulted in over 155 people moving indoors. 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 through meals, one-on-one support and creative community projects that address the health needs of those living in poverty.

Location:
At the Free Farm at the corner of Gough & Eddy in San Francisco

The Free Farm:
Is a farm that will grow 12,000 pounds of food that will be distributed for free to members of the community. You can find information about the free farm at thefreefarm.org

Order your tickets now: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/107417

Project Leadership

Rev. Megan Rohrer, Executive Director
Vicar Pete Feltmen, Volunteer and Donation Coordinator

The Free Farm - Eddy and Gough San Francisco
Tree, Free Farm Stand- Garden Planning Team
Lauren Andersen, Produce to the People - Garden Planning Team
Joshua "Griff" Griffin, Episcopal Diocese of California - Garden Planning Team
Page Chamberlain, Standford Glean - Garden Planning Team
Carling - Garden Planning Team
Heidi - Garden Planning Team
Shandra - Garden Planning Team
Pancho - Garden Planning Team
Tamara Loewenstein - Curator and Community Arts Coordinator
Leanne C. Miller - Muralist

St. Mark's Lutheran - 1111 O'farrell in San Francisco
Lauren Andersen, Produce to the People - Garden Planning Team
Megan , St. Mark's Lutheran - Garden Planning Team
Mary, St. Mark's Lutheran - Garden Planning Team
Rose, Martin Luther Towers - Garden Planning Team

Faithful Fools Rooftop Garden - 234 Hyde in San Francisco
Octavio - Garden Planning Team

Bethlehem Lutheran - West Oakland
Karleen - Urban Farming - Garden Planning Team
Tamara Loewenstein - Curator and Community Arts Coordinator
Bianca Muller - Muralist

Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran - Berkeley
Rev. Katie Hines-Shaw - Garden Planning Team


Past leaders:
Case Garver - Program Assistant (September 2009 - April 2010)

In the News

Check out this great story about the Free Farm from KQED's Bay Area Bites Blog.

excerpt:

Or, what about starting from the very beginning, and growing more food from scratch right here in the city? Even in cities as highly populated as San Francisco, Oakland, and Berkeley, a surprisingly amount of arable land is still available. Just look at the Free Farm, which was started on a vacant lot at Gough and Eddy Streets in January of this year.

Pastor Megan Rohrer, a young Lutheran pastor who works with a variety of homeless communities around the city as the executive director of Welcome Ministry, wanted to expand the work she was doing, going from feeding the hungry of San Francisco to growing food for those same communities. The St. Paulus Lutheran church was willing to offer an empty lot it owned to her and a dedicated community of volunteers to make a garden.

Meanwhile Tree, a longtime food-justice activist and community gardener as well as the founder of the Mission's popular Free Farmstand, was looking for a place to grow more local food to supply the farmstand. Once Megan's church connections met Tree's gardening expertise, the Free Farm was born. With grants from the Mesa Foundation along with several local Episcopal and Lutheran churches, plus a whole lot of wheelbarrow-pushing volunteer labor, the weedy lot has undergone an astonishing transformation.

What was once a trash-strewn, needle-littered eyesore that neighbors called "The Pit" is now a welcoming, mural-lined space full of neatly mounded raised beds planted with salad mix, potatoes, beans, broccoli and lettuce. Bricks salvaged from the St. Paulus church (which stood on the space before burning down in 1995) now form strawberry beds on the hillside and a winding spiral bed planted with flowers, herbs, and vegetables. Cold frames and a newly built greenhouse are filled with trays of tiny seedlings, everything from kale to tomatoes to marigolds started from seeds donated by church communities across the country. Bright garden-themed murals by local artist Leanne C. Miller cover the concrete wall on the west side, and there are plans to bring more artists and sculptors into the garden to create site-specific works.

Volunteers get down and dirty every Wednesday and Saturday from 10am to 2pm, building infrastructure, hauling mulch, manure and compost, planting seedlings, waterings, and more. A volunteer-made vegan lunch, often featuring produce harvested from the garden, is shared by all. Volunteers will also share in the harvest, with excess supplying the Free Farmstand (Rohrer hopes to establish another neighborhood Free Farmstand on the site) as well as providing fresh local produce for twice-weekly homeless dinners organized by Welcome. (For more information on Welcome's additional garden projects around the Bay Area, go to Urban Share.)

Read the whole article and leave comments about the article at: KQED's Bay Area Bites Blog

Succulent Fence - West Oakland

This morning, at Bethlehem Lutheran I attached some potato and onion sacks to the fence to serve as a barrier to keep the soil inside the garden. In order to make it prettier, I also planted some succulents along the fence. Their roots will not only hold the soil in place, but it also grow strong with out much water.

Succulents (plants with a waxy coating on their leaves - like aloe) are a great addition to California gardens, because they can cover large spaces and conserve valuable water resources. Mixing lots of different types of succulents next to each other can also make a very beautiful look and provide rich textures. I also think that the green and purple of the succulents look really beautiful next to the orange of the potato sacks.

Succulents are very forgiving, so they're great for inexperienced gardeners. You can transplant them by breaking off a branch/stem and simply sticking it in some soil. Just be careful not to over water them. You'll know if this is happening because they will start to turn brown.