Posts Tagged ‘gardening’
Small batch composters are digging deep to find big waste solutions
At Bishop O’Dowd High School in the Oakland hills, gardener Ned Lange is making small-batch vermicompost from the school’s food scraps. He takes scraps like leafy greens, peels, and stems that won’t make it into the cooked lunch, and blends them into a smoothie that he feeds into an 8-by-4-foot corrugated steel bin that is…
Read MoreHomesteading organization shows Oaklanders the rewards of urban gardening
It’s chock full of collard greens. And figs. And chickens. On Saturday, visitors meandered through the bushy rows of produce in the community garden at the corner of 33rd and West Streets, in the expansive lot belonging to Hoover Elementary School. Between the vegetation, visitors could see pops of color from mosaics and decorative wooden…
Read MoreGardening at Mosswood Park
Saved from staggering by the blue bench beneath him, a man sits. It’s Thursday at Mosswood Park and, perhaps, this is his usual spot. The sun reflects off his balding head, which is framed by salt and pepper puffs of hair and connected to a beard that’s more salt than it is pepper. He gazes…
Read MorePlanting Justice builds edible gardens for urban dwellers
Oakland-based grassroots organization builds edible gardens to grow sustainable food, create jobs, and build community.
Read MoreCity Slicker Farms breaks ground on new West Oakland urban farm
On Thursday, City Slicker Farms broke ground on its latest project, the West Oakland Park and Urban Farm, a new community garden and open park space expected to serve more than 3,000 residents.
Read MoreActa Non Verba youth farm project celebrates a summer of Oakland kids’ urban gardening
The shrieks and squeals of happy children could be heard Friday over the boombox blasting pop music at Acta Non Verba Youth Urban Farm project in East Oakland. This was a day for play, not work. Celebrating the end of 100 hours of summer labor in the garden, nine local kids ran wild and free among the garden beds arranged in neat rows on the half-acre lot.
Read MoreAt Temescal library, neighbors swap backyard produce and kids’ clothes
Books weren’t the only things flying off the tables at the Temescal branch of the Oakland library on Saturday. In the backyard, boxes full of succulent plums gleamed in the sunshine at the library’s North Oakland crop swap. Gardeners bring their excess yield and set them on the table for others to take. While there, they are free to choose from items on the table that their fellow gardeners have brought to share. Meanwhile, Moms in the basement were giving and getting new ensembles for their kiddos.
Read MoreThrough FoodPool, gardeners donate excess produce to those in need
Some Oaklanders grow a bounty of fresh produce in their home gardens, while others are miles away from the nearest grocery store. One day, as he was tending his 800 square-foot backyard garden, this paradox struck Montclair resident Andrew Sigal as particularly unfair. Sigal decided that he would donate any excess food he produced, and he would try to convince his neighbors with gardens to do the same.
Read MoreStar 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…
Read MoreMosswood neighbors swap their backyard surplus at weekly produce exchange
Are you just about done with all the summer squash coming out of your garden? Or been eyeing the neighbor’s plum tree, wishing you had some of your own? There’s a bench in North Oakland’s Mosswood Park where you can trade away your excess harvest and pick up something else you like.
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