Environment

Oakland fruit enthusiasts promote neighborhood foraging

Oakland residents Kim Di Giacomo and Michele Senitzer co-founded Found Fruit as a way of connecting with other neighborhoods who have produce and foraging skills to share. Flowering trees will soon start to produce fruit such as plums, peaches, nectarines and apricots and will ripen starting in June. Foundfruit.com lists where to find wild plum trees in public areas.

Hundreds turn out to support the Bakesale for Japan

Saturday morning, Oakland restaurant Pizzaiolo raised $12,000 selling cookies, cupcakes, and other baked goods. Hundreds of people turned out to support the restaurant’s Bakesale for Japan and eye a wide selection of sweets and treats prepared by hundreds of professional bakers and local volunteers. A long stream of customers spilled out from Pizzaiolo and flowed halfway down the Telegraph Avenue block.

Iconic urban farm at risk of city fines

Oakland urban homesteading celebrity Novella Carpenter could face fines from the city for unpermitted agricultural activities and lose the animals she keeps at Ghost Town Farm, a West Oakland garden that helped make local, sustainable food popular in the East Bay.

Star Apple Edible Gardening teaches modern urban homesteading

Chickens, cilantro and compost – oh, my! These were just some of the options for guests at the San Francisco Flower and Garden show as they walked through the 5,000 square feet of edible gardens arranged by Oakland-based Star Apple Edible Gardening. The company displayed what a modern urban homestead can look like. Throughout the four days of the show, Leslie Bennett, one of the three co-owners spoke to garden growers. “For reasons hard to comprehend, not everyone is growing…