Alemany Farm

CALL FOR RECIPES!

By The Farm Team | June 20, 2008

Do you have a favorite recipe for winter squash? How do you use up that huge sack of kale you got from the farm last week? Does anyone have any idea on earth how to cook a loquat?

The Alemany Cookbook Team is looking for recipes of all types- vegan, raw, meat-loving, healthy, decadent, hearty and warm, cool and light, traditional, unusual, and everything in between. The only requirement is that the recipe feature one or more central ingredients either grown on the farm (fruits, veggies, herbs) or foraged in San Francisco (weeds!). We will use your recipes to create the second annual Alemany Farm Volunteers’ Cookbook, hopefully in an expanded format. A few guidelines:

• Please submit all recipes and questions to Ellen at egoodenow@aol.com by July 31. You can attach a MS Word document or paste your recipe directly into the email. This will ensure that the cookbook is printed and available at the next Harvest Festival in the fall.

• Submit as many recipes as you’d like, but be aware that we may not be able to print all of them.

• Please include original recipes only, as in, nothing copied directly from another printed source. If you have a favorite recipe from another cookbook that you want to share, tinker with at least two of the ingredients to make it your own– increase or decrease quantities, add or delete ingredients, etc. No one wants the farm to get sued for copyright infringement.

• If you have photos of the farm, are interested in taking photos of the farm, or would like to contribute illustrations to the cookbook, please let us know.

• Be creative!

The Alemany Cookbook Team

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Fun in the Sun Sunday

By The Farm Team | June 14, 2008

Dear Farm Friends:

The veggies loved the hot weather this week, and the garden is poppin right now. As you can feel from the fog, the weather is turning cooler, but Sunday is expected to be sunny.

During our June 15 workday (noon-5 PM) we’ll continue to clear the ground for the new medicinal herb garden. The Herb Team made a great start last weekend and we”ll keep pressing ahead in preparation for planting later this month. If you have special knowledge of medicinal herbs to share or would like more information about the herb garden, please contact Richard at 863-7720.
On Sunday there will also be opportunities to plant our next round of lettuces, bunching onions, and salad mix. We’ll also dig up and start to field-cure some of our many different garlics. As always, weeding to be done.

At the end of the afternoon we’ll harvest broccoli, squash, basil, lettuces, berries, and greens to share all around.

Maps, directions and cool photos available 24/7 at www.alemanyfarm.org

Thanks, as always, for your work to make San Francisco more food secure.

The Farm Team

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Join Us for Herb Planting

By The Farm Team | June 5, 2008

Dear Farm Friends:

This Saturday, June 7, we will begin the process of preparing the soil for our new medicinal herb garden at the Alemany Farm. We need your help to make it a success! We will be working on a prime new location at the Farm, perfectly suited for herbs – and we’re looking for people who want to be part of our Medicinal Herb Team! There will be a lot to do and learn about herbs over the coming weeks and months and we could especially use your help this weekend.

Of course there will be lots of other tasks to do at the Farm on Saturday if you’d like to help elsewhere. The Farm is beginning to show its beautiful summer bounty and we could use your help in any number of ways.

For more information about the Farm, go to www.alemanyfarm.org

For more information about the new medicinal herb garden, contact Jessie at jessyjeanin@gmail.com or Richard at r-k@prodigy.net.

Thanks, as always, for your efforts to make San Francisco more food secure.

The Farm Team

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Farm Bill Finally Passes!

By antonio | May 23, 2008

Here’s a statement on the long-awaited passing of the 2008 farm bill, courtesy of the California Food and Justice Coalition.

CFJC Statement on the Passing of the 2008 Farm Bill

The farm bill passed by Congress reflects the tireless work of food justice, anti-hunger and sustainable agriculture advocates, as well as the entrenched power of the agri-business lobby in Washington DC.  The bill includes important new funding for nutrition, beginning and minority farmer, sustainable agriculture and local food system programs.  Unfortunately, it also includes a continuation of commodity programs that subsidize the production of a few crops (mostly corn, wheat, soybeans, cotton and rice) to the benefit of mega-farms and corporate agri-business, and at the greater expense of public health, the environment, farming communities worldwide.

Read the full statement here.

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Pumpkin Planting Saturday

By The Farm Team | May 22, 2008

Dear Farm Friends:

One of the most rewarding elements of farming and gardening is the experience of delayed gratification. In a society consumed by convience, sometimes it’s a real pleasure to have to wait. After all, nature demands patience, and ripeness takes time.

A good example? Planting pumpkins. If we want to have butternut and kabocha squash and sweet dumpling pumpkins in time for Thanksgiving, we need to get the seeds in the ground now.

To help out, come to our next volunteer workday, this Saturday, 5-24, from Noon to 5 PM. Maps and directions available at www.alemanyfarm.org.

In addition to digging beds for pumpkin planting, we will also be working on the hillside terraces, weeding the new native plant garden, and taking care of the baby carrots, among other important tasks. At the end of the day we will have plenty of lettuces, artichokes, and kale to share.

Also, many of you have asked about volunteer opportunities on the weekdays. Beginning this Monday, Antonio Roman-Alcala, one of our volunteer coordinators, will be at the Farm every Monday from 1 PM to 4 PM. Feel free to drop by and help him out.

Thanks, as always, for your efforts to make San Francisco more food secure.

The Farm Team

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Workdays, Bike Rides, and Permaculture

By The Farm Team | May 12, 2008

Farm Friends,

Thanks to all who came out this past weekend! We planted Sweet Peas in our new flower bed, Amaranth and Quinoa in our grain demonstration bed, and kept up with maintenance of our ever-expanding realm of veggie production. Some folks even helped finish up our first new terrace on the hillside!

This coming weekend (Sunday, May 18th), expect a similar diversity of tasks, from turning compost to installing drip irrigation, weeding rows and mulching paths, and more! At the end of the day, we will be harvesting strawberries, artichokes, greens, and maybe even some just-ready-to-harvest garlic!

For someone craft-inclined, we’d like to try making pillows out of the duff from our large patch of cattails (and maybe add some lavender for a soothing scent?). If you have any interest in sewing pillows to stuff and bringing them by the farm, please contact Antonio at antidogmatist@gmail.com

In other news, our friends at the Urban Permaculture Guild are putting on their yearly Permaculture Design Course at the SF Botanical Gardens. Check out their schedule and details if you’re interested in getting more skilled and experienced in urban permaculture.

Also, the same day as this weekend’s workday, as a promotion for the In Search of Good Food movie project, there will be a “good food” bike ride. In collaboration with the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition’s annual Bike to Work Day, the ride meets at 16th and Mission at 1pm and will meander around the Mission and southeast portions of the city before ending up at Alemany Farm (on time for at least part of the workday!).

Over about 2 hours, we will visit sites of interest that relate to the history, past and present, of people trying to eat Good Food in San Francisco. There will also be guest speakers at a few stops, including Mission Pie, Veritable Vegetable, and a unique up-and-coming FREE farm stand.

Please RSVP to insearchofgoodfood@gmail.com if you’re thinking about tagging along.

Ride Safe, Eat Well, and Thanks, as always, for your efforts to make San Francisco more food secure!

-The Farm Team

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Alemany Farm on TV + Sunday Workday

By The Farm Team | May 2, 2008

With much of the garden already planted and the temperatures warming up, it’s time for some spring cleaning.

We need your help this weekend pulling weeds out of our newly planted vegetable beds, clearing and remulching paths, digging a couple of new beds, and planting lettuces, bunching onions, corn and squash. Also, there will be some irrigation installation for our new trees up on the hillside orchard.

We hope you can join us this Sunday, May 4, from Noon to 5 PM. At the end of the workday, there will plenty of strawberries and artichokes to harvest and share. Maps and directions available at www.alemanyfarm.org.

If you can’t make it, you can always watch us on TV! This weekend Alemany Farm will be featured on Bay Area Backroads. Tune in either Sat or Sun to KRON Channel 4 at 6 PM.

Finally, if you’re interested in starting your own backyard food garden, you should apply for a Victory Garden, a program hosted by our friends at Garden for the Environment. Details are below.

Thanks so much for your efforts to make San Francisco more food secure.

The Farm Team

Victory Gardens 2008+ is a pilot project funded by the City of San
Francisco to support the transition of backyard, front yard, window
boxes, rooftops, and unused land into organic food production areas.

In 2008 we will choose 15 households that represent the diversity of
San Francisco to participate in the program. You can participate
regardless of your income, ethnicity, available space, neighborhood,
gardening experience, or lifestyle.

As a participant, you will work with the Victory Gardens team to
install a garden in your outdoor space. Although you will be the
primary caretaker of the garden, the Victory Garden team will provide
ongoing support.

Sound exciting? Please see the attached PDF application and get ready to plant!

for more information:

The Victory Garden Project
c/o The Garden for the Environment
780 Frederick Street
San Francisco, CA 94117
www.sfvictorygardens.org

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Earth Day BBQ at Alemany Farm!

By The Farm Team | April 17, 2008

Dear Farm Friends:

We hope you can join us this Saturday, April 19 for Alemany Farm’s Earth Day BBQ, co-sponsored with the SF Parks Trust.

Starting at noon we’ll be grilling Niman Ranch hamburgers, ribs and veggie burgers, and will also have other treats. Hopefully you can bring a side dish or dessert to share.

Around 1 PM the bands will start playing. The Bottecellis will be performing, among other local acts.

We’ll have Farm tours throughout the afternoon, for those of you new to Alemany Farm. And all day long there will be lots of important spring Farm tasks to do, including digging garden beds; planting out eggplants, sweet peppers and basil; sowing beets and carrots; and helping to construct our brand new beehive.

We hope you can join us! As always, maps and directions available at www.alemanyfarm.org.

Thanks, as always, for your efforts to make San Francisco more food secure

The Farm Team

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Spring Planting Begins Sunday!

By The Farm Team | April 3, 2008

Dear Farm Friends,

Our unusually dry March has meant that we’ve gotten a big jump on spring tillage at Alemany Farm and are ready to start putting new crops in the ground.

We hope you can join us this Sunday, April 6, from Noon to 5 PM to help plant broccoli, lettuces, collards, cucumbers, beets and carrots, among other yummy things. In addition to planting and setting up irrigation systems, we will also be clearing out some of the fava beans in the lower garden and digging those beds.

Thanks for your efforts to make San Francisco more food secure.

The Farm Team

PS: Mark your calendars now for our Earth Day BBQ, Potluck, and Workday Saturday, April 19!!!

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